5 2 2 holocaust rescuers TG

LESSON VOCABULARY agreement cable refugees representatives superiors visa INTRODUCE THE BOOK INTRODUCE THE TITLE AND AUTHOR Examine with students the title and the author of Holocau

Holocaust Rescuers

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Holocaust

Rescuers

SUMMARY This informational text describes the

efforts to save Jewish people across Europe

from certain death at the hands of the Nazis

during World War II The information provided

supports and extends the lesson concept of the

risks people took to help others during

World War II

LESSON VOCABULARY

agreement cable

refugees representatives

superiors visa

INTRODUCE THE BOOK

INTRODUCE THE TITLE AND AUTHOR Examine with

students the title and the author of Holocaust

Rescuers Discuss with students what they

expect the book will be about based on its

genre (nonfiction), its cover photographs, and

its title, even if they don’t know the meaning

of the word holocaust.

BUILD BACKGROUND Have students discuss

what they know about the Holocaust during

World War II Make sure that students know

that the Holocaust was the Nazis’ plan to

eliminate the Jewish population in Europe and

that six million Jews died during this time

PREVIEW/USE TEXT FEATURES Have students

preview the book by skimming the text,

looking at the photos, and reading the

captions Based on this preview, ask what

students expect to learn about the Holocaust

from reading this book

READ THE BOOK

SET PURPOSE Guide students to set their

own purposes for reading the book Review students’ predictions about what they will learn and what they believe is the author’s purpose

STRATEGY SUPPORT: MONITOR AND FIX UP

Have students monitor and fix up their understanding as they read At the end of each section, have students write a sentence summarizing the facts from that section

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

PAGES 5–6 Why were many people unaware

that the Holocaust was happening? (The Nazis

kept their plans secret, and there was no real proof it was happening.)

PAGES 10–11 What did Britain do to help

Jewish children during World War II? (It

gave visas to thousands of children so they could live in England.)

PAGES 12–13 What is the author’s purpose in

telling the story of Varian Fry? (to show that

not just governments but individuals and small organizations tried to help Jews escape the Holocaust)

PAGES 14–15 Make a generalization about

the villagers in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (They

helped many Jews escape the Holocaust but did not expect praise for their actions.)

PAGES 16–19 Who was Raoul Wallenberg, and

what did he do? (Wallenberg was a Swedish

diplomat who rescued thousands of Jews in Hungary and moved them to “Swedish houses.”)

5.2.2

AUTHOR’S PURPOSE MONITOR AND FIX UP

Skill Work

Holocaust Rescuers 37

TEACH/REVIEW VOCABULARY

Write the vocabulary words on the board and read them aloud Have students tell which words are unfamiliar to them Ask:

Where might you find the meanings of those words?

Have students use a dictionary or thesaurus to find as many synonyms as possible for each vocabulary word Then have them put the vocabulary words and their synonyms on index cards Have pairs

of students play a game to match the vocabulary words to their synonyms

TARGET SKILL AND STRATEGY

AUTHOR’S PURPOSE Remind students that

an author may write for different purposes—

to inform, to persuade, to entertain, or to express feelings Based on their previews, ask students what they think the author’s

purpose was for writing Holocaust Rescuers.

MONITOR AND FIX UP Remind students

to monitor, or check, whether or not they

understand what they read If they find they

do not understand something, one way to

fix up their comprehension is to make a

quick summary of the details they have just read Suggest that understanding what they read will help them determine the author’s purpose for writing At the end of each section, students should ask themselves:

What is the author trying to tell me here?

ADDITIONAL SKILL INSTRUCTION

GENERALIZE Remind students that when

they generalize they are making a broad

statement that applies to many facts or examples Read aloud page 3 and model how to make a generalization: “One generalization I can make about this page

is that Hitler convinced many people to hate Jews, but he failed to convince everyone I can make this statement based on the facts

in these paragraphs.”

REVISIT THE BOOK

READER RESPONSE

1 Possible responses: The Kindertransport

played an important role in saving Jewish

children’s lives Descriptive words may

include journey, foster, families, sad, safety.

2 He created “Swedish houses” where Jews

could not be attacked He handed out

pro-tective passes to Jews on trains Answers

will vary as to why these methods might

have been unusual for a diplomat to use

They may include that what he was doing

was not allowed, or mention that there were

orders to shoot him

3 Sentences should show understanding of

the definitions

4 Responses will vary.

EXTEND UNDERSTANDING Have students reread

the selection title and skim through the

headings used in the text Then have them

answer each of the following questions: If

the author’s purpose is to inform, how do the

headings help the author provide information

to the reader? (Possible response: They tell

the reader which Holocaust rescuer will be

described in each section so the reader can

keep track of the information.) If the author’s

purpose is to persuade, do the headings help

the author achieve this purpose? Why or why

not? (Possible response: No, most of the

headings only tell the topic of the section, not

the author’s opinion about the topic.)

RESPONSE OPTIONS

WRITING Provide students with an excerpt from

The Diary of Anne Frank Have students write

a personal response to Anne’s description of

life in hiding from the Nazis

SOCIAL STUDIES

CONNECTION

Have students research

other people or groups that

helped Jews survive the Holocaust

Students can write brief biographies or reports

about these people and organizations

Author’s Purpose

• An author’s purpose is the reason an author writes something Some purposes an author may

have are to persuade, to inform, to entertain, and to express a mood or feeling.

• An author may have more than one purpose in writing a particular selection.

Directions Refer to the selection and answer the questions below.

1 What do you think is the author’s purpose for writing Holocaust Rescuers?

2 Why do you think the author includes the section entitled “Did people know?” (pages 5–7)?

3 The author starts page 16 with this sentence: “More than anyone else, Raoul Wallenberg is

remembered for saving Jewish people from the Holocaust.” Why does she write this about

Wallenberg? Use details from the selection to explain your answer

4 How does the last section entitled “Remembering: Yad Vashem” support the author’s purpose?

Holocaust Rescuers

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Vocabulary

Directions Use the vocabulary words above to complete the following sentences

Not all words will be used

Check the Words You Know

agreement refugees

cable representatives

diplomat superiors

issue visa

1 Many from the Holocaust fled to foreign countries and

became citizens in their new lands

2 My friend and I are in that the Holocaust was a terrible time

in history

3 The work of a must be interesting and exciting, since you

travel and meet people from many other countries

4 Without a , it is difficult to enter some foreign countries

5 When she was growing up, Grandma says, people feared to receive a

Directions For each word below, use a thesaurus to find as many synonyms as you can that relate to

the meaning of the word as it is used in Holocaust Rescuers.

6 issue

7 representatives

8 superiors

Directions Write two sentences using the words diplomat and refugees.

9.

10.

Holocaust Rescuers

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