LPCranmer

 //The Book Thief and WWII// For 5th Grade, all ESL students
 * Intermediate/Proficient English Speakers*
 * If ELL's should be any lower level than this, use a different WWII novel, //Under A War Torn Sky// or //Shades of Grey// for Civil War.

Students will be able to name the narrator of the story, main characters and main ideas about the chapters read in class. They should be able to recognize the plot and how that connects to American history. Students will be able to write an appropriate list of interview questions that they could ask a survivor of WWII. Students will be able to see that history is two sided and connect that to their lives being non-native English speakers.
 * Objectives:**

Pre-Lesson: Prepare adapted text for students using higher level social science books. Look for any vocabulary that might be diffucult. Highlight those words and provide a worksheet for students if they do not seem to be picking up vocabulary during the reading on WWII. Read The Book Thief before you begin to read it to students. Highlight any vocabulary that you think students might have trouble understanding. During the reading ask for voluteers to deduce what each word means from the context. Day 1: Gather students around you. Explain to students the objectives for the day. Give a background to the story and WWII from adapted text. Ask students if they have any prior knowledge about what happened during this war. Write down any answers on the board. Introduce the literature. Ask for input on what a narrator is and how to find characters and main ideas in the story. Give definitions of those if student definitions are lacking. Write these on the board as well so students can reference them. Ask students to listen while you read and try to find the narrator and characters in the story. Read the prologue and chapters one and two. Get feedback from students about who the narrator is and who the main characters are. Fill in chart on the board. Be sure to write down all ideas and not tell them who the actual narrator is. Day 2: Pass out adapted social studies text on the events during WWII. Play short game with vocabulary words you pulled out from the text. Have the words and definitions cut out for each group and have them race to see who can finish first. Use the reading for context clues. Once students are done, put correct pairs up on the board. Give short lesson on the past simple sentence form in the social studies text. "The United States was..." "We went to war." "The soldiers fought valiantly." Encourage students to read and work together on the questions at the end of the reading. Have tables of students already scaffolded by language proficiency. Ask students to think about where the story falls in the events they have just read. Show time line placed on the board. As a class place events in the order that they happened. Have a card with the story on it and haver students make guesses as to where the story takes place on the time line. Read chapters 3-5. Day 3: Read chapters 6-9. Give lesson on question formation for all question types (yes/no, subject, object, adverbial). Have students write down interview questions to the book thief or to a WWII survivor. After each student has completed the tasks call individuals up to desk to give them individual feedback. Have other students work on assessment about events of WWII. Compile a list of questions as a class to send to a real Holocaust/WWII survivor.
 * Presentation of Lesson**:

Over the next several days, finish the novel. Lessons in social studies will turn to the differences between democracy and dictatorship and how the US government decides to go to war. In Language Arts, I will encourage the students to make connections to their own life. Since The Book Thief is written from the point of view of a German girl and not from an American perspective, I will get students to connect to the story and create a story about their life and how they have felt coming to a new country and being an outsider.I will encourage them to write their own stories because many people only see one side of the story. I would go over the past simple forms again in a short lesson.

L.3.1.b Listen attentively to stories and information read aloud. L.3.2.b Orally identify main points of simple conversations and stories read aloud. S.5.3.a Respond to messages by asking questions, challenging statements, or offering examples that affirm the message. R.4.3.a Use knowledge of complex syntax (sentence structure) and grammatical features to derive meaning from narrative text. R.5.3.d Describe the development of plot and identify how conflicts are addressed and resolved. R.6.3.b Make connections between prior knowledge, personal experiences and what is read. R.7.2.a Develop questions about a topic.
 * Michigan ELP Standards**

Adapted Texts for Social Studies: //The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945// by Ward, et al. //The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich : A History of Nazi Germany// by William L. Shirer //The Second World War// by John Keegan

Text: //The Book Thief// by Markus Zusak (Entire Novel) Exerpt: Chapter 1, Death and Chocolate

First the colors. Then the humans. That's usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try.


 * HERE IS A SMALL FACT**
 * You are going to die.**

I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely //can// be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.

Does this worry you? I urge you -- don't be afraid. I am nothing if not fair.**
 * REACTION TO THE AFOREMENTIONED FACT**
 * 

-- Of course, an introduction. A beginning.  Where are my manners? I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range a variables. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away. At that moment, you will be lying there (I rarley find people standing up). You will be caked in your own body. There might be a discovery; a scream will dribble down the air. The only sound I'll hear after that is my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, my own footsteps. The question is, what color will everything be at that moment I come from you? What will the sky be saying? Personally, I like a chocolate-colored sky. Dark, dark chocolate. People say it suits me. I do, however, try to enjoy every color I see -- the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress. It helps me relax.


 * A SMALL THEORY**
 * Poeple observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single //hour// can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make a point ot notice them.**

As I've been alluding to, my one saving grace is distraction. It keeps me sane. It helps me cope, considering the length of time I've been performing this job. The trouble is, who could ever replace me? Who could step in while I take a break in your stock standard, resort-style vacation destination, whether it be tropical or of the ski trip variety? The answer, of cousre, is nobody, which has prompted me to make a conscious, diliberate decision -- to make distraction my vacation. Needless to say, I vacation in increments. In colors. Still, it's possible that you might be asking, why does he even need a vacation? What does he even need distraction //from//? Which brings me to my next point. It's the leftover humans. The survivors. They're the ones I can't stand to look at, although on many occasions I still fail. I diliberately seek out the colors to keep my mind off them, but now and then, I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, dispair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs. Which in turn brings me to the subject I am telling you about tonight, or today, or whatever the hour or color. It's a story of one of those perpetual survivors -- an expert at being left behind. It's just a small story really, about, among other things:
 * A girl
 * Some words
 * An acordionist
 * Some fanatical Germans
 * A Jewish fist fighter
 * And quite a lot of thievery

I saw the book thief three times.

Questions: Object and Yes/No Modal Verbs Conjunctions Future Forms
 * Grammar Forms Used in Reading***

BACK_TO_TOP