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Lesson Plan: Hana's Suitcase?
Lesson Plan
Before Exploring
Ask students what they know about how children were treated at Auschwitz and other concentration camps. What feelings do their answers invoke? Are any of the feelings hopeful?
Outline the Opportunity
Have students visit the topic Life After Auschwitz on the CBC Digital Archives website. They will view the clip "Hana's Suitcase" as well as the Story and Did You Know? sections and the clip "Hana's suitcase turns out to be a replica." As they view the clips they will answer the questions on the download sheet 'Hana's Suitcase.'
Revisit and Reflect
Lead
a class discussion about the original story of Hana's suitcase and ask students
to list and justify the ways in which the message of that story could be
described as one of survival, perseverance, and hope. Ask students if their
list is still relevant in light of the more recent discovery that Hana's
suitcase is actually a replica. What items if any are now irrelevant? Why?
Have students write a letter to the editor of a parenting magazine to express
their viewpoint about how to share with children the recent discovery about
Hana's suitcase.
Extension
Students can write a preface that might be used in a new edition of Hana's Suitcase to inform readers about the newly discovered facts about the suitcase.
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