TEACHERS TAKE NOTE

The Spirit That Moves Us, Volume I:
A Literature-Based Resource Guide, Teaching About Diversity, Prejudice, Human Rights, and the Holocaust, for Grades K-4

(The print edition of this volume is out of print, but a printable PDF file may be downloaded from www.hhrc.uma.edu/guides.htm.)

The Spirit That Moves Us, Volume II:
A Literature-Based Resource Guide, Teaching About the Holocaust and Human Rights, for Grades 5-8

Rachel Quenk, in association with the Holocauset Human Rights Center of Maine

Paperback, $19.95, ISBN 978-0-88448-187-5

8.5 x 11, 170 pages

Education / Diversity; Grades 5-8

Since the Holocaust is difficult for younger children to grasp, Volume 1, for grades K-4 provides a foundation for learning about issues of diversity, tolerance, and race. Not until the final chapter, geared for children in Grade 4, does the guide deal with the actual Holocaust. Volume II (Grades 5-8) continues the focus of Volume 1 and provides curriculum suggestions for upper elementary and middle school teachers who wish to emphasize the broad issues of identity and prejudice, moving from general to more specific themes to place prejudice and the Holocaust in the context of an ongoing social problem. Both guides are relevant to any curriculum that is concerned with diversity.

Lesson plans for the following books are featured with creative and thought provoking activities in The Spirit Moves Us, Vol. 1: Everybody Cooks Rice; Ben's Trumpet; How My Parents Learned to Eat; My Buddy; Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears; Gluskabe and the Four Wishes; Brother Rabbit: A Cambodian Tale; The Woman Who Outshone the Sun; The Mitten; Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt; Blueberries for Sal; Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen; Amazing Grace; Tar Beach; Angle Child, Dragon Child; The Hundred Dresses; White Wash; Terrible Things; Best Friends; The Lily Cupboard; The Number on My Grandfather's Arm; Child of the Warsaw Ghetto; and Passage to Freedom.

In The Spirit that Moves Us, Volume II, the books include: A Gift for Mama; The Land I Lost; The Big Wave; Letters from Rifka; Children of the River; Lupita Manana; Morning Girl; Chernowitz!; Journey to Topaz; The Friendship; Shiloh; Tunes for Bears to Dance To; Nothing But the Truth; Freidrich; Upon the Head of the Goat; Daniel's Story; Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl; Grace In the Wilderness; Night; The Upstairs Room; Number the Stars; and Sky.

The Spirit That Moves Us guides are wonderful and effective resources to use with your favorite books to inspire classroom conversations about:

• Community and identity
• Ethics
• Moral decision-making
• Prejudice
• Human rights
• The Holocaust

Activities

• As an assignment to introduce the idea of cultural heritage to younger children, have them look closely at the quilt pictures in Tar Beach. Then have the students draw their own story quilts about their cultural heritage. Have the students share their quilt's story to the class.
• Have children suggest what they would do if they or a friend were bullied. Explore the power people have to stop a bully; for example, speaking out rather than staying silent, asking others for help, forming groups to protect themselves, or escaping when bullies have too much power for an immediate confrontation.
• Have older children read a biography then and do a report on the person they chose. They should include an analysis of whether the person exhibited courage in any way.
• Read a biography of Samantha Smith and discuss what children think she did to make a difference. Brainstorm a list of other people who alone have made a difference in the world such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Oscar Schindler, etc. Include what they did to make a difference. Try to include other children on the list. Help children understand that they don't have to be adults to make a difference and one person alone is able to affect change or raise awareness on an issue.