I Wanted to Fly Like a Butterfly is a tender account of the Holocaust through the eyes of a young survivor, and is aimed at grades 3-4. Hanna Gofrit recalls her childhood in Poland and tells how her life dramatically changed when the Nazi soldiers occupied her country. Hanna lived to tell the story thanks to a brave Polish family who sheltered Hanna and her mother for two years until the end of the war.

The book itself is designed with color-coded pages to help teachers focus on a variety of concepts. You can decide which units within the book you want to focus on, which you want to read but not comment on, and which can be skipped. Important note: Although the book presents Hanna’s life starting at a young age, we recommend you start with the final pages, which discuss Hanna as an adult in Israel. This allows the students to follow the story without worrying about whether Hanna will survive.

In-depth teacher’s guide (from Yad Vashem).

Lesson plan for I Wanted to Fly Like a Butterfly (PDF)

You can pPurchase I Wanted to Fly Like a Butterfly from Yad Vashem or from us as part of a kit.

The third grade teacher at one congregation had her students make a megillah out of this book. Read her description here.

Children in the Ghetto is an interactive website written for children. It portrays life during the Holocaust from the viewpoint of children who lived in the ghetto. At the same time, it attempts to make the complex experience of life in the ghetto as accessible as possible to today’s children.

Along with the description of the hardships of ghetto life, the website presents the courage, steadfastness, and creativity involved in the children’s lives. One of the most important messages to be learned is that despite the hardships, there were those who struggled to care for one another and to continue a cultural and spiritual life.

At the center of this site is an imaginary representation of a street in the ghetto. The site invites children to “move around the street” and “enter” various locations in it. In each of the locations, original exhibits such as video testimonies, photographs, paintings, and artifacts are accompanied by interactive activities.

You can find the following at the Children in the Ghetto website:

• The interactive street
• Additional information about the project
• Lesson plans for specific sections

Note that you have to allow Flash Player in order for the street to work.

Overview lesson plan for Children in the Ghetto (PDF).

Circles is a teaching unit designed for upper elementary and middle school students, focusing on topics that reflect Jewish observance during the Holocaust. The curriculum discusses Jewish religious traditions and how Jews struggled to maintain their customs during the Holocaust. The following topics are covered:Tu B’Shvat, Chanukah, Purim, Passover, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Brit Milah, Prayer, Shabbat, and Kaddish and Commemoration. Each topic has a booklet with quotes and suggested discussions. Choose topics based on the interest and maturity level of your students.

Circles can be nicely woven into the ISJL 4th grade curriculum, which focuses on holidays.

Lesson plan for Circles (PDF)

You can purchase Circles from Yad Vashem online or from us as part of a kit.

Fragments is the story of three siblings sent on the Kindertransport to find safety in England, far from their parents. Author Naomi Shmuel wrote Fragments based on the experiences of her mother, the author and poet Karen Gershon. When read together as a class, this story introduces students to the Kindertransport and the difficulties faced by children having to leave their parents to find safety. This story is good for students in grade 5 and older.

You can purchase Fragments from Yad Vashem online.

One Candle, by Eve Bunting, is the story of a young girl who, with her sister, sneaks a potato out of the concentration camp kitchen to make a single Hanukkah candle. Every year since the war, she and her sister make a single candle from a potato to put in the window next to their menorah and tell the story to their grandchildren. With slightly older kids, you can discuss the idea of spiritual resistance and what the grandmother is trying to do with the memory. Depending on their maturity level, you can also begin to talk about the labor camps that are mentioned in passing in the story. You can purchase One Candle from Amazon.

Lesson plan for One Candle (PDF).