6th grade Park Middle School Students Honor and Remember Holocaust Victims
Sixth grade Language Arts students at Park Middle School held their annual Holocaust Remembrance Museum in Mrs. Phillips’, Ms. Rodriguez’s, Ms. Washuta’s and Mrs. Zazzara’s classrooms. Students studied the Holocaust throughout several months while reading Hana’s Suitcase, The Children of Willesden Lane as well as a variety of historical fiction novels set during the Holocaust.
In addition to the novels read in class, students learned about the Nuremberg Laws, which placed restrictions upon Jewish families living throughout Europe. They also learned how Kristallnacht – The Night of Broken Glass, saw many Jewish businesses, places of worship, and homes destroyed. In addition to reading about the Holocaust, students also viewed survivor testimonies, and watched Paper Clips, a documentary that showed how students in Whitwell, Tennessee became a national sensation by collecting paper clips to symbolize the 11 million victims of the Holocaust and built a memorial right on their school property.
To conclude the Holocaust unit, students were asked to consider: What can we learn from the lives of others? What do we want others to know and understand about the Holocaust? How can we honor and preserve the memory of those who perished? These questions let students decide what impacted them and what they wanted people to know and remember about the Holocaust.
When asked if students believed we were successful in preserving the memory of the Holocaust and those who were lost, McKenna Dryer responded, “I believe we were successful because many of the projects showed that the people who were brutally murdered during the Holocaust, will always have a place in our hearts.”
Parents and administrators were invited into the classrooms to view student projects ranging from posters, diaries, models, poetry, paintings, and essays. The museum not only gave students the opportunity to preserve the memory of so many tragic stories, it also allowed them to teach all of us the importance of treating others with kindness and compassion, instead of with hatred and indifference. Please visit Park Middle School’s website, spfk12.org, to view student projects.
Submitted by Patrice Barth
