Outcomes:
Letters, short descriptions, extended diary entries, obituary, optional opinion piece
Main Outcome:
Newspaper article
Length:
10 sessions, 2+ weeks
Overview and Outcomes:
This is a two-week planning sequence for Anne Frank by Josephine Poole and Angela Barrett. This sequence should also be supplemented by The Diary of a Young Girl which contains her original diary writing (this can be downloaded from the internet for free). The graphic novel adaptation by Ari Foreman and David Polonsky is also great particularly for its lively illustrations. Both – the original diary entries and the graphic novel - in their entirety are not always age appropriate and, with this sequence, only use extracts from both to support reading and understanding. It is however vital to use extracts from Anne Frank’s original diary as this will help give children a deeper understanding and appreciation of her incredible character. The sequence begins with children discovering a package in class containing a red-chequered diary called Kitty and responding to a video of Otto Frank. As the sequences progresses, they will learn about Anne and her family’s life. They will have opportunities to write extended diaries. The final pieces of extended writing will be an obituary, a newspaper report and an opinion piece. Children can then have fun publishing their own newspapers!
Synopsis of Texts:
Anne Frank's diary telling the story of her years in hiding from the Nazis has affected millions of people. But what was she like as a small girl, at home with her family and friends; at play and at school? And how did an ordinary little girl come to live such an extraordinary and tragically short life? In the first half of the book we meet Anne as a small child growing up with her family in Germany. Then we follow her flight to Holland to escape the Nazis; the German invasion and the gradual isolation, then outright persecution, of the Jewish population which forces the family into hiding; the years in the Secret Annex; and her last heart-breaking journey.
Links:
World War Two, WW2, Holocaust, occupation, Judaism
