Course/Grade Level: 5Th Grade

Course/Grade Level: 5th grade

Lesson Title: The Vietnam War and When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt, a read aloud to the class.

Teacher: Sharon Keena ([email protected])

1. Set Induction: Students will be listening to the Holt novel, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. The story is set during the Vietnam War. Several important events in the story are directly related to the war and one of the main characters has a brother serving there. This lesson is intended to give the students enough background knowledge to better understand the story and the events described in it.

Show the students the book, read the back and discuss the big ideas. The story is about Zachary, an overweight boy traveling around with another young man. They charge people to walk through their trailer and look at Zachary, billed as the heaviest boy in the world. When they stop in Antler, TX, two local boys take an interest in Zachary. Explain to the students that in order to better understand the story, they need to know a little bit about the Vietnam War. Explain that most of the men who went to Vietnam were drafted and explain what that meant. Tell students they will talk about what it was like for the men serving in Vietnam, what was going on in the United States, and the way the veterans were treated when they returned home.

2. Aims/Objectives and Standards: a. CC.K-12.SL.2 Comprehension and Collaboration: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. b. CC.5W.7 Research to Build and Present Knowledge: Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic. c. 16.A.2a Read historical stories and determine events which influenced their writing. d. 16.A.2c Ask questions and seek answers by collecting and analyzing data from historic documents, images and other literary and non-literary sources.

3. Procedures, Assessments and Materials Required: a. Select and print images to be used with students. b. Assign students to groups of at least three for discussion. c. Explain that each student in the group will be given a different document or image to examine. After they think about the questions printed with their document, the group will discuss and compare the images they were given. Each group can select (or be assigned) questions from the "Group Questions" to discuss and answer. Students should write notes and answers to the questions to share during whole group discussion. Notes and written answers will be collected for assessment. d. Provide each group with an image or document from each group: protests, in Vietnam, and returning home, and a copy of the "Group Questions." e. Allow students enough time (amount of time based on your students and available time) for their small group discussions. f. Call the class back together and facilitate a whole group discussion to share ideas and conclusions. g. Create a chart or poster of the important differences and feelings to reference as you read the book. h. Materials: Copy of book, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt Copies of attached documents and prepared questions Chart paper and markers

4. Resources and Scholarship:

Protests: http://wagingnonviolence.org/category/history/vietnam-war/ http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificaviet.html http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_1970_protest_against_the_Vietnam_War.jpg http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227276-Whatever-Happened-To-The-Anti-War-Movement- http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/4102-633

In Vietnam: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/3692873395/ http://history.searchbeat.com/vietnamwar/vietnam1966.htm http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24341&page=32 http://www.vietnam-war.0catch.com/vietnam_war_pics2.htm http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/alleyes/content/vietnam-war-ended-april-30-1975-23-images http://www.usmcfsa.com/mike_fishbaugh.htm http://www.vietnam-war.0catch.com/vietnam_war_khe_sanh.htm

Returning home: http://commonbondvietnamveteranscircle.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/coming-home-2/ http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2010/05/they-fought-for-us-we-forgot-them.html http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php? CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=1076&CISOBOX=1&REC=6 http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/alleyes/content/vietnam-war-ended-april-30-1975-23-images

5. Conclusion/Lesson Wrap-up: Review the important ideas (listed on the chart if you make one) that will impact the characters and events in the story.

6. Language Arts and Math Articulation (for 5th grade teachers only): Students will answer higher level thinking skills, use comprehension skills during the read aloud, and note taking and writing skills while analyzing the Vietnam era documents.

Supplied documents and charts and information copied from websites (including site) are on following pages. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificaviet.html

April 15, 1967 Spring Mobilization to End the War, San Francisco (API) Answer the following questions:

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://wagingnonviolence.org/category/history/vietnam-war/

Anti-Vietnam War protest at the White House, January 19, 1968. Photo by Warren K. Leffler, U.S. News & World Report. Public domain

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_1970_protest_against_the_Vietnam_War.jpg

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/4102-633

Anti-Vietnam War Rally on UC Berkeley Plaza

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227276-Whatever-Happened-To-The-Anti-War-Movement-

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24341&page=32

Mutter's Ridge: Following another air strike in the morning, 2nd Platoon, Company M, 3 Battalion attacks again and gains the ridge crest at noon. Fleeing into the jungle, the enemy leaves behind ten bodies and numerous blood trails that mark the evacuation of many wounded. The battle for the ridge is over, with the Third Battalion, Fourth Marines driving the NVA 324B Division back into the DMZ, losing twenty dead but killing one hundred enemy.

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://history.searchbeat.com/vietnamwar/vietnam1966.htm

Dong Ha, Vietnam. Operation Hastings - Marines of Company H, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment take to the water as they move to join up with other elements of their battalion. Photo taken 07/1966.

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://www.vietnam-war.0catch.com/vietnam_war_pics2.htm

U.S. Marines Hiding Behind Tank

U.S. Marine Congregate in back of tank on a residential street. The tank is firing over an outer wall of the citadel. Hue, February 13th, 1968.

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/3692873395/ US Soldiers Participating in Operation Thayer II

Walking the high-ground that outlines rice paddies, members of the 1/12th, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry go through the paces of a search and destroy maneuver. The U.S. troops were participating in "Operation Thayer II," which took place in North Qui Nhon, South Vietnam.

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://www.vietnam-war.0catch.com/vietnam_war_khe_sanh.htm

Marines Run To Bunkers For Cover

U.S. Marines dash to their bunkers to escape incoming Communist artillery fire at Khe Sanh, one of the Marines' key bases in the northern portion of South Vietnam. February 1st, 1968

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://www.usmcfsa.com/mike_fishbaugh.htm

1st BN 26th MARINES MESSHALL - KHE SANH 1968

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/alleyes/content/vietnam-war-ended-april-30-1975-23-images

WORLD IN A SNAP | Interesting images from around the world The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975

28 April

United States combat troops started arriving in Vietnam in 1965. We had military advisors in the country before that time. The Vietnam war ended on April 30, 1975, with the fall of Saigon. Many of the photographs that came out of that war are still etched in our minds.

In this March 1965 file photo, hovering U.S. Army helicopters pour machine gun fire into a tree line to cover the advance of South Vietnamese ground troops in an attack on a Viet Cong camp 18 miles north of Tay Ninh, northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border, in Vietnam. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) Answer the following questions:

In this Sept. 25, 1965 file photo, paratroopers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade hold their automatic weapons above water as they cross a river in the rain during a search for Viet Cong positions in the jungle area of Ben Cat, South Vietnam. (AP Photo/Henri Huet)

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? In this January 1966 file photo, First Cavalry Division medic Thomas Cole, from Richmond, Va., looks up with one uncovered eye as he treats a wounded Staff Sgt. Harrison Pell during a firefight in the Central Highlands in Vietnam, between U.S. troops and a combined North Vietnamese and Vietcong force. (AP Photo/Henri Huet) Answer the following questions:

In this Sept. 21, 1966 file photo, U.S. Marines emerge from their muddy foxholes at sunrise after a third night of fighting against continued attacks of north Vietnamese 324 B division troops during the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Henri Huet)

In this June 15, 1967 file photo, American infantrymen crowd into a mud-filled bomb crater and look up at tall jungle trees seeking out Viet Cong snipers firing at them during a battle in Phuoc Vinh, north-Northeast of Saigon in Vietnam's War Zone D. (AP Photo/Henri Huet)

In this 1966 file photo, the body of an American paratrooper killed in action in the jungle near the Cambodian border is raised up to an evacuation helicopter in War Zone C, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Henri Huet) Answer the following questions: 1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture?

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/alleyes/content/vietnam-war-ended-april-30-1975-23-images

In this 1966 file photo, Pfc. Lacey Skinner of Birmingham, Ala., crawls through the mud of a rice paddy avoiding heavy Viet Cong fire near An Thi in South Vietnam, as troops of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division fight a fierce 24-hour battle along the central coast. (AP Photo/Henri Huet)

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? In this June 17, 1967 file photo, medic James E. Callahan of Pittsfield, Mass., treats a U.S. infantryman who suffered a head wound when a Viet Cong bullet pierced his helmet during a three-hour battle in war zone D, about 50 miles northeast of Saigon. (AP Photo/Henri Huet)

In this 1966 file photo, U.S. Army helicopters providing support for U.S. ground troops fly into a staging area fifty miles northeast of Saigon, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Henri Huet)

In this June 1967 file photo, medic James E. Callahan of Pittsfield, Mass., looks up while applying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a seriously wounded soldier north of Saigon in June 1967. (AP Photo/Henri Huet)

Comments: Anonymous wrote:

These pictures literally bring tears to my eyes, so senseless destruction and a waste of lives. My father was stationed in Da Nang and that's the only thing I know of his life there. He never spoke about it and never relayed "war stories" like so many WWI, and WWII vets still do these days. The one thing that my grandmother does talk about is the day that he came home, and someone spit at his feet. That time in history was so confusing, and so many different sides of the story.

May 3, 2010 12:18 PM

Why did the author write this piece? What is the author's relationship to the Vietnam War? What is the source of the author's information? What experiences does the author share? http://commonbondvietnamveteranscircle.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/coming-home-2/

Mike Muller is on the Thuy Smith International Outreach Advisory Board, Psychologist (Ph.D.), and Vietnam Veteran who has counseled Veterans and their families for many years.

After returning from Vietnam in 1971 I began graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. It did not take long for me to realize that it was best if I kept my status as a veteran a secret, because people would say derisive or just plain stupid things that would upset me a great deal. My job in Vietnam had taught me how to keep secrets, so I continued to do that in graduate school. Sometimes I would reflect on the unjust or certainly strange situation in which risking my life for my country led people to look down on me and sometimes treat me like a criminal! To risk your life for someone is the greatest gift you can offer short of actually dying for them, and then they look down on you? I also learned not to think or talk about Vietnam in the evenings, because it would upset my sleep and sometimes give me nightmares. It took me ten years to get out of graduate school. Finally in 1981 I began to search for jobs prior to getting my doctorate. I did not put my military service on my resume, because that was the kiss of death and would almost guarantee that I would not be hired. Nor did I have any desire to have anything to do with veterans. I wanted to put all that behind me.

Then I saw an article about a guy that was starting a program that was called the Vet Center program, or Readjustment Counseling Service. I needed a job, so I gave the man a call. He was Dr. Art Blank, the director of the Readjustment Counseling Service, and at the time he was in Connecticut. He asked me some questions about my graduate work. Yes, I had changed graduate programs. Yes, it took me ten years to get out of school. Yes, my transcript showed a lot of Incompletes that were later changed to A’s. My heart was sinking as I told him these things. I thought for sure that I did not have a chance. But I guess that to him- I sounded like a genuine Vietnam Veteran. “Great,” he said, “What state do you want to work in?” I could have my pick anywhere I wanted! This was a revelation and an epiphany for me. Finally it seemed that being a veteran was going to work for me instead of against me. Given the honor and respect that veterans are rightly given today, I think it is easy to forget just how bad it was for veterans in those days, and how very, very deeply it hurt!

Why did the author write this piece? What is the author's relationship to the Vietnam War? What is the source of the author's information? What experiences does the author share? http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2010/05/they-fought-for-us-we-forgot-them.html Vietnam vets finally get some thanks for doing a thankless job

May 22, 2010 By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin, USA)

Green Bay — He wore a hat that said "Proud to be a Vietnam Veteran."

He went to the small wooden sign that said Pleiku and struggled to get out of his wheelchair, then knelt on the large map. With a black marker he wrote "Jim Hitchcock 588th Eng. I'm sorry. Rest in Peace."

Hitchcock returned to his chair and cried as his wife hugged him.

The 62-year-old Town of Lisbon man wasn't welcomed home when he returned from Vietnam. He spent a year there building base camps, spraying the defoliant chemical Agent Orange without a mask.

He tried to forget.

"I grew my hair long and I got lost," Hitchcock said Saturday morning at Lambeau Field. "If anybody asked me if I was in the service, I would say no."

Now he's no longer afraid to say he served. But he didn't get a welcome home party until this weekend when he came to LZ Lambeau, a three-day celebration honoring Wisconsin's Vietnam veterans.

Though the war in Vietnam ended for the United States 35 years ago, many of the thousands of veterans who turned out for "Landing Zone Lambeau" with their families didn't seem to mind the lapse - they wanted simply to relax, reconnect and reflect.

During a prayer to open the event Saturday morning, Cletus Ninham, 66, who earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart serving with the 101st Airborne, told the crowd that it was time to forgive a country that in some respects treated them poorly. Ninham, of Oneida, said Vietnam veterans could choose to live in the past or move ahead with their lives.

"Sometimes old wounds that are infected have to be reopened to heal," said Ninham, who served in Vietnam in 1965-'66.

LZ Lambeau, which continues Sunday at Lambeau Field, is part of the privately funded Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories project. The veterans outreach effort includes a three-hour documentary produced by Wisconsin Public Television and a book by the Wisconsin Historical Society. The documentary airs on public television stations in Wisconsin Monday through Wednesday from 8 to 9 p.m. followed by a one-hour special airing on Thursday showing highlights of LZ Lambeau.

Inside the stadium's atrium were displays by veterans groups including memorabilia from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum and placards with news articles of men killed in Vietnam, arranged by county. Seminars featured speakers discussing Wisconsin female Vietnam veterans, the secret war in Laos and music-based memories of those who served in Vietnam.

LZ Lambeau included a display of Vietnam-era aircraft at Austin Straubel Field, music acts including She 5, a reunion of a Wisconsin girl group that toured Vietnam, and a tribute ceremony inside Lambeau Field featuring segments of Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories.

A line snaked outside the stadium to the Moving Wall - a smaller version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. - which was set up across the street from Lambeau Field. Folks walked silently by; some left mementos, a pair of combat boots, black and white photos, roses.

Using a black crayon and white paper, Don Chic, 64, of West Allis carefully rubbed the names of four buddies he left behind in Vietnam including a friend killed in the siege of Khe Sanh and two friends who died in an ambush in China Beach.

A Marine who served two tours from 1966 to 1968, Chic said he was called a baby killer in Chicago's O'Hare Airport when he came home. He was 21.

He said he came to LZ Lambeau for "a little bit of peace."

After an opening ceremony Saturday morning that featured American Indian singers and drumming, dozens of Vietnam veterans carrying flags stood in a line as well-wishers walked past them to shake their hands, hug them and snap off crisp salutes.

Among them was Thao Seng, secretary of the Wisconsin Lao Veterans of America, who helped the U.S. forces in his native country. The Hmong were known for helping rescue downed American pilots and fighting alongside American GIs. Seng, 52, of Green Bay, stood at attention before every U.S. veteran in the receiving line and saluted.

The largest gathering spot was the gigantic map of southeast Asia laid out on the pavement of the parking lot where tailgaters grill on Packers Sundays. Hundreds of veterans walked across the South China Sea, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, looking down, stopping to read the comments and adding their own. Guys who had served in Danang clustered around a wooden pole painted with the Vietnam city's name. It was the same for markers that read Ashau Valley, Saigon, Khe Sanh, Dak To, Iron Triangle.

Under Cambodia someone wrote "Cambodia? Didn't Know It Was On the Map!!" Next to it someone else wrote "I was not here either!"

Many wrote their names and units. Some left heartfelt messages.

Pleiku: "RIP KIA 1967 SP4 Roger Goldsmith Black River Falls, Wis. 1967"

Cam Ranh Bay: "In memory of Lyle Thompson. Thank You Uncle."

Danang: "Dar 'The She 5' 1968 Loved Playing for you Guys!!"

Quang Tri: "Edward Veser, Died May 6, 1970. You were my life. Love always, Connie"

And: "In Memory of the 88 Marines and Corpsmen from Echo Co. 2/7 1st Marine Div. Semper Fi. Robert Lindmark"

David L. Petersen, 62, of Hudson wore a "1st Infantry Division" hat with a patch on the side for the Combat Infantry Badge he earned and the word "Ranger" on the back. He was wounded in the back by shrapnel while jumping into a foxhole.

Petersen's family welcomed him home, but that was it. No parades, no ceremony, no official recognition. He blended back into society, went to school, worked, raised a family. During the year he spent in Vietnam in 1967 and '68 he didn't know about the protests and growing anti-war sentiment back home. "We called the States 'the world' and we couldn't wait to get back to the world because it was home, it wasn't hostile," said Petersen.

He credits the support of his family as well as a positive outlook and a sense of humor for helping him get through the war. And on Saturday, he drove from Hudson to Green Bay for a party he should have gotten four decades ago.

"I wanted to get welcomed home. I wanted to get closure," Petersen said, sipping a soda. "You know what closure is? It's a beautiful thing."

Answer the following questions: 1. Why did the author write this piece? 2. What is the author's relationship to the Vietnam War? 3. What is the source of the author's information? 4. What experiences does the author share? http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php? CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=1076&CISOBOX=1&REC=6

Returning Vietnam veterans in parade, Seattle, 1969

1. What is the source of the photo? 2. What is the period of the photo? 3. Describe what is happening in the photo. 4. What is the mood of the people in the picture? Group Discussion Questions

Please write your notes and answers on another sheet of paper. Be sure to include the number of the question you are answering.

1. What outcome did the protesters hope to achieve?

2. How does the photo give us information about what the protesters hope to accomplish?

3. Why did people protest? Do you think they afraid they would have to go there, were they worried about the men who were in Vietnam, or were they just angry about the war?

4. How does the environment in the photos of protesters compare to the environment of the photos taken in Vietnam?

5. How is the appearance of the people in the photos of the protesters different from the men in the Vietnam photos?

6. How was life for the citizens of Vietnam different from life in the United States?

7. Why were these men in Vietnam and why couldn't they just come home?

8. Why do you think the men were treated badly when they returned home?

9. How did the returning men react to the way they were treated?

10.Write at least two additional questions you have about the Vietnam War?