Seeds to Plate Language Arts Grade 7 Anne Frank’s Window

Overview: Materials: Students who have read Anne Frank: The Diary of Handout: “Anne a Young Girl will learn how a chestnut tree, Frank’s View From Her outside the attic where Anne and her family and Window” friends were forced to hide during World War II, Cardboard cut-outs or gave her hope and comfort during the worst of pieces of wood nailed times. together to create “windows” placed Objectives: around the garden held At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: up by wooden stakes Describe what Anne Frank saw from her Clipboards attic window and explain what that Colored pencils symbolized for her during the Holocaust. Copies of Anne Frank: Gaze through a “window,” like Anne, into The Diary of a Young the school garden and experience what it Girl might have been like to gaze at nature while forced to hide indoors for two On the Board: years. Student Reflection Describe, in writing, sensory experiences Questions in the garden: animal sounds, plant Vocabulary words textures and smells, sky colors, weather conditions (such as sun/clouds/fog/dew), and how these things make them feel. Suggested Snack: Roasted Chestnuts - http:// Preparation: homecooking.about.co Create “windows” from pieces of m/od/nutrecipes/r/ cardboard taped together or wood nailed blmisc38.htm together and attached to stakes. See the Teacher Supplement: “Photo of Garden Other Resources: Windows” for an example. Place them “Views of the Anne around the garden where they are facing Frank Chestnut Tree” a tree. Have enough for students to work on YouTube: https:// in pairs around a window. www.youtube.com/ watch? Vocabulary: v=hrYMPwK6HIk diary Holocaust persecute annex

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Learning Activities: 1. Warm-Up (10 min.) A. Ask students to recall what they know about the story of Anne Frank. B. Explain that she was a young Jewish girl who lived in Amsterdam during the Holocaust of World War II. Because Jews were being persecuted throughout Europe, forced into concentration camps, and murdered Anne Frank and her family hid for two years in a small, concealed annex of the building where her father at formerly worked. The annex was located up some stairs behind bookshelves in the building. She is well known for keeping this diary during this period. C. Define several vocabulary words: - diary: a book in which one keeps a daily record of events, experiences, and feelings - persecute: subject someone to ill-treatment, especially because of their race, ethnicity, or political/religious beliefs - annex: an added on structure to a building - attic: a space between the roof and the ceiling of the top floor of a building

2. Presentation: Anne Frank’s Window (15 min.) A. Distribute the Handout: “Anne Frank’s View from her Window.” B. Have students read passages from that that talk about the chestnut tree from Anne’s diary. C. Ask them to define the vocabulary words from context clues in the text: - Holocaust: destruction or slaughter on a mass scale (In this case, millions of Jews and other minorities were killed during WWII.) - namesake: a person or thing that is named after something else - solace: comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness - entranced: to fill someone with wonder and delight, holding their entire attention - chestnut tree: a large tree that produces the chestnut, a glossy brown nut that may be roasted and eaten D. Ask students: How did you feel when reading what Anne wrote in her diary? (Sad, hopeful, discouraged, angry, etc.)

3. Garden Activity: View from their Windows (15 min.) A. Tell students they will now go in pairs into the garden and will sit in front of one of the “windows” there.

2 Seeds to Plate Language Arts Grade 7

- Like Anne, each student will pause and look through the “window” and reflect on the experience. - They will write a descriptive paragraph about what they observe using their senses of sight, hearing, and smell. - They should also describe what emotions their observations trigger. B. Distribute clipboards and colored pencils. C. Once they complete their paragraphs, have them share them with their partner. D. Bring the class back together and ask students to share their experiences with the class. Ask: - Has anyone ever felt like Anne said she did in her diary: “like a bird in a cage?” - How does being in nature make you feel? - Does going into nature give you comfort when you are upset about something? - If not, what does?

4. Snack: Serve roasted chestnuts. (5 min.)

5. Have students answer the Reflection Questions in their garden journals. (5 min.)

Student Reflection Questions: 1. Was it difficult to imagine that your were confined to a small annex when you looked through the window in the garden? Why? 2. Have you ever found that nature helped get you through a difficult time?

Assessment Questions: 1. In Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, why did Anne and her family and friends hide in the attic? - They were trying to protect themselves from being killed during the Holocaust. 2. In Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, what gave Anne hope that they would eventually get out of the attic and go back to their regular life? - Her connection to nature and its ever changing cycles which was represented by the walnut tree outside the annex window. 3. In Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, what object in nature comforted Anne? - A chestnut tree outside her window.

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Standards: Common Core State Standards - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.2.D Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.

- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.3.D Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.

- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

Acknowledgements: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank. Bantam: New York, 1993.

4 Seeds to Plate Anne Frank’s Window Handout Anne Frank’s View From Her Window

Name: Teacher: Date:

After you read the following bolded text, go to the garden in pairs and sit in front of a “window.” Look through the window and think about what you SEE, HEAR, and SMELL. Think about what you FEEL. Then write a paragraph about what all your senses experience. Once you finish, read your paragraph aloud to your partner.

From her only window to the outside world, Anne Frank could see the sky, birds, and she was entranced by a majestic chestnut tree. “As long as this exists,” Anne wrote in her diary, “how can I be sad?” During the two years she spent in the Secret Annex the solace Anne found in her chestnut tree provided a powerful contrast to the Holocaust unfolding beyond her attic window. And as war narrowed in on Anne and her family, her tree became a vivid symbol of freedom and hope.

Anne’s tree would outlive its namesake by more than 50 years, before being weakened by disease and succumbing to a windstorm in 2010. But now, thanks to dozens of saplings propagated in the months before its death, Anne’s tree lives on in cities and towns around the world. Here in the United States, the Sapling Project has brought eleven of these precious trees to specially selected locations across the country. As the saplings take root, they will emerge as living monuments to Anne’s pursuit of peace and tolerance. In the process, they will serve as powerful reminders of the horrors borne by hate and bigotry and the need for collective action in the face of injustice.

From: The Sapling Story at: http://annefranktreeusa.com/af/sapling.nsf/Pages/ 1 Seeds to Plate Anne Frank’s Window Handout

Write your paragraph here:

2 Seeds to Plate Anne Frank’s Window Teacher Supplement

Photo of a Garden Window