butterfly project

This year, as part of our Holocaust unit, students are reading poems from children at the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp (referred to also as Terezin). They are then making a butterfly to represent the poem, using ThingLink to annotate their creation, and sharing with the class (and all of our readers!) via their blogs. Students will also find out the fate of the child who wrote their poem, as that is revealed in the appendix of the I never saw another butterfly book, which was used to create the project. Huge thanks to Sarah Larson for her helping me enhance the way I had done this project in the past!

Here's my version of the project. 

The Butterfly, click here to listen to me read the poem.
by Pavel Friedmann

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing
      against a white stone...

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly 'way up high.
It went away I'm sure because it wished to
      kiss the world goodbye.

For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live here,
     in the ghetto.



I like this project for many reasons. First, it's art, and we have so many artistic students, so it's great see learning happen in new ways! Also, this project has meaning. Each day, as students find out the fate of the child who created their poem, they are so happy to find out if they survived, but can be so devastated to find they perished. The strings hanging in the room is a good visual for all the deaths that happened as a result of the Holocaust. While the whole thing is such a tragedy in our world's history, studying it is so important so that we can work to stand up for everyone in our lives who needs a friend.