sadako-long response

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Home : 2003 : February : 23

sadako-long response
By sandyH

I love this book and have really enjoyed teaching it with my 4th graders. { This year I chose not to, since I have a student who is in remission from leukemia. I thought it might be too personal and painful to witness the
character's struggle and death.} Anyway, one thing you can do is to use the internet for resources of info. There are lots of sites out there about the Sadako memorial, Peace Day, and WWII. My list of sites is in my favorites folder at school, but I can send some along tomorrow. I really try to balance the story by talking about the American experience during WWII as well. There is

one site out there that shows you parts of a virtual house. You can click on the colored items and learn about the significance of that item on the homefrontduring the war. For instance, if you click on the shoes it will tell you about how citizens were alotted coupons for shoes since supplies were limited. If you click on the window, it tells about blackout curtains...It's really interesting.
Another thing I've done and been very happy with is to do an expert group/share group project to learn about Japan. Here's how it works. I divide the class up into small groups (maybe 5 groups of 5). I give each group a copy of an article relating to Japan. One group learns about food, another geography, another traditions, another schools, another might learn about holidays and celebrations. They read together and discuss what they have learned. They highlight important parts of their article. After awhile, I break up these students who have now become "experts" on their topic and assign them to a new group. One member from each expert group now goes to each share group. Each person takes a turn sharing what they learned about their topic, while the rest listen and take notes. This way, everyone learns about every facet, but only reads one. When everyone has finished presenting to their group, answered questions, etc., each student is responsible for summarizing what he or she learned about Japan. They really like this activity, too. It's quite a challenge.
One final thing that comes to mind is a writing prompt. I've had my students read a fact sheet about Japanese schools (length of school day, subjects studied, requirements, etc.) and write a letter to their parents. (They are to imagine their parents are considering a move to Japan because of a job transfer. It is their job to convince their parents to move or not move because of their views of Japanese schools.)