1. Introduction & Research

Lesson One
Introduction and & Research on The Boy in The Striped Pajamas


Quote: "The house in Berlin had stood on a quiet street and alongside it were a handful of other big houses like his own... and when you walked towards the centre of town there were always people strolling along and stopping to chat... There were shops with bright store fronts, and fruit and vegetable stalls with big trays piled high" The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

{Teacher introduces the novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas as a story set in World War II where a young boy is the son of a German official who unknowingly begins a friendship with an imprisoned Jewish boy to dire consequences.} (5 mins)


Activity: Students brainstorm what they know of World War II - which countries were involved and on which sides, where the action was, what happened to the Jewish population, how it all ended. Students post their findings on this blog to look back on at the end of the lesson sequence. (15 mins)

{Teacher discusses researching on the internet and the ways in which students should control and optimize their searching. Discussion includes selection search engines, understanding the commercial aspect of the internet and how that affects information, optimizing searches with 'and' and use of inverted commas, reliability of sites such as Wikipedia, cross-referencing etc.} (10 mins)


Activity: Students search the internet using the search engine and phrase selection of their choice to find the causes of World War II. Students are to find three different websites and consider the different representations of this information. They then pair up and share their findings and thoughts, and post their combined opinions and findings on this blog. {Think, Pair, Share} (10 mins)

Activity: As a class, students read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas from Page 1 through Page 14 finishing with "'Some people make all the decisions for us'". A few student volunteers take turns reading aloud for the class. The students then go around the room and make one comment each on what they have learnt about the location, situation or themes of the novel. Teacher scribes answers and posts on this blog. {Round Table} (20 mins)