Japanese Internment Camps

Essential Question

How did Japanese families from California live during WWII?

Texts

Literature

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow

Mari and her family have been sent to an internment camp in Utah. She does not understand what they have done to deserve their internment and longs for her backyard in California where she used to grow sunflowers.

Amy Lee-Tai and Felicia Hoshino (illustrator)

Grade Level

3-5

Subject

History

April 7, 2016

Informational

Beyond the Barbed Wire

Helen Tsuchiya, born a U.S. citizen, tells what it was like to move from her home to an internment camp surrounded by barbed wire after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Helen Tsuchiya and Larry Long

Grade Level

3-5

Subject

History

Topic

Immigration Rights & Activism

July 2, 2014

Visual

Manzanar, 1942

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, over 110,000 Japanese Americans, mostly U.S. citizens, were incarcerated in “War Relocation Camps.” These photographs were taken at Manzanar, one of the ten Japanese internment camps, in 1942.

Clem Albers and Francis Stewart

Grade Level

3-5 6-8 9-12

Subject

Civics

History

Topic

Rights & Activism

September 3, 2015

Teaching Strategies

Close and Critical Reading

Window or Mirror?

This task helps students consider if the text is a window or a mirror through practicing literacy skills and using technology.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

CCSS

RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.3, RL.6-12.7, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.3, RI.6-12.7

April 18, 2016

Student Tasks

Do Something

Act Up! Drama for Justice

Students write and perform a skit or monologue that brings awareness to a specific issue addressed in the text.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

July 13, 2014

Plan Built By

Elylake

Japanese Internment Camps

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow

Beyond the Barbed Wire

Manzanar, 1942

Window or Mirror?

Act Up! Drama for Justice

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