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Experience
World War II Written especially for students in grades 4-8 who read at the second grade level, Once Upon a War: The Memoir of Gertrud Schakat Tammen, the new Cover-to-Cover 'Moments in History' Informational Book from Perfection Learning, is young Gertrud's riveting first-hand account of growing up in Eastern Germany during World War II. Featuring thirteen compelling entries that span from June, 1941 to October, 1944, Gertrud wrote this diary from the time she was ten years old until she turned thirteen. In it, she gives reluctant readers an up-close description of what it was like to face the traumatic changes in her small town and within her family as Hitler came to power. Here's a glance at what readers will discover in her fascinating war journal: • After a town was bombed, townspeople would prepare for the next bombing by spray-painting apartment buildings green and removing flammable items from attics. • German citizens never said anything against the Nazi party, for fear of being arrested or killed. • German girls Gertrud's age belonged to a group called Jung Maedel (young maiden). They wore white blouses, dark shirts, and special black scarves. • Nazis defended their policy of removing Jews by saying Jewish people were Jewish first and German second. To them, Germany would be stronger if everyone living in Germany was German first. • German citizens stayed informed about the war by listening to Nazi officials on the radio. Sometimes a voice named "The Man of the People" would challenge the truth of German news reports, but most citizens thought he was crazy. • German citizens were heavily influenced by films, especially war documentaries and war films. Readers get a good vocabulary lesson in English and German too, thanks to the extensive glossary of terms presented in sidebars along the way in Once Upon a War: The Memoir of Gertrud Schakat Tammen, and in a helpful list at the end. As with every Cover-to-Cover title, Perfection Learning has used its decades-long experience in literature-based teaching materials to create a companion Portals Plus Teacher Resource. The Portals Plus further extends Once Upon a War: The Memoir of Gertrud Schakat Tammen by providing approximately 15 cross-curricular reproducible activities in Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Study Skills, Critical Thinking, and the Arts, each with important strategies identified. Diana Star Helmer is also the author of Perfection Learning's We're Behind You, George Washington, Give Me Liberty, The Believers, Half Free, and The Secret Soldier |
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