Lessons & Units :: Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story 3rd Grade Unit

Read-Aloud Lesson: Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story

Lesson Plan

Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story | AD670L

Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story
Learning Goal
Identify and describe the problems faced by the refugees and Sugihara, Sugihara’s attempts to solve the problems, and the result of those attempts.
Duration
Part 1: Approximately 40-45 minutes
 
Part 2: Approximately 15-20 minutes
 
Part 3: Approximately 15-20 minutes
Necessary Materials

Provided:
1. Detailed lesson plan
2. Graphic organizer for guided practice
3. Independent student worksheet
4. World War II Fact Sheet

Not Provided:
Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story

 
  1. This lesson is a close reading of the entire text. So it’s important to engage students often, to enhance their learning. Here are two tips:

    •   When you ask the more complex questions from the lesson, ask students to “turn-and-talk” or “buddy-talk” before answering.

    •   Once you are deep into the lesson, instead of asking students every question provided, ask them to share with you what questions they should be asking themselves at that point in the text. This is also a great opportunity to use "turn-and-talk."
       
  2. Suggested teacher language is included in the lesson.

  3. We recommend you read the book once to your students, either the day or morning before teaching the lesson.

  4. This research-based, read-aloud lesson may seem long. Why do students need the lesson to be this way?
 

Part 1: Teacher Modeling and Questioning

 

Write the following student-friendly learning goal on the board, then read the learning goal out loud with the class: 

We will describe the problems faced by Sugihara and the refugees, and what happens when Sugihara tries to solve those problems.

 
Prepare Students for the Lesson
 
  • Show students where Lithuania, Poland, and Japan are located on a map
  • Read over with students the World War II Fact Sheet provided.
 
Transition Students into the Text
 
Teacher says: People can show courage, or bravery, in different ways whether it’s running into a burning building to help save others inside or standing up for a friend who is being bullied. Today, we’re going to read about a man who showed great courage so that he could help others during an incredibly difficult war.
 
Read pages 1-3, then stop. Page 3 ends with, "...in his office downstairs."
1.
Teacher asks: Who is telling the story?
 
Students answer: A boy is telling the story.
2.
Teacher asks: When does the story take place?
 
Students answer: The story takes place in 1940.
3.
Teacher asks: Where does the story take place?
 
Students answer: The story takes place in a small town in the small country of Lithuania.
4.
Teacher asks: What was the boy’s father's job?
 
Students answer: He was a diplomat from Japan.
Read more
 
Read page 5 out loud, then stop. Page 5 ends with, “...what is going to happen.”
 

Teacher says (models thinking):

  • The boy tells us that “real soldiers were coming our way.”
  • As we discussed, he also informs us that it is 1940 and that his family is living in Lithuania, which is a country in Eastern Europe.
  • Based on this information in the text, I am going to infer, or conclude, that the boy is referring to soldiers who are fighting in World War II, in Europe, which took place at the time of the story.
 
Read pages 6-10 out loud, then stop. Page 10 ends with, “...from his government in Japan.”
5.
Teacher says: We read that the people who crowded outside of the boy’s house were refugees, or people who ran away from their homes.
6.
Teacher asks: What would have happened to these refugees if they had stayed home?
 
Students answer: If they stayed home, they would have been killed.
7.
Teacher asks: Who were these refugees?
 
Students answer: They were Jews from Poland.
8.
Teacher asks: Who were these Jewish refugees from Poland trying to escape from?
 
Students answer: They were trying to escape from the Nazi soldiers who had taken over their country.
9.

Teacher says:

  • So Poland, the country where these Jewish refugees were from, was taken over by Nazis.
  • We know that Nazis wanted to kill Jews throughout Europe.
  • That’s a major problem these Jewish refugees faced.
  • These refugees tried to run away so they could save their own lives.
10.
Teacher asks: What did the refugees want from the boy’s father?
 
Students answer: They wanted visas, or official written permission to travel through another country.
11.
Teacher asks: Why did the refugees want these visas?
 
Students answer: They wanted to travel east through the Soviet Union and end up in Japan. Once in Japan, they could go to another country.
12.
Teacher asks: What did the boy’s father tell the men when they asked him whether he could give them these visas?
 
Students answer: He told them he could issue a few visas, but not hundreds. To do that, he would have to ask permission from his government in Japan.
 
Read page 12 out loud, then stop. Page 12 ends with, "...to charge inside."
13.
Teacher asks: What decision did the boy’s father have to make?
 
Students answer: He had to decide whether he would help the refugees.
14.
Teacher asks: What dangers did the boy’s father have to think about when making the decision? These dangers may be faced by the father, his family, or the refugees.
 

Students answer:

He had to think about

  • whether he would put his family in danger if he helped the refugees.
  • what the Nazis would do if they found out that he had helped the refugees escape.
  • the fact that if he did not help the refugees, they could all die.
15.
Teacher asks: Was this decision easy or difficult for the boy’s father?
 
Students answer: This decision was a difficult one.
16.
Teacher asks: Look at the illustration (Page 13). Has the father made a decision in the illustration, or is he still deciding? Explain how the illustration shows whether the decision was difficult for the father to make.
 
Students answer: The father is still deciding. In the illustration, he has a thoughtful look on his face and has his hand on his chin. This shows that the decision is difficult for him to make.
17.
Teacher asks: Why was this decision difficult?
 
Students answer: Whatever decision he made could potentially hurt other people, either his family or the refugees.
18.
Teacher asks: What did the boy’s father decide to do?
 
Students answer: He decided to ask his government about the visas.
 
Read pages 14-16 out loud, then stop. Page 16 ends with, “...start helping these people.”
19.
Teacher asks: What answer did the Japanese government give each time the boy’s father asked whether he could issue hundreds of visas for the refugees?
 
Students answer: The Japanese government said "no."
20.
Teacher asks: What problem was the boy’s father faced with after the Japanese government refused to give him permission to issue many visas?
 
Students answer: The boy’s father had to decide if and how he was going to help the refugees without the support of the Japanese government.
21.
Teacher asks: What did the father finally tell his family about what he will do?
 
Students answer: He told his family that he will start helping the refugees.
 
Read pages 18-24 out loud, then stop. Page 24 ends with, “...save as many lives as we can.”
22.
Teacher asks: How did the boy’s father attempt to help the refugees?
 
Students answer: He issued hundreds of visas.
23.
Teacher asks: Based on the evidence in the story, was the boy’s father following the Japanese government’s orders or disobeying their orders by issuing visas to the refugees?
 
Students answer: He was disobeying the government’s orders.
24.
Teacher asks: Why did the boy’s father issue hundreds of visas to the refugees even though the Japanese government told him not to?
 

Students answer (may vary but should include):

  • He wanted to save as many lives as he could.
  • He wanted to save the refugees that ran away from their homes.
  • He didn’t think the decision of the Japanese government was the right one.
  • He believed it was more important to try to save lives than obey the government.
 
Read the remainder of the book out loud, pages 26-30.
25.
Teacher asks: What did the refugees cry out to the boy’s father when the boy and his family were leaving Lithuania on the train?
 
Students answer: The refugees cried out, “We will never forget you! We will see you again!”
26.
Teacher asks: Why did they most likely cry those words out?
 
Students answer: They were grateful that the boy’s father issued as many visas as he could even though he was not allowed to so that he could save them.
27.
Teacher asks: Does the boy tell us what happened to the refugees that received visas from his father?
 
Students answer: No, he does not.
28.
Teacher asks: Based on evidence in the story, what can you conclude about what may have happened to the refugees as a result of the father’s attempt to help them?
 

Students answer (may vary):

  • The refugees might have escaped the Nazis and survived thanks to the efforts of the boy’s father.
  • Some of the refugees may have been caught by the Nazis and killed.
 
We suggest that you do not read the Afterword of the book until students have finished the entire lesson, including the guided practice and independent practice. Then please do return to the book and read this section aloud with your class.
 

Part 2: Guided Practice and Discussion

 
For this oral lesson, it is suggested to have the completed graphic organizer on the board with the answers concealed. After students provide a correct answer, reveal the corresponding answer on the graphic organizer.
1.

Teacher says: We’re going to take some time now to review the problems, attempted solutions, and outcomes we discussed in the story, Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story.

To start we’re going to discuss the first problem we identified in the story. This problem was that the lives of the Jewish refugees from Poland were in danger.

2.
Teacher asks: Why were the lives of the Jewish refugees from Poland in danger?
 
Students answer: The Nazis invaded their country and wanted to kill them.
3.
Teacher asks: What did they do since their lives were in danger once the Nazis invaded?
 
Students answer: They tried to escape to other countries.
4.
Teacher asks: What did they do when they escaped?
 
Students answer: They arrived in Lithuania, seeking help from the boy’s father.
Read more
5.
Teacher asks: When the refugees first asked for help, what problem did the boy’s father face?
 
Students answer: He had to decide whether he would help the refugees who wanted him to issue hundreds of visas.
 
Teacher asks: Why did the refugees need these visas?
 
Students answer: They needed permission to travel through another country to escape the Nazis.
6.
Teacher asks: What did the boy’s father decide to do?
 
Students answer: The boy’s father decided to ask the Japanese government three times for permission to grant the visas.
7.
Teacher asks: What happened when the boy’s father asked the Japanese government for permission?
 
Students answer: The Japanese government said "no" each time.
8.
Teacher asks: What dilemma, or problem, did the boy’s father have to deal with then?
 
Students answer: The boy’s father had to decide whether he would help the refugees without the support of the Japanese government.
9.
Teacher asks: What caused this dilemma or problem?
 
Students answer: The Japanese government did not allow him to grant hundreds of visas.
10.
Teacher asks: What did the boy’s father end up doing?
 
Students answer: The boy’s father issued as many visas as he could.
11.
Teacher asks: What happened to the refugees as a result of these efforts?
 

Students answer:

  • It is not explicitly stated what happens to the refugees.
  • They may have used the visas to escape the Nazis and survive.
  • Some may have been caught by the Nazis and killed.
 

After the answers for the graphic organizer have been completed and discussed with the class, ask the following two discussion questions.

 
Teacher asks: Explain whether or not the boy’s father – the Japanese diplomat – had to get involved in the problems of the refugees. Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
 

Students answer (may vary but could include):

  • The boy’s father did not have to deal with the problems of the refugees since he did not have any direct responsibilities to the Jews from Poland. He chose to become involved in the situation when he decided to help them.
  • The boy’s father did not have to deal with the problems of the refugees, especially after the Japanese government denied him permission to grant the refugees hundreds of visas. He could have just stopped his efforts there.
  • The boy’s father did have to address and try to help solve the problems of the refugees because the lives of these people were in danger and he felt he had to do the right thing and obey God by doing his best to save them.
  • The boy’s father did have to address and try to help solve the problems of the refugees because the refugees pressured him to do so by crowding outside of his home, preventing his family from going outside.
 
Teacher asks: Were the father’s attempts to help the refugees courageous? Why or why not?
 

Students answer (may vary but could include):

  • His attempts to help the refugees were courageous because he was risking his life and the lives of his family members, as they could have been put in danger if the Nazis found out what he was doing or if the Japanese government found out he disobeyed the government and issued the visas.
  • His attempts to help the refugees were courageous because he risked the safety of himself and his family in order to save as many refugees as he could.
 

Part 3: Student Independent Practice

 
Both the student question set and teacher answer sheet are provided in the 'Text & Materials' section.

Texts & Materials

Standards Alignment

(To see all of the ReadWorks lessons aligned to your standards, click here.)

User Comments

I love the passages and the lessons are awesome. I'm excited. I know my students will enjoy them.

Submitted by ahughes

Submitted by ahughes_2232902 on 2/11/17

I am going to use this lesson for language therapy. I know my students will benefit from it.

Submitted by Shirley Girnun on 2/11/16

I love this lesson and I
know my students are equally going to learn and enjoy it too.

Submitted by ddosunmu on 2/2/16

This lesson is awesome! I can hardly wait to teach it.

Submitted by j.joyner_1410781 on 9/30/15