Lesson Title: Through the Eyes of a Stone Angel

Content Area: Social Studies Time Required: 75 minute total

Grade: 5th grade (15 min. 45 min. 15 min.)
Teacher: Shannon Foster

Art Integration (3):

Music Students will move to music using their bodies and
faces to reflect how they feel.
Literary Arts Teacher will read aloud the story Stone Angel
by Jane Yolen.
Drama Students will pantomime scenes from the story
Stone Angel by Jane Yolen.

Content Standard:
Content Standard 2Students analyze how people create and change structures of
power, authority, and governance to understand the operation of government and
to demonstrate civic responsibility (Montana Standards for Social Studies, 2000).
Content Standard 6Students demonstrate an understanding of the impact of
human interaction and cultural diversity on societies (Montana Standards for Social
Studies, 2000).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how
characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem
reflects upon a topic; summarize the text (English Language Arts Standards
Reading: Literature Grade 5, 2017)

Content Objective:
Students will perform scenes and write a monologue from the Stone Angels point of view that
tells the little girl about what he sees happening and how he feels about the injustices that the
brown shirts impose on the little girl, her family, and an entire religion.

Assessment:
Students will perform scenes from the text and write a monologue from the Stone Angels point
of view describing three injustices he saw and how they made him feel.

Student will receive a + or -for accurately performing scenes from the text. The teacher
will use a rubric (see resources and attachment) to grade the monologue.

Background on Students (optional):

Key Vocabulary (Academic/Content)
ptisserie French or Belgian
bakery that specializes in pastries
and sweets.
Mes beaux bbs My beautiful
babies.
Partisans a strong supporter of a
party or group
Minyan a group of ten men
Materials
Computer with speakers to access music
links given in Resources
Book Stone Angel by Jane Yolen
Pack of playing cards
Gold six-pointed Jewish Stars
 Lesson Sequence

Anticipatory Set (Getting Started): (15 minutes)

Move the desks so there is a clear stage area in the center of the room in which the
students can move and perform. Set up the readers chair off to the side so it will not interfere
with the movement.
Begin lesson with different musical pieces (See list in Resources).
E/WUs Emotions and music. Do this like a cakewalk. Identify a certain space students use
to slowly move within when the music plays. Teacher plays music while students move their
bodies in silent slomotion (slow motion emotion) expressing with their bodies, actions,
or facial expressions what emotions they feel as they listen to the music of the recording.
When the music stops the students freeze in position. The teacher then taps one student at a
time on the shoulder and the student tells how the music makes them feel using a one-liner.
Remind students to keep a personal space boundary around themselves, no touching, no
talking, etc.

Body of the Lesson: (45 minutes)

1. Teacher says: I will be reading the story Stone Angel by Jane Yolen. First, each of you
will receive a playing card. You will role-play a specific character or group in the story.
As a class, you will create a pantomime after I finish reading each page; remember no
words or sounds, only actions. You and your group will have one to two minutes to
create actions that demonstrate what your characters are doing at each point in the story.
Include body language and facial expressions that capture your characters feelings and
portray the interactions between groups. Remember, no touching, no talking, and
maintain personal space boundaries between actors. After we finish reading the story, we
will have a short discussion about the story. Then each of you will write a short
monologue, a diary like entry, from the Stone Angels point of view in your reflection
journal. Write your monologue as if the Stone Angel saw everything as it happened to the
little girl and her family. What would the Stone Angel say to the little girl and her family
about what happens during the story? How does the Angel feel? What would he do to
change things if he was not a Stone Angel? Does the Stone Angel think that what
happened to the little girl and her family is fair? Why or why not?

2. Open the deck of cards and hand them out randomly to students. Use the suit as shown on
in the table. Assign parts as shown below.

Hearts Spades
Little girl Ace Brown shirts (Nazis) A 10
Aron Jack Madame Calais Queen
Maman Queen
Papa King
Diamonds Clubs
10 men A - 10 Partisans 2-10
Cousin Jacob Jack Skipper Jack

3. Designate a specific area for a stage and for each group to sit while listening to the
story and waiting for their turn to perform.

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 4. Teacher reads one page at a time and stops at the end of each page. Allow time for
groups to impromptu pantomime the actions revealed on the page of the story. (I.e.
children running to the ptisserie, brown shirt soldiers marching, escaping and hiding,
etc.)
5. As students perform, remind them to keep to their own personal space, no touching.
6. After the story is finished, and before they write their monologue, ask the students how
they felt at different points in the story. How did you feel when (you were eating the
brioche, Madame Calais at the ptisserie turned her back on you, when you were
climbing the Pyrenees Mountains, etc.)?
7. Explain to the students that even though this was a fictional story, actions like these
happened during World War II. Ask students, What else do you know about the Nazis in
World War II? Do you think something like this could happen in todays world? How?
Why do you think that? At the end of the story, the little girl sees the angel wearing a
long pleated stone gown, wings spread wide, a sprig of summer in his hand. Why do you
think the angel on the building meant so much to the little girl?
8. Return the room to its usual arrangement and ask students to take out their writing
journals.
9. Teacher says: Now you are going to write a monologue to the little girl from the Stone
Angel.
10. Write the following questions on the board for students to refer to while writing:
a. What would the Stone Angel say to the little girl and her family about what
happens during the story?
b. How does the Angel feel?
c. What would he say about how the different characters and groups interacted?
d. What would he do to change things if he was not a Stone Angel?
e. Does the Stone Angel think that what happened to the little girl and her family is
fair? Why or why not?
11. Discuss the following questions. Teacher says: Now that you have written your
monologues, what do you think about the ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship
in the story versus those you know of a democratic republic (like what the United States
is supposed to be)?
a. Do you think it is fair to single out one group of people and treat them badly
because of what they believe or because they are different? Why or why not?
b. What do you think would cause someone to turn their back on another group of
people here in the United States and treat them as Madame Calais treated the little
girl and her brother?
c. How would you feel if one day the government revoked your citizenship and told
you that you were not allowed to go to school, work, and live in your house
anymore? Explain.
d. Do you think this could happen again or in the United States? Why?

Closure: (15 minutes)

After students write their monologues, choose volunteers to read their first person
reflection.
Explain that this lesson is a warm up for a reading and drama assignment they will be
doing and creating based on the book Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.

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Reflection: (optional to write after you teach the lesson)
What was the students progress toward the lesson objective? How do you know? What
may have supported/hindered them in that progress?
What worked well in the lesson?
What would you change?
What did you learn about yourself as a teacher?

Resources:
Music Music and the Holocaust - http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/music/
o Music from the camps
Bergen-Belsen Moje - https://youtu.be/3lSfLNbSPMU
Im Walde von Sachsenhausen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey_1oU2fCAg
http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/central-
europe/sachsenhausen/kulisiewiczaleksander/imwaldevonsachsenh
ausen/
o Resistence (French)
La Marseillaise- https://youtu.be/jAEQiciJx_8
Mandelon - http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/resistance-and-exile/french-
resistance/la-madelon-x266b/
o Ghetto
Shtiler, Shtiler - https://youtu.be/c_ySzGWn9xo
Itsik Vitnberg - http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/ghettos/vilna/itsik-
vitnberg/
o Degenerate
Johnny Spielt Auf - http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-
propaganda/third-reich/jonny-spielt-auf/
o Art Music and Post Holocaust
Different Trains - https://youtu.be/CSPW9lTN6oQ
Au Claire de la lune - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYLTc3tGdzc
Monologue Rubric Modified from ReadWriteThink (National Council of Teachers of
English , 2006)

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 Works Cited

English Language Arts Standards Reading: Literature Grade 5. (2017). Retrieved from

Common Core State Standards Initiative: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-

Literacy/RL/5/

Montana Standards for Social Studies. (2000, October). Retrieved from Montana Office of

Public Instruction: http://montanateach.org/wp-

content/uploads/2017/02/ContStds-SocSt.pdf

National Council of Teachers of English . (2006). Scoring Rubric for Journal Entries and

Monologue Script. Retrieved from ReadWriteThink:

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson289/scoring

_rubric.pdf

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