If you’ve stumbled here from Pinterest, or some other site … welcome! While each of these books/lessons can stand alone, they are also a part of a year-long series that we have taught at our homeschool co-op. Each lesson builds in part on the one before. Some stories also have similar themes with the books that go before/after them. If you are interested in more information, or to see the complete booklist, check out our main page, More FIAR – Inspired Literature-Based Lesson Plans, especially for homeschool and homeschool co-ops. Thanks for looking around, and welcome to the site!
The Memory Coat
by Elvira Woodruff
What I Need:
The Memory Coat Book
The Memory Coat Handwriting Sheet
World Map that shows Russia.
United States Map, the shows Ellis Island
Picture of the Statue of Liberty
Project: What Would You Bring? / What is your most treasured possession?
Project: Create a Suitcase (printable template here)
Introduce the Story:
Our story takes place in Russia, a little over 100 years ago. (If you are following along with our year-long plan, you can explain that our next two stories are stories of Immigrants, people who Emmigrated (left their country) and Immigrated (came to live) in America.)
Take a moment to find Russia on a World Map.
Share with the class:
- It is the biggest country but it does not have the most amount of people – why?
- Can we tell anything about Russia based on where it’s located? (close to Artic, very coooold. Many parts too cold for people to live in)
- If you want, show a Russian Flag
We discussed:
What are Immigrants? (I briefly noted the difference in the words Immigrant and Emmigrant, but didn’t feel the need to elaborate. This was more for introduction to the concept)
Why would people leave their countries?
- Sickness
- Famine (lack of food)
- Poverty (can’t find good work)
- Persecution (people hurting or killing or looking down on you because of your religious belief)
When people came to America, they were looking for a new start, they came to Ellis Island, they saw the Statue of Liberty (show the picture), and for many, this gave them Hope – that this country, America, would receive them in and they could start fresh with their family.
Take a moment to show on the map and distinguish:
the COUNTRY of the United States of America
the STATE of New York
the small tiny island called, ELLIS ISLAND in the ATLANTIC OCEAN
In our story today, the family is leaving Russia because they are being Persecuted (do you remember what that means?) because they were Jewish. The Russians at that time didn’t like the Jews, and they wanted to get rid of them, so Rachel and Grisha and the rest of the family in the story are trying to leave.
Read the Story Together:
If you want to preview it first, this complete Read-Aloud is located on YouTube,
As you go through the story, pause to explain:
- The world epidemic, make sure they understand the word epidemic and understand that his parents died and he was taken in by his aunt and uncle.
- Why was Grisha’s coat special? (yes – his mother had made it with her very own coat)
- Was Grisha’s eye really sick? (no, he just had infection)
- Was Grisha’s family lying or deceiving when they turned his coat inside out? (not really – they knew the truth and just wanted to be given a 2nd chance to explain the truth)
- What kinds of things are special to you? Often the things that are special to us are not the most expensive or the most valuable. (Grisha’s Coat – why was it special)
Project: Create Your Own Suitcase / What Would YOU Bring?
In the story, Grisha’s most treasured posession is his coat. Not because his coat is so beautiful or expensive, but because inside, “he can still feel his mama’s touch”, as Rachel reminds them.
- Tell the class to pretend they are going on a trip. Draw a picture of the thing they would most like to take with them.
- Then, cut out all the pieces in the handout below. (Keep the two sides of the suitcase attached when cutting so that you can just fold it closed).*Have scotch tape on hand in case they accidently don’t hear you say, “don’t cut the suitcase pieces apart”
- Have them write their name on the tag, then cut FOR THEM a small slit in the tag. This is easiest if you make a slight fold in the point and cut a small slice starting from the middle, as shown. Our 5-7 year olds were able to do most of this project on their own, but this part we helped with.
- Then, glue or tape the handles, and tag* to the folded suitcase.
- *If you cut a small slit in the handle of the tag, you can slide it right onto the handle, as shown
- They can either glue their “most treasured thing” on the inside of their suitcase, or if you want to be a little fancier, you can glue small paper “pockets” inside
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| Click here for printable version |
Handwriting Sheet
That’s it for this week! To see what we’ve done so far in our Homeschool Co-op’s Literature Series this year, click here. Each lesson builds on the one before and seeks to cover basic geography within the book, historical contexts, a handwriting sheet and a language arts lesson, as it applies to the book.
Or, you can check out the complete Learning the ABC’s through Literature Series, which is a similar series that we did with this same group of kiddos a year earlier. Both of these series of books have been inspired by the Five in a Row curriculum, with many of the books being the same. The ideas, implementation of it for a co-op, and printables are all my own, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for stopping by to check it out!
