Night Activities
Complete the following chapter activities
Equity and Ethics Night During Reading Activities
Chapter 1 (3-22)
Respond to the following questions in your notebook.
- Where is Elie from? (3)
- What does it mean that Elie is “deeply observant” (3)? Which activities reinforce this?
- How does Elie describe his father? (4)
- What is the kabbalah? (5) Look at the longest paragraph on page five. From the context, what is the kabbalah?
- What important event happened on page 6? How did the Jews respond to this?
- What did Moishe the Beadle tell the community? (6) How did the people react? (7)
- How many years pass during the first chapter? Refer to pages 3, 7, and 8.
- What is the Russian Front? What is the Jews’ attitude about the power of the Nazis? (8)
- What does Elie mean when he says: “In those days it was still possible to buy emigration certificates to Palestine. I asked my father to sell everything, to liquidate everything, and to leave” (8-9)? What was his father’s response? (You may have to do a bit of historical research to understand this historic phenomenon.)
- Where did the Nazi officers live? (9)
- What was the first edict by the German soldiers? (10)
- What was the role of the Hungarian police? What did they do to the Jews? (10)
- What was the new decree? (11)What other edicts are listed? (11)
- Based on the context what is a ghetto? (11)
- What does Elie mean when he says: “The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion” (12)?
- What is the news that Elie’s father brings to them? (13)
- What do you infer about the Jewish Council? (You can research it briefly.)
- Elie says: “To the last moment people clung to hope” (15). What do you make of this? Do you agree? Can you think of other situations in which this might be true?
- How did the Jews prepare for deportation? (15)
- How did the Hungarian police treat the Jews? (16)
- “It was there for the taking. An open tomb. A summer sun” (17). Elie constructs a rhetorical device known as juxtaposition. Take a stab at what it means and how it is constructed here. (We will discuss it in class.)
- Elie writes: “My father was crying. It was the first time I saw him cry” (19). What does this imply about the relationship between the father and Elie? (This will continue to intensify throughout the text.)
- Who does Elie hate? Why? (19)
- Elie wrote: “From behind their windows, form behind their shutters, our fellow citizens watched as we passed” (19). Elie is nudging to the reader. What do you think he is saying to us?
- What opportunity did Elie’s father pass up? Why do you think he refused? (20)
- What is the first word on page 21? What is the significance of this? How can it be a symbol?
- What did the people think of the impending deportation? Why did they talk like this? (21)
- What is ironic about their “expulsion” happening on the Sabbath? (21) What is ironic about their time in the synagogue? (22)
- How were the Jews deported? (22)
- What is the attitude of the Gestapo officers? How did they view the Jews? (22)
Chapter 2 (23-8)
- Describe what it was like in the cattle car. (Write at least four sentences to describe it.)
- Describe Mrs. Schäcter. How is she foreshadowing what happened at the concentration camps?
- What did Elie and his family experience when they first arrived at Birkenau?
Chapter 3 (29-46)
During this chapter, you will learn what it was like in the concentration camp. You need to formulate questions for the chapter. You will need to write fifteen questions in total, five from each of the following categories. You will share your questions with the class and it will generate the class discussion. I have given you an example for each, but you need to make up your own. You will also hand this in and be evaluated on the quality of your questions.
- Questions of fact:
- Focus on details of the text. (What did they eat in the concentration camp?)
- Ask about people, places, and things? (To where did Elie get deported?)
- Choose surface questions for others to answer. (Why did Elie and his dad lie about their ages?)
- Questions of interpretation:
- Focus on meanings that the text communicates. (What is the attitude the author has toward the Jewish Council?)
- Ask about symbols, themes, and underlying messages. (How is Mrs. Schäcter’s vision foreshadowing later events in the book?)
- Choose deeper questions for others to answer. (How did Elie deceive himself as a means of coping with his trauma?)
- Questions that are open-ended:
- Focus on moving beyond the text. (Can you relate Elie’s experiences with any other human rights violations in our time?)
- Ask about future and implications. (Do you think Elie’s book has made a difference for Jewish people? How?)
- Choose open-ended questions for others to answer. (Do you think you would have persevered? If not at which point do you think you would have given up?)
Chapter 4 (47-65)
Write a summary for this chapter. Follow the steps listed below. (It should be one-half to one page in length).
Summarizing: include the following information
- What happened?
- What is essential to tell?
- What is the outcome?
- Who is involved?
- Why does this happen?
- What is the main point?
- What does the author want me to remember or learn from this section?
Chapter 5 (66-84)
Double-Entry Reflective Journals
Copy down a table in your notebook. It should look like the one below. You need to include at least five direct quotations or summaries from the book Be sure to include the page number. For each quotation/summary, write one or more sentences, by using one of the thinking prompts.
| Direct quote of summary from source and page number. | Thinking prompts:
This reminds me of . . . I predict . . . I am confused because . . . I will help myself by . . . I think this means . . . I wonder . . . |
| You need to include five. |
Chapter 6 (85-97)
- Sketch/draw images that come to your mind when you read this chapter. You need to include at least five images. They can be minimalist.
- What happened to Rabbi Eliahu? (91) Why does this concern Elie?
Chapter 7 (98-103)
- What happened on the train?
Chapter 8 (104-12)
- Describe Elie’s father’s demise. Also explain how Elie responded in the situations.
Chapter 9
- What event or description stands out to you the most in this chapter?
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