We will be reading the book "I Have Lived A Thousand Years" by Livia Bitton-Jackson during the second semester of Sixth grade. This memoir of a 13-year-old Hungarian Jewish girl's incarceration in Auschwitz is a moving story of a young girl’s transition from fear to bravery in the midst of her horrific surroundings. It is told from a young girl’s perspective, whose strong voice I know will grip my students’ attention. We plan to read and discuss the book in Language Arts class while the students are learning about European history in their Social Studies class. We are currently raising funds to take all the sixth graders in the school on a field trip to the Holocaust Museum in Dallas to further their knowledge and understanding of this tragic incident and its implications for our future.

A large majority of my students (about 99%) are from economically disadvantaged households, and many do not have ANY books at home. I believe it's important to expose kids to great stories to learn from - to both learn to read and to learn to be a compassionate human being. I have seen acts of bravery in my students - from standing up for a special needs student being picked on to resisting the lure of gang life in a tough community. I want to provide good examples of character and acts of bravery from early on in middle school to encourage these types of courageous actions in these wonderful young people.

The $188 will be used to purchase a class set (30 copies) of the book "I Have Lived A Thousand Years" to read during class with my 6 period of 135 students. The books cost $6.27 per copy. Learn more about this wonderful book here: Amazon: I Have Lived A Thousand Years

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