LEARNING KITS
JAMSJ offers two learning kits developed by the Japanese American National Museum and the U.C.L.A. Asian American Studies Center. Both kits include a videotape and a detailed lesson plan with several choices of learning activities and blackline masters. In addition, the very thorough appendices provide background information for the teacher including Frequently Asked Questions about America's Concentration Camps, Glossary of terms, Chronology of World War II Incarceration and a bibliography of books for children.
Teachers can
contact us and borrow these kits for their classroom use or purchase them from the Japanese American National Museum at
http://store.yahoo.com/janm/onupcamvidse.html
CURRICULUM AND RESOURCE GUIDES
At the high school level, there are a number of curriculum and resource guides to help teach the World War II Japanese American incarceration. Many of these materials are available in JAMSJ's library.
Contact Us.
- Teacher's Guide: The Bill of Rights and the Japanese American World War II Experience includes lesson plans and is available from the National Japanese American Historical Society - www.nikkeiheritage.org
- Japanese American Curriculum Framework is available from the Japanese American National Museum - www.janm.org
- The Japanese American Experience: A Lesson in American History is available from the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) - www.jacl.org
- Japanese Immigration to the United States (a teacher resource guide) includes activities, handouts and transparencies that focus on Japanese immigration to the United States and is available from the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) - http://spice.stanford.edu or by calling 1-800-578-1114.
- Civil Rights and Japanese American Internment will soon be available from SPICE. It is a new comprehensive curriculum unit for high schools. This material will integrate oral histories from the Densho Project to produce a multi-media, web-based curriculum tailored for California and Washington high schools - http://spice.stanford.edu or by calling 1-800-578-1114.
FIELD TRIPS
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class visiting JAMSJ
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Field trips to JAMSJ are recommended for grade 5 and older. Teachers can make arrangements by
contacting JAMSJ.
- Classes are divided into groups of 10 to 15 with JAMSJ docents leading them on a Scavenger Hunt through the museum and a Japantown Walking Tour.
- A class of 20-30 students would spend between 1 ý to 2 hours at the museum.
It is recommended that classes have done some reading or discussion about the Japanese American experience prior to the field trip. Some of the
books are available in the JAMSJ Library or can be purchased through the Asian American Curriculum Project at -
www.AsianAmericanBooks.com.
SPEAKERS
Invite one of the
JAMSJ speakers to come to your classroom to share his personal experiences.
THE BRACELET
In the picture book The Bracelet, Yoshiko Uchida draws on her own childhood as a Japanese American during World War II to tell the poignant story of young friends separated by war. Before being forcibly sent to an American concentration camp, second grader Emi receives a bracelet from her best friend Laurie. While at the assembly center, Emi loses her bracelet and frantically searches for it. Later, she realizes that the material object is less important than the enduring memories of a true friendship. Emi realizes that she will always carry the memory of Laurie "in her heart."
Family, friends and feelings are critically important to children at this age. Through the story, students can explore and identify with the joy of friendship, the loss of fairness and the mixed emotions of change.
While The Bracelet is an excellent vehicle to convey the value of making and keeping friends, at the same time it introduces young readers - and viewers - to the traumatic impact of a dark chapter in American history. The lessons in this guide will help your students begin the process of thinking critically about literature, government, and history and will increase their awareness of - and empathy for - the victims of discrimination.
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Patty Nagano, Reading/Language Arts Teacher
Evelyn Kita, Literacy Coach
(From the introduction to "The Bracelet,"
produced by the Japanese American National
Museum, 2000)
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The kit includes:
- Videotape
- Detailed lesson plan with estimated time segments
- Detailed learning activities with blackline masters for a Story Map, Story Flip Page, Beginning-Middle-End Chart, Feelings Wheel, Circle Story Map, Magic Book, Slide Show, and Macaroni Friendship Bracelet.
- Appendices include Frequently Asked Questions about America's Concentration Camps, Glossary of terms, Chronology of World War II Incarceration, bibliography of books for children.
Magic Book Directions p. 25
Homework p. 33
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DEAR MISS BREED
During the dark days of World War II, Japanese Americans had few friends beyond the barbed wire that encircled their concentration camps. Fortunately, however, some outside the camps saw the injustice of the situation and were moved to action. The video Dear Miss Breed tells the story of a Caucasian woman who opposed the forced removal of the Japanese Americans from their communities and how her simple gift of friendship was able to sustain some of the youngest inmates during the most traumatic time of their lives.
Clara Breed, children's librarian at the San Diego Public Library before and during the war, was well-known to the community's Japanese American children because they were regular library patrons. Saddened by the government's action to forcibly remove innocent people (especially children!) from their homes and unable to comprehend how these children could possibly be considered security risks, Miss Breed vowed to do what she could to boost the spirits of the youngsters she so admired for their deep love of reading.
Clara Breed's outreach to the children incarcerated in the concentration camp in Poston, Arizona, and their life-changing friendship is the basis for Dear Miss Breed. The camp experience is revealed through historic film footage, accompanied by voiceovers of many of the letters written to Miss Breed by her young friends. Although set in a dark period of U.S. history, this is a positive story, and because its main characters are young teens, middle school and high school students will have no difficulty in relating to its message.
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Karen Seat and Jonnie Wilson
Curriculum Writers/Editors
(From the introduction to "Dear Miss Breed,"
produced by the Japanese American National
Museum, 2000)
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The kit includes:
- Videotape
- Detailed lesson plan with estimated time segments
- Detailed learning activities with blackline masters for Know-Want to Know-Learned, "Clara Breed: Friend to the Children at Poston" student handout with discussion questions, "Poston Concentration Camp - Fact Sheet student handout with discussion questions, Reflective Journal, library/internet research guide, "A Letter to My Hero" lesson plan, "Bill of Rights" lesson plan, mural lesson plan, "Resistance Activity" discussion guide.
- Appendices include Frequently Asked Questions about America's Concentration Camps, Glossary of terms, Chronology of World War II Incarceration, bibliography of books for children.
Poston Concentration Camp Fact Sheet p. 13
Student Handout 4 p. 19
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