Shoe box activity

The shoebox activity is one that I would have not of thought of before this class! I really enjoyed this activity because it gets students thinking about what really is important to them. It also relates to history on many different levels. There have been so many events throughout the history of man that humans are forced to pack up what they can carry and leave. We have since discussed that many activities can be changed to pocket activities because many times people were not even able to carry anything at all and what they took was in their pockets.  If I were teaching a lesson on World War 2 I would ask students to do a shoebox activity. I would ask students to present their shoe box items to the class and then I would tell them that they must give all the items to me. Many times Jewish people were forced from their homes to ghettos but they were able to take some items from home. Once the Jews were transferred from the ghettos to concentration camps they were forced to leave all their goods and the Germans tore through everything and used what they wanted and discarded the rest. Taking the kids shoebox’s from them would represent how the Jewish people felt when the Germans took everything from them. I think this activity is very deep and it can get students to really think about the struggles they went through during World War 2. I like these hands on activities that really get students to relate to others struggles. It is important for them to feel, even if just a little bit, how millions of people have felt throughout the history or man.