Lesson for grades 5 - 6

Materials 

 You will need the following materials to complete this lesson: 

 - A copy of the book Sadako (1993) written by Eleanor Coerr,  illustrated by Ed Young   

 - Computer with Internet access

 - QuickTime Player (click to download)

 - Pencil or pen

 - Paper

 - Origami papers

Before You Read

 Before you read Sadako, please complete the following three activities.

  1. Read a brief summary about Sadako below and find Japan and Hiroshima on the map.

   This is a true story of a young girl living in Hiroshima, Japan after the Atomic Bomb dropped in 1945 during World War II. At age 11, Sadako is diagnosed as having "the atomic bomb" disease, or Leukemia. Her friend reminded her of the Japanese legend that if she folded a thousand paper cranes, the gods might grant her wish to be well again. With hope and determination, Sadako began folding cranes, but she couldn't make one thousand cranes due to her death.

       - A map of Japan and Hiroshima       

  2. There are some vocabulary words related to the Japanese culture in the book. Please check out the meaning of the words in the table below. Try to read each word aloud a couple of times. Knowing those words will help you understand the content of the book. 

    Tips of Japanese language

3. What do you know about World War II? Please check out the links below, and fill out a simple work sheet.

                  - Atomic bombs in World War II Japan

        - Declaration of the War on Japan

        - President Truman announces atomic bomb on Japan 

        - About atomic bomb

While You Read

As you read, take notes on anything about Sadako (e.g. family, interest, friends, making cranes, attitude toward her disease, etc.), and make her biography a graphic organizer. 

  - Please click here to print out a graphic organizer and complete it by finding Sadako's circumstances. Sadako's name is in the center. Start making a web on your own. This activity will help you understand the story of the book and know more about Sadako as well.   

After You Read

 After reading the book, please choose two activities from the following activities or do them all. 

 1. Test yourself on how you understand the content of the book.

    - Comprehension quiz

 2. If you want to know more about Sadako's statue at Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan, click here. Then, think about Sadako and her life again, and write a journal entry describing how you feel about the story and Sadako's life. Click here to get information about the writing process.

 3. Do research about Sadako and a thousand cranes using a search engine. Find more than three Web sites about the topic and make a list of it. Type keyword Sadako, a thousand cranes, origami, or world peace. This activity will help you understand about the content of the book and get a great deal of information beyond the book.  Please click here and complete the list.  

                               Yahooligan Search 

Beyond What You Read

 To extend your knowledge related to the major themes and content of the book, please complete the following two activities.

1. In the book, you will find some information related to the Japanese culture.  Check out the links below, and compare/ contrast between American and Japanese culture. Please click here to complete your work. 

        - Japanese culture

        - Japanese traditional clothes

        - Japanese food

        - Origami 

2. Let's learn origami. 

Welcome to Origami World (recorded in April, 2002, Burris)

(please click the play button)

Now you will watch video clips below showing step-by-step instruction with sounds and a diagram for folding a paper crane. To begin, get a square piece of paper. Now, are you ready?  

  - To take a look at picture directions, click

  - To watch video direction (step-by-step), click

  - If you want to send your cranes to Hiroshima, Japan, click .

About What You Read and Did

Please use the following rubric to observe your progress.

This lesson is created by Sang-Eun Kim skim2@bsu.edu