My sixth grade class just finished reading The Night of the Burning by Linda Press Wulf. The students were given the following options to choose from for a culminating activity:
- write a new ending
- make a book trailer
- compare Devorah and Nechama to two other characters in other novels
- create a song, parody, or poem about the novel
I must say that the students truly went above and beyond on this assignment. Take a look at what they created.
By: Gil S
By: Zoe M
This is a poem that I composed on The Night of the Burning:
Devorah is an orphan.
She is twelve years old.
She has survived many things.
If you ask, this is what you will be told:
I lived in Domachevo.
A small village in Poland.
There were many Jews there,
But also Christians even so.
Papa would trade with them.
Every early morn’.
So when he got back at night,
He would be tired and worn.
However, our happiness wasn’t meant to last.
Because papa died.
We almost had to fast,
And often cried.
Mama was so upset,
And she died too.
So Aunt Friedka moved in,
And was with us through and through.
One horrible day,
There was a pogrom.
All the Jews were murdered,
Even those who stayed calm.
We got to the orphanage,
In a different city,
And Nechama was often told,,
That she was very pretty.
One day, there was a special visitor,
Who offered to take,
Us to a place that was not similar.
It was called South Africa,
And Nechama wanted to go,
So I agreed too,
But I hoped it would be a better place,
Because I was a Jew.
I had once sworn,
I would never leave Nechama’s side,
So we stayed together,
And went along for the ride
We both got adopted,
By a separate family.
And although I was scared at first,
In the end, I settled in happily.
By: Jamie B.
Here is my song (To the tune of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” in Disney’s new movie, Frozen)
“Nechama?
(Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock)
(Devorah)
Do you wanna see this book?
I’ve been reading all day!
I never see you anymore
Just call me up,
I’m not too far away-
We used to be best buddies
but we were separated
Adopted, but tell me why!-
The night of the burning,
The night of the burning,
Everything’s gone
(Knocking)
(Devorah)
Mama and papa died from typhoid
Aunt and Uncle died from war.
I think I need you more than you need me,
you’ve stopped saying the shemah!
It gets a little lonely
Being in my room,
Longing for just that time-
(Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock)
(Knocking)
(Devorah)
Mrs. Kagan?
You have definitely helped me,
I’m sorry for the stress
Daddy Ochberg told me to love you,
and to try to forget
I know I never will,
My sister forgot us,
from before the war
But I have a question for youuuuu?
Can I… call you mummy?”
Here is a poem I wrote about The Night of the Burning. Itamar L
In the dawns last light,
Devorah cried through the night.
When a strange man came,
To try to stop her pain.
Ochberg offered a new life,
away from the strife.
Her sister accepted so what could she do,
She promised her parents to protect Nechama through and through.
Nechama was the last of the last,
The only good thing that came from her past.
So she decided to go,
With a lot of doubts though.
When the flashbacks began,
She tried to take her stand.
But the flashbacks became harder to control and to fight,
Let me tell you a few from her past,
Let’s see if what the things people did her were right.
T’was a warm spring night,
Devorah was hiding trying to stay out of sight.
It was Easter and her parents were scared,
That the Christians would kill them.
Would they be spared?
Indeed they had their wish,
but the rest of their lives were not served on a dish.
First Uncle Pinchas was taken away,
To fight the army.
Though he did not wish to stay.
One night he came home,
he walked alone.
For he was so sick,
even the army was afraid of it.
Soon after he died,
In his small little bed.
A doctor did not come,
in his place was Aunt Friedka.
And so Pinchas died before his time had come.
The next person to die was poor dear Papa,
The Influenza killed him like prey for a cobra.
With very little money left Auntie moved in,
To help out the family and stay with her kin.
Mama grew sick fast,
Raving and ranting all the time about her past.
Typhoid had taken her,
And it would soon break her.
Alone Devorah sat by her dying mama
When she promised her mother to protect Nechama.
And then there was only three in their small little house,
Between Devorah, Nechama, and great Auntie too.
The house seemed as quiet as a mouse,
With bad luck in the air,
They were caught in despair.
One night someone came through their place,
“Pogroms, Cossaks,” came the frightful yell.
“Runaway, just in case,”
But the family stayed afraid of the hell,
that had been unleashed outside.
Nay, they would not stay,
So they took up a stride.
But what could they do, so they started to pray,
The answer then came in the shape of a barn,
They ran to it, and hid inside,
A soldier was coming, oh darn.
Aunt Friedka was stabbed and very soon died,
The children huddled up close in a corner.
Devorah was officially a mourner,
Morning soon came.
They walked slowly out of the barn as though the were lame.
A good christian woman came to help,
And sent them off to the orphanage.
Without a cry or whelp,
Devorah felt like a bag, a luggage in storage.
So that’s where we are in the story,
Nechama and Devorah are going to Africa.
With many a worry.
Soon after they left,
They arrived in Warsaw.
There they stayed to gather the rest,
While Devorah she had nothing interesting she saw.
After that they arrived in London,
By now Devorah and Nechama are no longer shrunken.
There they took a ship across the sea,
And they were finally free.
Soon they were both adopted,
Devorah opted.
That Nechama stay with her,
But there journey was finally done,
There purpose together was at this point, none.
Jolie’s post
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Benjamin’s post
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