Holodomor Classroom Reflection and Activity Grade Three

Vocabulary:

1. Holodomor: what happened in the Ukraine when the people had all their food taken away and many of them died because they didn’t have anything to eat.

2. Remember: to keep something in your memory so it is not forgotten – ever 3. Fairness: treating people the way you would like to be treated; following the rules; being just and

correct when you are deciding something 4. Ukraine: A country in Eastern Europe; when the Holodomor happened in 1932-33, it was part

of the Soviet Union Visual/Text Anchor: Picture Book: Enough NOTE: Copyright requires that the school/teacher must have purchased a copy of the

picture book Enough in order to print or use the PowerPoint version of the book. More info on teaching Holodomor:

http://www.ucc.ca/programs/committees/national-holodomor-education/ Activity 1) No PowerPoint used

a) Follow the teacher guide (Appendix A) for Pre-Reading activities. b) From the teacher guide, review the Vocabulary words before reading to the children. c) Teacher reads the story to the children – note the Folk Tale and History parts. d) Follow the teacher guide for Reading Comprehension questions after the story. e) The teacher will then explain Holodomor to the children in relation to the story they just heard:

a. Holodomor means to die of hunger and that is what happened to millions of people in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933

b. At that time Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, and the government was forcing many changes on the people about how food was grown and collected. (show the students the map of the world – with Ukraine and Edmonton - attached)

c. The government took away food from the farmers (peasants) and so millions of people died of starvation

d. The people of Ukraine were not treated with fairness and justice. The other peoples of the Soviet Union did not have all their food taken away.

f) The teacher then says the prayer with the children after saying the following: On this day, we remember a tragic event that happened in Ukraine during the years 1932 to 1933. We need to remember this tragedy to honour the people who died and to work to prevent events like this from happening again.

Lord, we hope and pray that people will not be hungry.

And we ask you to help everyone remember Holodomor so it never happens again. Amen

EXTENSION: After the story Enough is read to the children, the ‘Geography/History’ and ‘Art/Drama/Creative Writing’ sections of the teacher guide may be done. Activity 2) PowerPoint used

a) The artwork for the picture book Enough is on a PowerPoint in case of a large class, but it cannot be used unless the school/teacher owns a copy of the book. The text is printed below in Appendix C.

b) The PowerPoint includes a world map that shows Ukraine c) The final prayer is on the PowerPoint as well.

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Appendix A

Enough — Teacher’s Guide

Generosity triumphs over greed… A heartwarming Ukrainian folktale, set during the Famine of the 1930s, tells of a young girl’s attempts to save her village from starvation. Marusia’s ingenuity gives her the opportunity to go on a magical journey to the North American prairies to find more food for her village.

by Marsha Skrypuch Art by Michael Martchenko

Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2000

ISBN: 1-55041-509-3

Pre-reading activities Look at the cover of Enough. What do you think the story will be about? Why? What does the title mean? As you’re reading, make note of what is “folk tale” and what is “history” and why.

• Folk tale: the stork, the journey. • History: wheat being taken away by the Soviets, the countryside covered with

graves. Vocabulary

harvest silo Dictator exhaustion enough starve babushka threshed granaries spiraled

Reading comprehension • Where does the story take place? When? • Where does the stork take her? • Does Marusia know the meaning of “enough”? Does the officer? Does the Dictator? • As you’re reading, make note of all the times an article of clothing is mentioned. Does the

purpose of that article of clothing change? How? • What was unfair about the way the Marusia’s people were treated? • Was the officer a fair person? Give specific examples from the story to support your

statement. Geography/History • Why are there patches of brown and green in the fields? (the Dust Bowl) • Draw a map of the journey Marusia takes, and label at least three provinces she flies over. • What is the same about Ukraine and Canada? (in terms of crops, population, form of

government then and now etc.) What is different? • What was happening in Canada at this time (1930s) besides the dust bowl? (the Great

Depression). What was happening in Ukraine? • Why did the Dictator take away the wheat? answer • Why do the crosses in the grave look different from ones we usually see? (Orthodox crosses

because the Famine took place in Soviet Ukraine, where most of the people were Ukrainian Orthodox)

Art/Drama/Creative Writing • What if the Dictator flew on the stork to Canada instead of Marusia? • Working either alone or in small groups, think of how the story would change. Illustrate this,

either by drawing a picture, acting out a scene, or writing a revised ending. • Is there a Famine survivor or a relative of a Famine survivor in your neighbourhood? Talk to

this person and ask about what they remember. ****************************************************************************** Appendix B (next page)

Appendix C

ENOUGH, by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Marusia lived with her father on their farm near the village of Zhitya.

Because their farm was small, even in the best years they had barely enough food to survive.

Then one harvest, the crop was very good.

Marusia and her Tato planned a party as they gathered their wheat. But just as they were finishing, a soldier arrived. “We have the Dictator now,” he said, “so your wheat and your farm now belong to the People.”

“We are the People,” said Marusia, “and this wheat is enough to feed the two of us all this winter and maybe the next.”

“We’ll see about that,” said the soldier.

Marusia watched the soldier walk away. “This isn’t the end of it,” she said. “The Dictator’s soldiers will take the whole crop.” She hid some grain deep in her hope chest and as she closed the lid horses’ hooves thundered through the village.

At gun point, Marusia and the villagers stood by while soldiers searched houses and barns for every grain of wheat. Then the soldiers piled the grain onto wagons and carried it away. In the whole of Zhitya, the only grain missed was the sackful that Marusia had hidden.

That winter was harder than ever. Each morning, Marusia made thin porridge to share with everyone in the village. By spring, there was only one handful of wheat seeds. “If we eat this,” Marusia said to Tato, “it will be gone. But if we plant it, we will grow more.” So they planted it and waited, day after hungry day, for the smallest sign of life.

Then one morning, Marusia shouted, “Tato, look!”

Outside was the biggest stalk of wheat they had ever seen! Marusia tied a babushka under her chin and ran out for a better look. But as she approached the stalk, a huge stork swooped down from the sky, sat on its tip and nibbled at the tender new seeds.

“We can share if you are hungry,” said Marusia to the bird, “but this wheat is all we have to eat.”

“In this whole village you have nothing else?” asked the stork. Marusia nodded. “Then hop on my back and I will help you.”

Marusia wrapped her arms around the stork’s neck and up they went. As they flew Marusia saw that all the fields were bare. Throughout the once rich land, the only patches of shoveled soil were in the graveyards. And there were plenty of those. The bird flew over the Dictator’s land. Piles of wheat overflowed the granaries and lay rotting. Yet the soldiers were bringing more carts still. It seemed the Dictator would never have enough.

The stork flew over a great ocean and farther on to a new world. Marusia watched in wonder as cities changed to forests and lakes. And then she saw the endless prairie dotted with patches of dust and wheat.

Joyously, Marusia greeted women and men dressed in the clothing of Ukraine, working in the fields. They waved to her, and one woman called, “Times are hard, but we are happy to share.”

After landing, the bird waited while Marusia jumped from his back, “Take what you need,” he told her. Marusia tugged the babushka from her head and filled it with grain. She climbed back onto the stork, balancing the seeds in front of her. As they flew into the air, Marusia called her thanks to the smiling faces below her

“Give our love to our cousins in Ukraine,” one woman called. “Are you sure you’ve taken enough?”

“Yes,” Marusia answered. “I’ve enough to plant; that’s plenty.”

The stork retraced its journey.

Tato ran to greet her, relieved that his daughter was safe. Then he placed a dish of water and a bowlful of seeds before the tired bird.

Soon the rest of the villagers gathered round to hear the story, thrilled by Marusia’s good luck. One by one, Marusia gave them each a handful of seeds to plant in their fields. One by one, each went home to spread the tale. Hearing their chatter, Marusia’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. She hid the rest of the grain in her hope chest, just in case.

Soon the fields in Zhitya shone with wheat. Now the time for harvest came near, and the villagers were happy. In the morning they would go to work. In the morning, they would eat.

But in the morning, they woke instead to empty fields and soldiers will full carts, fading into the distance. Even Marusia’s wondrous stalk had been picked clean.

Behind the soldiers walked an officer, and on his face was a smile. In his pocket, he carried a secret that he wouldn’t share even with the Dictator. In his pocket, he carried the special seeds that he had taken from Marusia’s magic stalk.

He planted the seeds in his own garden, even though he had so much grain that his barn Was bursting. One morning he looked outside and laughed with joy. A stalk of wheat had grown in the night, shooting as high as the roof of his house. The officer ran toward it just as a stork flew to the top and began to eat. Now the officer almost commanded the bird to stop, but then he remembered what happened to Marusia. “Please!” he cried. “That is all my soldiers have to eat!”

“You have nothing else?” asked the stork.

The officer shook his head and pretended to look sad.

“Then hop on my back,” said the bird, “and I will help you.”

The officer jumped on the stork’s back and up they went. Down below, the officer’s bulging barn looked like a child’s wooden block.

They flew over empty fields and full graveyards. In all of Ukraine, the only patch of green was around the village of Zhitya.

They flew over the ocean until they arrived at a new world.

The officer held the stork’s neck tightly as the cities changed to forests and lakes, and then to rolling prairies where women and men worked in lush fields of wheat. They looked up as the bird passed, waving to him in welcome. The officer gasped. It looked so much like Ukraine before the hunger.

Landing beside a brimming silo, the bird waited while the officer jumped from his back.

“Take what you need,” the stork said.

The officer took three bags from his pockets and stuffed them full. But when he saw all the grain left in the silo, he felt that he didn’t have enough. He took off his jacket and made it into a sack, then he took off his pants to make another. Dressed in his underwear and holding the heavy sacks, he climbed back onto the bird.

The sacks were so heavy that it was hard to keep from falling. As the stork flew into the air, the officer looked down at the people who stared angrily back at him.

“Wait! Have you left us enough?” one woman called to him.

“I’ll be back for the rest.” he shouted.

When they were again over the ocean, the stork slowed in exhaustion and dipped dangerously close to the water.

“I cannot carry this load any further,” he groaned.

“You must,” the officer declared. “Try harder.”

The stork tried, but he wasn’t strong enough. He spiraled helplessly down in a free fall. Then, as his wings touched the surface of the water, the officer and the wheat slid from his back and dropped into the icy sea. With the load gone, the stork was free. Once more he flew over the bare countryside of Ukraine.

When Marusia saw the bird sitting outside her cottage, she brought him a bowl of water and some seeds. She heard all that the officer had seen and done, but she did not feel satisfied that the village was now safe.

After the stork flew away, Marusia told the story to Tato.

“We still must hide our grain,” Marusia said. “The officer is only one man, and the Dictator has men like him in plenty.”

“They’ll just find our grain again and we will starve,” declared Tato sadly. “Soon Zhitya will be nothing but graves.”

“That’s it!” cried Marusia, snapping her fingers. “Is it not the Dictator’s wish that this land be filled with graves?

Her father nodded sadly.

“Then we will give him what he wants. But our graves will be filled with wheat.”

Tato’s eyes sparkled. Together Marusia and Tato told the villagers of their plan.

As soon as the grain was threshed, the villagers loaded it into sacks. Then they buried the sacks in the graveyard. Soon they ran out of sacks.

“Use your babushkas,” Marusia told the women. Then she turned to the men: “Use your shirts.” By the time the villagers ran out of scarves, shawls and shirts, two-thirds of Zhitya was covered with graves of wheat.

“We need the men’s pants,” Marusia cried. “We must bury the rest of this grain.” The villagers worked hard, burying the clothing in the quickly-filling graveyard.

The news of the huge graveyard in Zhitya reached the Dictator. “What good citizens,” he said, “to sacrifice so much.” He called for his horse so he could see the village himself.

When Marusia spied the soldiers in the distance, she ran to the villagers. “The Dictator cannot find us all alive! Most of you hide. There should be only a few of us left to greet him.” Then she and the remaining villagers hurried to cover up the last graves.

The Dictator stepped down from his horse and surveyed the vast graveyard with satisfaction. “So this is all that remains of Zhitya,” he said. Then he looked down… and gasped.

Horrified, Marusia saw a scrap of cloth, along with a few grains of wheat, sticking out of the last grave. The Dictator frowned. Reaching down, he….

…. grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it over the scrap of cloth.

“Are you so stupid that you bury your people without coffins?” he cried.

Marusia hid a smile. “Forgive us, sir,” she said, “but not everyone can be as smart as you.”

The Dictator stood up and brushed the dirt from his uniform.

“How right you are,” he said. He got back up on his horse and rode away, not giving the village another thought.

Behind the Dictator, the cottages emptied and the streets of Zhitya filled with people, hugging each other with tears of joy.

“Now we’ll have enough,” said Marusia.