Exploring and Responding the Hard Things: Talking About Ukraine
This is a year of hard conversations. The invasion of Ukraine has hit hard, as has the response around the world. Teaching in elementary, my little humans are sponges that want to talk about everything, and this is no exception. This blog post will explore how I unpacked this crisis in a way to help my humans understand it. It was cross-curricular because it had links to art, social studies, and language arts. It was hands-on because we created flags, built with loose parts to make multi-modal texts, and then we shared our messages with the school.
This post unpacks the activities I used with my class and suggests a few other resources or ideas for other grade levels. The main portion of this lesson took two hours, but I did give them additional time to work on their flags after recess while I was reading Number the Stars.
Background Information
I teach grade five
My kids are passionate about social justice issues
We have unpacked refugee crisis in other parts of the world before
We are reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowry at their request after learning about the book on International Holocaust Remembrance Day…which led to many comparisons to Hitler today as well as the invasion of Poland and the resistance movements in WW2
They have already done a map of Europe (at their insistence) so looking at a map of Europe needed less unpacking
All of this means that my kids had some background knowledge before we even talked. They also let me know that most of them had heard about the invasion and/or heard their parents talking. I have one student who enjoys learning about geopolitics, which meant that he was helpful today filling in definitions and explaining ideas in kid-friendly ways. I am grateful for the teachers within my class that help us all learn.
Am I saying you need all of this information before you run a lesson like this? Absolutely not. It just means that depending on the types of conversations and background knowledge you have in your classroom, the depth of responses might be different.
Prep Before School
Materials for the flags/loose parts mats
Blue construction paper for your class
Yellow construction paper cut in half for your class so that it can be glued on the blue
Background information
15-ish slide presentation with mostly images to guide the story of what is happening. Here is my story arc that I told through images and discussions. It took about 15 minutes to make my slides.
Map of the region
why Russia is invading?
What happened in November (170 000 troops)
What happened nine days ago (invasion)
Comparing images of the leader of each country
Photos of impacts (not gruesome…kids in a bunker, bunker maternity ward, bombed area after the fact etc.)
Map of current exodus
What is being done to support Ukraine worldwide
The power of language ( Kyiv vs. Kiev and Ukraine vs. The Ukraine)
What might happen next
Loose parts
assorted loose parts in containers or put on tables, depending on how you are setting them up.
Introduction
Think Pair Share: What have you heard about the invasion of Ukraine?
Build the Flag: Have students glue the yellow piece onto the blue piece and put aside to dry. This was made to be used as the mat for loose parts and then in making a piece of connection artwork.
Input Information
As a class, we went through the slides and discussed information. The students had moved chairs closer to the screen. We stopped multiple times to build engagement:
Thumbs up/Thumbs down…how much do you believe that Russia was not planning to invade Ukraine when it moved 170 000 soldiers to the boarder for military exercises?
Show me with your body how much bigger Russia seems than Ukraine in terms of size and military.
What do you notice about the photos? You have one minute to talk to a parter before we share.
What connections do you see between Ukraine and what is happening in Number the Stars?
We collected ideas on the board through student brainstorms. I had kids do the writing in two different spots. This meant that I could direct the comments and two students transcribed different ideas quickly. We had two different brainstorms:
Leader Comparison: I had pictures of the president of both countries projected. I used the now famous photo of Putin far away from his advisors as one of the shots. The kids were given time to talk to their neighbours about what they noticed and then we made a rapid fire brainstorm.
Pictures of Civilian Experiences: I projected three pictures of people in bunkers and in front of bombed buildings as well as the lines of people waiting at the boarder to Poland. Again, students had time to turn and talk before we had a rapid fire observation/question session. I did not use gruesome or violent pictures, but I showed real people living in Ukraine right now. Images do not have to be violent to be powerful.
This discussion took an hour for 15 slides. The kids were fully engaged and participating. They were asking questions and making connections. One of my students is Russian and her grandmother is in Russia. She talked about her fears and this led us to talk about how Russians were protesting and being arrested. How we cannot paint the people of an entire country with the same brush as their military leaders or heads of state. We also talked about how Canada has a large Ukrainian population that is suffering right now. It was worth the time to honour student questions and comments.
Loose Parts: Responding with Multimodal Texts
Prompt: Use the loose parts provided to represent a question you still have, a message for the people of Ukraine, or the most powerful image we have talked about today.
I gave the students about 15 minutes to build their loose parts and write their sticky notes. Some were more abstract, while others very concrete. Everyone had something to share. The question that sticks in my mind is:
Is this the start of World War Three?
I hope not…
After the students built their multimodal texts, I gave them time to complete a silent boardwalk to explore the ideas of their peers before putting their work away. This could easily have turned into a written reflection or even a poem.
Messages of Support
Once the loose parts were put away, the flags became the final part of our lesson. I showed them images of protests and flags with messages. We decided 1-5 words would be good as well as images. They were so excited to turn their flags into messages of support. They worked diligently and gave each other ideas. They listened to me read Number the Stars while they finished decorations.
Once the flags were done and I had taken photos, I told the kids they could take the flags home. Many cried out:
We have to display them in the school! Other kids need to know how we support Ukraine!
Okay…okay…okay….I will honour student voice and find a way to share. My amazing librarian let me make a display in the library window in front of the office. My kids were overjoyed. Some did take the flags home and we have a few in the classroom, but a majority make a powerful display in our library.
Other lesson ideas…
So you teach a younger grade, or you don’t feel comfortable going into depth, but want to explore what is happening…what can you do?
Refugee Picture Books: Talk to your librarian about picture books about refugees. Some might be coming to your city or country, so this is a powerful entry point. After learning what a refugee is, maybe you can think of ways to help refugees feel supported at your school. I have a blog post about two refugee themed picture books here.
What in the World: This is a fantastic resource all of the time. It is written at multiple intermediate reading levels and is about current events in Canada and around the world. It usually costs money BUT right now, they have a special Ukraine/Russia package that you can print off here. This will give you text that kids can understand to get background information. It is in FRENCH and ENGLISH.
Final Thoughts
This has been a year of hard moments in the world. The invasion of Ukraine is no exception. It feels surreal and terrible. Us adults are having a hard time understanding and processing it. I have family friends who are Ukrainian and I have been thinking about them often over the last few weeks. I have been hoping their family is safe…I’ve burst into tears…and buried myself in a video game with my son and I’m an adult with more regulation strategies than a kid. We need to help kids through this.
Kids need to talk about hard things and they need to have a safe space at school to explore these. It doesn’t need to be gruesome to have a powerful impact. My focus was on context and hope. My little humans have the biggest hearts. They want any refugees to feel welcome and they want this conflict in Ukraine to end peacefully. I think we can all agree that my little humans have the right idea.