The story itself, based on the author’s search for his relatives lost in the Holocaust, offers a sensitive and thought-provoking exploration of loss, discovery, and family history. To help our students connect with the themes, teachers brought in a suitcase containing items inspired by the story—each with its own mystery and history.
Here’s how this suitcase activity supported our children’s English skills, particularly in the areas of reasoning and questioning:
The suitcase contained items that represented important aspects of The Missing. Photographs, documents, an old letter and a family tree.—all of these things helped students imagine the real people and events that inspired Rosen’s writing. The children were encouraged to use their imaginations and infer how each object might relate to the story, building a bridge between physical items and the abstract concepts in the book.
This hands-on connection helped the children develop empathy for the characters and enhanced their understanding of the story’s themes. By examining these items, the students were able to move beyond reading words on a page and experience the story’s emotions and historical context firsthand.
author: GG