Fifth-grade students learn about the Holocaust, participate in memorial

Twenty fifth-grade students at Franco American School recently learned about the 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust during their social studies class. In response to what they learned, they honored those children by participating in a special memorial through the Holocaust Museum of Houston.

The museum has organized an event called The Butterfly Project and is collecting 1.5 million butterflies to remember the children who died in that horrendous event. Students in Sandra Brazier's fifth-grade class lovingly crafted their own butterflies in support of this project.

While busily decorating a butterfly, Cassie Laurin said, “Butterflies are a good symbol for these children. They were fragile and they so wanted to be free.”

Helen Early shared her feelings in a poem. She wrote, “Many little children long to go free. Wishes are granted when their souls fly free.”

“I was hesitant to undertake such a sad topic of study, but I knew that the children needed to know about it. I just made it age-appropriate. In the end, the children were the ones who taught me. It’s always that way,” said Brazier.

Today, butterflies fill two fifth-grade bulletin boards at Franco American School until they are sent to the Holocaust Museum of Houston to be added to the growing collection there.