.pdf format (716k)

by Facing History and Ourselves/Milken Family Foundation

7/30/03 | In April 2002, Grammy-nominated classical pianist Mona Golabek and co-author Lee Cohen published The Children of Willesden Lane, the courageous story of Golabek's mother, Lisa Jura, who was rescued during World War II aboard the Kindertransport. This companion curriculum guide from the Milken Family Foundation contains numerous lessons related to the book in four curricular areas: English, social studies, music and interdisciplinary studies.

The Foundation commissioned the development of this resource from Facing History and Ourselves (www.facing.org), a national professional development organization "dedicated to creating a more informed citizenry through investigation of the past." The Foundation also consulted a cross-section of distinguished educators—all recipients of the Milken National Educator Award—to assess the book’s relevance for classroom use. Four Milken Educators were then called upon to provide expert advice in creating the curriculum guide: Pamela Bellmore Gardner (CT ’01) in social studies, Diane Koutsulis (NV ’99) in music, Cynthia Montoya (NV ‘90) in media studies, and Sarah Powley (IN ’93) in English.

To reinforce the musical selections in the book, the Foundation funded the production of several recordings featuring classical piano pieces performed by Mona Golabek. The Foundation is making both the curriculum guide and the recordings available free-of-charge here on this Web site.

Please note: The curriculum guide and music are available only through this Web page.

To download the curriculum guide cover, click here.

To play a track: Click on either "Sample" (for a 30-second clip from the track) or "Full" (to play the entire track). Depending on your connection speed, it may take a while to download each track.

NOTE for Mac users: The music files are in MP3 format. Your Web browser should be set to automatically play MP3s using QuickTime. If not, you may have trouble playing the tracks. Select "Control Panel" in your Apple menu and select "QuickTime Settings." Click on "MIME settings" and click on "Use Defaults." Then quit your Web browser and re-launch it.