Curated OER
You are the Curator: Building a Museum of the 1920s and 1930s
Students examine primary and secondary sources regarding 1920's and 1930's America. In this Webquest instructional activity, students explore sources regarding the American decades in order to create their own museum exhibits.
Curated OER
Hard Times, Soft Sell
Students analyze art to determine themes for the Great Depression Era. In this Great Depression lesson, students identify themes for the era and research evidence for the themes to present to the class. Students interview family members...
Curated OER
Deep like Rivers: Four African American Poets of the 1920s and 1930s
Students examine work by outstanding African American poets from the time period of the 1920s and 1930s. They study aspects of American and African American social, cultural and artistic history that influenced the content of some of the...
Curated OER
Recreation Yesterday and Today
Eleventh graders research entertainment and recreation in the early 20th century using the American Memory collections and From the Hidewood: Memories of a Dakota Neighborhood, a book by Robert Amerson reflecting life in Deuel County,...
Curated OER
Read All About It! California History of the 30s and 40s
Explore the Great Depression! Discover the challenges people experienced during the time period. Learners investigate photographs from the Dust Bowl and WWII era and create a story line about the photographs, writing a newspaper article...
San Francisco Symphony
Biographical Slideshow
Biographies can be a fun topic for any history project. Learners choose one famous person that lived between 1865 and 1930 to research. They gather information, work on reading comprehension, and use what they find to create slide shows...
Curated OER
Music of the Great Depression
Eleventh graders take a closer look at the music of the Great Depression. In this 1930's America lesson, 11th graders read and analyze the provided lyrics of 6 songs from the era. Students then compose their own lyrics for songs that...
Curated OER
The Reality of Life in the 1930s
Students examine the life style of the 1930's using art, music, the Internet and interviews as resources. They complete worksheets including a Venn diagram comparing two pieces of artwork. They determine what life during the Great...
Curated OER
Entertainment and Recreation in the Early Twentieth Century and Today
Eleventh graders research entertainment and recreation in the early twentieth century using primary sources and the book From the Hidewood, by Robert Amerson. They compare the rural experience of the time period to the national...
Center for History and New Media
The Impact of the Jim Crow Era on Education, 1877–1930s
Even though American slaves were officially emancipated in 1865, the effects of slavery perpetuated throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Middle and high schoolers learn about the ways that discrimination and the Jim Crow laws...
Curated OER
Radio Broadcasting Before Television
Students compare the radio to other forms of mass communication. In this Radio Broadcasting Before Television lesson, students learn the different types of radio shows in the 1920s and 30s. Students write and perform radio scripts...
TCI
Picking Rusty Gold: Why Do People Buy and Sell Antiques?
Your historical sleuths will work to research the in-depth history of chosen artifacts and will use their research to design a fictional advertisement for an early 20th century item.
Curated OER
About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange
Students use art to analyze a period in history. In this instructional activity about the effect of art on history, students study many different pieces of photography by Dorothea Lange. Students will observe photographs from certain...
Curated OER
The Great Depression: A Study Guide Through Song
Students take a closer look at the political and social outlook during the Great Depression. For this Great Depression lesson, students analyze selected songs from the time period. Students use the provided lyric sheets and song analysis...
Curated OER
Immigration in the United States
Students examine the reasons why people leave their country to live in another. In groups, they use print and electronic resources to answer questions about where immigrants came from during different time periods and advice given to...
Curated OER
Moving Day
Students cognitively connect what would be important to a family that was enduring the Depression. They illustrate what would have been present in someone's home during the late 1920's and early 1930's. Students provide rationale for...
Curated OER
A New Deal for the Arts - WPA Photographs
Students examine school life during the 1930s. They discuss the Great Depression and the New Deal, examine and discuss photographs from the Library of Congress website, and complete a worksheet about school life during the Great Depression.
Curated OER
What We Can Learn From Oral History
Students read oral history accounts of the 1930s and 1940s from "The Greatest Generation" books. They discuss how the common good and civil society was strengthed by these men and what they did for America. They research another time...
Curated OER
The Causes of Prohibition
Eleventh graders explore the origins of the Prohibition Movement in the United States. In small groups, they analyze the influence of World War I in the passage of the eighteenth amendment. Students explain how different demographics of...
Curated OER
Drought
Students gain knowledge about the impact of drought in agriculture. They investigate soil types, water flow, and various erosion conditions which occur during a drought and see how farming practices changed after the 1930's.
Curated OER
Slang and Dialogue in Bud Not Buddy
Students identify the 1930's slang in the novel, Bud, Not Buddy. They compare it to modern slang and rewrite a section of the book using modern slang instead of 1930's slang.
Curated OER
Follow The Road to Riches
Students examine the various events occurring at the time of the Gold Rush. They see archival photographs and hear historians talk about this era. They create a time line in order to facilitate thinking about this region during the...
Curated OER
Fashion: 20th Century to the Present
Students explore fashion through the 20th Century. They create a poster about their assigned era. Students teach their classmates about the fashion of the assigned period. They describe the fashion trends, current events, popular music...
Curated OER
Roll the Union On: the National Labor Relations Act and the Rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
Young scholars examine the many different programs Roosevelt created as a result of the Great Depression. They research the National Labor Relations Act and explore what working conditions were like during that time.