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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Read All About It! California History of the 30s and 40s

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
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...
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Activity
Curated OER

A Multi-Media Approach to Teaching The Grapes of Wrath

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...
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PPT
Curated OER

Background of the Dust Bowl: The Great Depression

For Teachers 9th - 12th
If your class needs a look at the causes of the Dust Bowl, you've found it. All the reasons the Dust Bowl occurred are provided: poor farming techniques, bad economics, and drought conditions. The eventual effects those had on the people...
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PPT
Curated OER

Agricultural Practices in Kansas: Comparing Agricultural Practices Before and After the Dust Storms of the 1930s

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Knowing about history is one thing, learning form it is another. Rather than just discuss the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl, this presentation discusses what we learned from the Dust Bowl. Presented are the types of agricultural...
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PPT
Curated OER

Grapes of Wrath: Setting up Historical Context

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Discuss life in the 1930s in relation to the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, then do a cross-media analysis. Here you'll find background information on film maker John Ford, writer John Steinbeck, and 1930s America. You can compare the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Much is Dirt Worth?

For Teachers 7th
Dirt is worthless, isn't it? Find out the true value of dirt, and by dirt I mean soil. The class explores what makes soil, the types of soil, and what happens when soil becomes void of its nutrients. There are several great activities,...
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PPT
Curated OER

The Great Depression: 1930s through WWII

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Here is an oddly formated presentation that does have some great information and neat ideas. It includes images and text describing the causes and effects of the Great Depression, FDR, Herbert Hoover, and Eleanor Roosevelt. It also...
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PPT
Curated OER

Life in the Dust Bowl

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Learners consider the accuracy of the book Out of the Dust as they view primary source images taken during the Dust Bowl. Each slide contains an image, a question, and a quote from the book. This would be great to use when covering...
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PPT
Curated OER

The Roaring Twenties

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Let's take a look back at America during the 1920s and 1930s. Information regarding the economics in the 1920s that led to some of the issues during the 1930s are covered using text and images. Learners will consider economic booms,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Documenting the Great Depression

For Teachers 10th - 11th
Students compare and contrast two photographs from the Great Depression, and identify the ways in which the photographers depicted the hardships of everyday life during this period. They hypothesize about the story behind each photograph...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Depression and Everyday Life

For Teachers 11th
Examine everyday life during the Great Depression, as well as the effects if the Depression on American population, society, and economy. Learners write who, what, where, when, and why summaries of a person who relocated to California...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Growing a Nation

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders examine the Dust Bowl in American History.  For this US History lesson, 11th graders read a transcript on the Dust Bowl.  Students analyze a video on the Dust Bowl. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Losing Ground

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students examine how effects of farming practices in the early 20th Century contributed to severe soil erosion of a large portion of the North American grasslands.
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PPT
Curated OER

Great Depression: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Add this presentation to your unit on the Great Depression as a strong informational supplement. With clear learning objectives, details on the 1929 stock market crash, and the effects of the Great Depression (though it's spelled...
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PPT
Curated OER

Herbert Hoover and the Dust Bowl

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Shanty towns made by Dust Bowl migrants were called Hoovervilles for a reason. Examine the policies Herbert Hoover put in place to help victims of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. You'll find he didn't do much and the result was...
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PPT
Curated OER

The Dust Bowl: How Did Drought and Dust Storms Compound the Depression Era Problems for Farmers?

For Teachers 7th - 8th
If all you need is a short presentation to introduce or review a topic, then stop right here. The causes and effects of the Dust Bowl on Depression Era farmers is discussed with primary source images and three slides of outlined text.
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PPT
Curated OER

The Dust Bowl: Out of the Dust

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Is your class going to read the novel, Out of the Dust? If so, you can prep them with a presentation that provides both images of the Dust Bowl and quotes from the book. Tip: Have learners use the images to compose descriptive...
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PPT
Curated OER

The Dust Bowl: Images

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Introduce learners to the hardships that followed the onset of the Dust Bowl. There is a quote taken from The Dust Bowl, Men,  Dirt and Depression by Paul Bonnifield followed by 10 primary-source images. 
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PPT
Curated OER

Legacy of the Dust Bowl: Dust Storm Media 1930s

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Some learners might not realize that the term dust bowl was not figurative. Show the reality of 1930s America with eight primary source photographs. Slides depict images of dust storms or their aftermath. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Losing Ground

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students examine the Dust Bowl and the effects of farming practices in the early 20th century. They read a handout, and conduct and discuss two experiments simulating soil erosion.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dark Days on the Prairie

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore U.S. geography by researching agriculture. In this dust bowl lesson, students complete a cause and effect worksheet based upon the dust bowls that covered a large portion of Oklahoma and Texas in the early 1900's....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Weathering and Erosion

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students perform experiments to simulate weathering and erosion. In this earth science instructional activity, students view a PowerPoint presentation that includes weathering, erosion, and the Dust Bowl. Students conduct a series of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Migrant Workers Through the Lens of Dorothea Lange

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Students explore the lives of migrant workers during the Great Depression. In this Great Depression lesson, students examine photographs and song lyrics to gain an understanding of the conditions for people living in the era. Students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History Lesson Overview

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students complete activities with the book Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. For this literature lesson, students read this story and view the Dust Bowl history from the eyes of a child. They discover the Great Depression and life in the...