Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Depression: What Would it be like today?

For Teachers All
Students calculate the percentage decline in factors affecting the quality of life such as wages and unemployment, from before the Depression to the beginning of the New Deal. Students then calculate what the same percentage decline for...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration and Migration Today and During the Great Depression

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students conduct oral history interviews and research primary resources to explain changes in immigration and migration over time.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The New England Fishing Industry:Sea Changes in a Community

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Explore New England's economic and cultural past and possible issues New Englanders will face in the future. Middle and high schoolers research the fishing industry and the need for regulation. They analyze the topography of New England...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Migrant Struggle

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The American Dream is a goal that many pursue, but is it truly attainable for all people? An in-depth lesson explores the plight of migrants in twentieth-century America. The resource includes a video and author biographies and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Works Progress Administration and the New Deal

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars research the Depression Era and how it contributed to the formation of the Works Progress Administration. After research, they create a skit to illustrate life during the Depression and the role of the Works Progress...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life in a Coal Patch

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Young scholars study life in a coal patch town. In this American History instructional activity, students read material about life for coal miners and their families. They answer questions, create a poster, and complete a creative...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Out of the Dust

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students examine 1930's America through literature. In this Dust Bowl lesson, students read Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust and set up vocabulary journals and question bookmarks to log their thoughts and impressions as they read the novel.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Depression

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students work together to develop a survey to ask people who lived during the Great Depression. Using the information from the survey, they write an essay or a poem describing why it was bad for one of their family members to lose their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Depression Essay

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the events that led to the stock market crash,the concerns of the Depression, and the effects of the New Deal programs on the American people and the American economy.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Chapter 18 – The New Deal

For Students 9th - 12th
In this U.S. history worksheet, students read assigned textbook pages regarding New Deal policies and respond to 47 short answer questions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Growing in Christ: Obstacles to Growth

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students play Obstacle Jeopardy and create an Obstacle Depression Quilt.  In this growing in Christ lesson, students complete a double entry journal and discuss as a class the three barriers that are mentioned.  Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Roosevelt's New Deal Using Oral Histories from the Great Depression

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine the process of collecting life stories. They also look at the lives effected by The Great Depression to gain understanding of the controversial economic plan of Roosevelt.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hoover Responds to the Great Depression

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders investigate the historical period of the Great Depression. The fall of the United States economy is defined by students and they describe the growing discontent by the year of 1931.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Was it like to Live During the Depression?

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders research a variety of sources to discover information about how the depression effect people in Michigan. They follow a research outline while working in small groups. They design a presentation that describes live during...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, Moanin,' Payin' Your Dues

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars examine the musical styles of call and response and the blues while delving into the difficult lives of many jazz musicians. Travelling in the South was challenging for black musicians during this time and the difficulties...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the music of Woody Guthrie and how the political and economic climate influenced his work. They read and discuss online articles, define key vocabulary words, take a Political Orientation Survey, and write a position...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Cartoons for the Classroom: Timely vs. Timeless

For Students 8th - 12th
In this historical events worksheet, students analyze a political cartoon about bank failure and respond to 2 talking point questions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Surviving the Depression-1930-1939 Lesson 2: Life During the Depression- Stories

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students interview individuals who lived during the Great Depression era to investigate the economic hardship that was experienced. They determine the motivations of philanthropic Americans who shared and gave during this era after...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Letters from the Japanese American Internment

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the concept of Japanese internment. In this Japanese internment lesson plan, students examine primary sources that enable them to discover what internment camp life was like and its implications, Students write...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Book: Super Power: Americans Today

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students, after reading Chapter 1 in the book, "Super Power: Americans Today," analyze the recognition of the quote, "Hunger does not breed reform; it breeds madness and all the ugly distempers that make an ordered life impossible," by...
Lesson Plan
Polar Trec

Frozen Fish? Unique Adaptations of Antarctic Fish

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Some fish contain proteins that act like antifreeze in order for them to live in the frigid waters of Antarctica! High schoolers determine how much antifreeze a fish needs to lower its body temp to -2.5 degrees. Teachers act as a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Wealth Tax of 1935 and the Victory Tax of 1942

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Students explain that during the Great Depression and World War II, the Roosevelt administration implemented new, broader, and more progressive taxes in order to cover the costs of the New Deal programs and the war.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Breadline

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the breadlines during the Great Depression. They view a short video about different country's responses to mass unemployment. They interview family members if possible who lived during the Depression.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Living on a Cotton Farm: Mexican Americans Life In Texas

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders are introduced to the processes of cotton farming in the early 20th century. In groups, they examine the role of Mexican Americans on the farms and the impact of a boom and bust economy on cotton. They identify the...