Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry From Photos: A Great Depression Activity

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars view photographs of migrant families during the Great Depression, try to interpret the photos to answer questions about the subject's life, and then write a Cinquain poem based on their interpretations.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sunburns and Sore Muscles: Working to Save the Farm During the Great Depression

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Fifth through eighth graders engage in a lesson in which they study working class people during the Great Depression. They work to develop an understanding of the economic developments in Arkansas during the 1930's. Learners access...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Connecting Informational Text with Litearature: Building Background Knowledge About Mexican Immigration, California, and the Great Depression

For Teachers 5th Standards
Help your class transition as the setting in the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, moves from Mexico to California. Beginning with prior knowledge, and moving into jigsaw research groups, class members add to and create posters...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration and Migration: Today and During the Great Depression

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students conduct interviews, analyze primary sources including docuements and images to gain an inderstanding of the causes and effects of he Great Depression and immigration.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Child Labor in America

For Teachers 8th - Higher Ed
Students investigate child labor during the Great Depression. In this US policy lesson, students evaluate multiple layers of the social, economic, and political affects of policy during the Great Depression. Students will engage in 5...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Learners barter for goods within the class. In this economics lesson based on the Great Depression, the teacher introduces the lesson with a picture book, then students are allowed to barter with teacher supplied goods as they examine...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Depression: A World Struggle

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students research the impact of the Great Depression on the United States. In groups, they use the internet to describe each of FDR's New Deal Programs and how it helped unemployment. They also discuss how these programs affected the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Lives of the People: To Understand the People is to Understand the Times

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine the time period of the Great Depression. Using primary source documents, they read excerpts of interviews done by author Studs Terkel for one of his books. They practice interviewing their partner in front of the class...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Social Effects of the Great Depression

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students explore U.S. history by listening to an economics lecture. In this Great Depression lesson, students read a letter written to the President during the worst economical disaster in U.S. history. Students answer study questions...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

President FDR and the New Deal

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students explore the New Deal and President FDR. In this Great Depression lesson plan, students listen to an FDR Broadcast (Fireside Chat) and read sections in their textbooks. Then, in small groups students design and create a broadcast...
Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Dust Bowl Story

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Images of the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression are haunting in the suffering they show. Young historians use photographs—both iconic and lesser known—to tell about the human experience during this time. A series of photographs, as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Meet Kit: An American Girl

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Students explore economics by participating in a role-play activity. For this consumerism lesson, students identify the Great Depression, the cause of the financial collapse and the devastation it caused people their own age. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Saving Strawberry Farm

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students explore U.S. History by analyzing the Great Depression. In this economic instability lesson, students read fictitious accounts of a farm dealing with the loss of a Strawberry Farm and discuss the reasons behind the loss....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Enduring Legacies of the New Deal

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students investigate U.S. history by listening to an economics lecture. For this U.S. government lesson, students research the "New Deal" which happened after the Great Depression. Students identify movies, books and music from the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bonus March

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Learners explore Great Depression using collection of primary sources in the archives of the General Douglas MacArthur Memorial, focusing on the Bonus Army march on Washington D.C. in June 1932.
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

Breadline

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners 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

No Food, No Money, No Job -- What To Do?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine the activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps. They identify the impact this group had during the Great Depression. They finally create a graph showing the Civilian Conservation Corps information.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Interpreting Data and Statistics

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students define terms and analyze data. In this statistics lesson, students plot their data using bar and line graphs. They analyze their data after they graph it and apply the results to the Great Depression.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Interpreting Data and Statistics

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students define random sample and complete surveys. In this algebra lesson, students create surveys and define the way people analyze these results. They discuss random sample as it relates to the Great Depression and come up with their...
Unit Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

American Diplocmacy in World War II

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The end of World War II saw the world deeply changed over the last few years. Four thorough lessons explore post-war Europe, America, and Asia through reading assignments and discussion questions about the Grand Alliance and the signing...
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

American Utopia: The Architecture and History of the Suburb

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Let's build a dream house! By examining promotional materials and photographs of early suburban developments, scholars consider what led to the development of this particular American dream. The resource includes case studies of three...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Harlem Renaissance

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars discover the Harlem Renaissance. In this early 20th century activity, students use various primary sources including handouts, worksheets, maps, music, and poetry to examine aspects of African American culture. Young...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Focused Learning Lesson: American History

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders review the Progressive Movement and the Women's suffrage movement. They also review the changes from the end of World War I to the Great Depression.