black sunday, april 14, 1935 the dust...

© 2010 Universal Uclick

release dates: April 24-30 17-1 (10)

from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal UclickBlack Sunday, April 14, 1935

The Dust Bowl

Please include all of the appropriate registered trademark symbols and copyright lines in any publication of The Mini Page®.

Does spring bring thunderstorms to your area? If you live close to an ocean, you might have experienced hurricanes. Or if you live in northern areas, you might have to dig out after a snowstorm in the winter. But about 75 years ago, another kind of storm made life very hard for people in the middle of the United States. This week, The Mini Page looks back at the Dust Bowl and how it changed Americans’ lives.Changing the prairie In the late 1800s and early 1900s, life was changing on the North American prairie. Native Americans were being moved to reservations to open up land for farming. Settlers were moving west. There was a great demand for wheat to help feed people during World War I, so farmers could make good money growing crops. Native Americans in the area had not been farmers. They grew some food close to water sources, such as rivers, and hunted bison (buffalo) for meat and hides. On the Plains, where native grasses once held the soil in place, farmers began using gas-powered tractors and other machines to plow the land.

Important rain At first, wheat and other crops grew very well on the Plains. There was plenty of rain, and the soil was healthy. But farmers didn’t know how to take care of the soil. They wore it out with overfarming and overgrazing by cattle. When the Great Depression began in 1929, wheat prices dropped. Farmers tried to grow and sell more to make up the difference, but many ended up losing their farm machines, their land and even their homes.

Terrible wind In the early 1930s, farmers faced another challenge: drought (drowt), or a lack of rain. In 1932, high winds picked up the fine, dry soil left from farming and sent it flying across the land. Dust storms continued through 1933, and in May 1934, a huge storm blew for a day and a half. It blew millions of tons of soil as far east as New York City and Washington, D.C. On a Sunday in April 1935, the worst storm of all sent huge black clouds of dust over the Plains and made the temperature drop by more than 50 degrees. This day became known as Black Sunday.

During the 1930s, a series of dust storms hit parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.The words “dust bowl” caught on after a reporter used them to describe the area in an article about the storms for the Washington Evening Star.

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from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick

17-2 (10); release dates: April 24-30®

Black Sunday

Words that remind us of the Dust Bowl are hidden in the block below. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally, and some letters are used twice. See if you can find: AMERICANS, BLACK, BOWL, CLOUD, CONSERVATION, CONTOUR, DROUGHT, DUST, ELECTRICITY, FARM, GRASS, IRRIGATION, LUNG, NATIVE, PLAINS, PLOW, RAIN, SOIL, STATIC, STORM, SUNDAY, TREES, WHEAT, WIND.

Dust Bowl try ’nfind

Our sOil is a preciOus resOurce!

F S T A T I C R U O T N O C S A S T R M T H G U O R D L O U R A S O E E P L O W X O I E N M R U K R E R H G N U L V N D T G D J Z M S I V D N I W I A A E L E C T R I C I T Y O A Y E Q W B Y N O I T A G I R R I H H O B L A C K N S N I A L P W P B N O I T A V R E S N O C


Basset Brown

the news

Hound’s

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ready resourcesfrom The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick

The Mini Page provides ideas for Web sites, books or other resources that will help you learn more about this week’s topics.

On the Web:• http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=300

At the library:• “Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl” by Albert

Marrin• “Out of the Dust” by Karen Hesse• “Life During the Dust Bowl” by Diane Yancey


Imagine your family returning from church on a Sunday morning in the spring. Birds are singing, the sun is shining, and you’re looking forward to playing outside. But that afternoon, a “black blizzard” appears from the north. You’ve seen dust storms before. But this one will make history.A famous storm Black Sunday, on April 14, 1935, was one of the worst of the dust storms to hit the Plains states. It blocked the sun and caused rainbow colors in the sky above the cloud of dust. Birds flew away ahead of it. People and animals caught in the dust couldn’t breathe, and some died.

Crops destroyed Not only were the storms harmful to people and animals, but they also killed thousands of acres of corn, wheat and other crops — sometimes in just one day. After losing so much to drought and depression, many farmers in the Dust Bowl were completely ruined.Shocking All the dust particles running into each other in the air caused a lot of static

electricity. People sometimes knocked each other down just by shaking hands. They also put cloth over metal door knobs to avoid shocking their hands.

No shelter Even people who were inside their homes were battered by the storm. Dust came in through cracks around doors and windows. It nearly buried some homes and barns.

photo courtesy NOAA/NWS

® 17-3 (10); release dates: April 24-30

Rookie Cookie’s RecipeVegetable Bake

You’ll need:• 2 cups carrots, thinly sliced• 2 cups zucchini, thinly sliced• 2 medium tomatoes,

thinly sliced• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced• 1/4 teaspoon saltWhat to do:1. Layer first four vegetables in a rectangular 11-by-7-inch baking dish

sprayed with cooking spray.2. Combine salt, lemon pepper, brown sugar and bread crumbs in a

small bowl. Sprinkle over the layered vegetables.3. Dot with butter and top with shredded cheese.4. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake

another 20 minutes.You will need an adult’s help with this recipe. from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick

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Meet Jay Baruchel Jay Baruchel is the voice of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third in the movie “How to Train Your Dragon.” He has acted in several movies and TV shows. He just finished acting as the apprentice in the Disney movie “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” which will

be out this summer. He also acted in “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.” Jay started taking acting classes when he was 12. That year he began appearing in the Nickelodeon TV series “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” He also played drums in a rock band in Canada. He hosted a Canadian TV show, “Popular Mechanics for Kids.” Jay, 28, was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His birth name is Jonathan. He now lives in Montreal, Quebec. He speaks French and English and enjoys watching hockey.


Paula: Why was the piano player asked to join the baseball team? Pete: Because he had perfect pitch!

Paris: What has a lot of keys, a trunk and four legs?

Palmer: A piano up a tree!

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All the following jokes have something in common. Can you guess the common theme or category?

Parker: My dad can play the piano by ear!Paige: So what? My father fiddles with his

ear!Please include all of the appropriate registered trademark symbols and copyright lines in any publication of The Mini Page®.

Mini Spy . . .Mini Spy is plowing her field the way it was done back in the 1930s. See if you can find: • number 3 • snake• snail • flower • number 2 • letter A• letter D • canoe • fish • bird• pea pod • word MINI • horse head • ice cream• whale • sea horse • carrot cone


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Hiccup

• dash of lemon pepper• 1/4 cup brown sugar• 1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into

small pieces• 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat

cheddar cheese

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To order, send $15.99 ($19.99 Canada) plus $5 postage and handling for each copy. Make check or money order (U.S. funds only) payable to Universal Uclick. Send to The Mini Page Book of States, Universal Uclick, P.O. Box 6814, Leawood, KS 66206. Or call toll-free 800-591-2097 or go to www.smartwarehousing.com. Please send ______ copies of The Mini Page Book of States (Item #0-7407-8549-4) at $20.99 each, total cost. (Bulk discount information available upon request.)Name: ________________________________________________________________________________________Address: _______________________________________________________________________________________City: _________________________________________________________ State: _________ Zip: ________________

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Book of StatesNEW!


17-4 (10); release dates: April 24-30®

Life Amid the Dust


The Mini Page StaffBetty Debnam - Founding Editor and Editor at Large Lisa Tarry - Managing Editor Lucy Lien - Associate Editor Wendy Daley - Artist

A health problem Storms caused other problems for people in the Dust Bowl. After inhaling the dust, some people coughed up wads of dirt. Silicosis (sihl-ih-COE-sis) is a lung disease that affects people who work in coal mines and other industries. The particles of coal or dust irritate the lungs and destroy the lung tissue. Miners call this “black lung.” During the Dust Bowl, it was known as “dust pneumonia.” People also got eye infections and appendicitis (uh-pen-dih-SIE-tus). (Appendicitis is an irritation of the appendix, a part of our digestive system.)

How did it end? When President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1932, he started many programs to help victims of the Depression and the Dust Bowl.

One of the programs taught farmers about soil conservation. They learned to plant crops in lines that followed the contour, or shape, of the land.

The Soil Conservation Service suggested farmers grow low plants, such as soybeans, to help keep the soil in place. Farmers helped in planting millions of trees to block the wind. Can it happen again? Droughts, or periods of little rain, still happen on the Plains. In the early 1950s, dust storms came again. Other short droughts took place in the 1970s and early 2000s. But farmers had learned something from the 1930s. Today, many acres in the Plains have been returned to grassland. Farmers manage crops and soil quality more carefully. Irrigation, or watering crops, is widely used on modern farms.

Dust at school Just like you, children in the 1930s spent many days in school. Sometimes dust storms began while they were at school. Parents might try to bring children home, but if they couldn’t, kids would stay in the school building. People were afraid to be outside during storms because they might choke on the dust or lose their way. Some wore goggles to protect their eyes; some people held wet washcloths over their mouths during a storm to filter the dust.A filthy home It was almost impossible for families to keep their houses clean during the Dust Bowl years. Every surface became coated with dust. If people used water to clean, it turned to mud.

This boy in Oklahoma around 1936 is having trouble breathing with all the dust in the air.

photo by Arthur Rothstein, courtesy Library of Congress

Next week, The Mini Page celebrates Be Kind to Animals Week.

Moving on

While many families stayed in the Plains states during the Dust Bowl, others headed to California to find work. They packed up whole families in trucks and cars and traveled for days. Some even walked. Experts say about 3.5 million people left their homes between 1935 and 1940.

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photo by Lynn Betts, NRCS

release dates: April 24-30 17-5 (10)

(Note to Editor: Above is copy block for Page 3, Issue 17, to be used in place of ad if desired.)


(Note to Editor: Above is the Standards for Issue 17.)

Standards Spotlight: The Dust Bowl

Mini Page activities meet many state and national educational standards. Each week we identify standards that relate to The Mini Page’s content and offer activities that will help your students reach them.

This week’s standard:• Students understand that history relates to events and people of other times

and places. (History)Activities:1. Make a “Growing Things” poster with newspaper words and pictures for things

to plant, equipment used to plant, and things that help plants grow.2. Find five different things in the newspaper that you could use to clean your

house after a dust storm.3. Find three individuals in the newspaper who could help people in a dust storm.

Explain your choices.4. How are these things important in learning about the Dust Bowl: (a) drought,

(b) overfarming, (c) dust pneumonia, and (d) the Soil Conservation Service?5. Pretend you are living in the Great Plains during the 1930s. Write a short story

about your life.(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)

®from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick

Supersport: Evan TurnerHeight: 6-7 Weight: 210 Hometown: Chicago In early December, Evan Turner’s basketball season turned from bright to bleak on one painful play. Falling on his back in a nonconference game, the Ohio State junior suffered two broken vertebrae. People usually don’t recover quickly from that kind of

injury, but Turner played again a month later, after missing six games. Soon his season became bright again. The versatile swingman led Ohio State to another Big Ten regular-season title, was voted conference Player of the Year and honored as a National Player of the Year. He also should win a Comeback Player of the Year award. That’s Turner — he bounces back. During the regular season he paced the Big Ten in scoring average (19.5 points per game) and rebounds (9.4), and was second in assists (5.8) and steals (1.8). He does it all — and with flair. Away from basketball, Turner enjoys listening to music, reading and getting in rounds of golf.

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by Betty Debnam

Appearing in your newspaper on ______.from The Mini Page© 2010 Universal Uclick

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(Note to Editor: Above is camera-ready, one column-by-31/2-inch ad promoting Issue 17.)

Read all about the Dust Bowl

photo courtesy NOAA/NWS

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