Great Depression Unit Plan5th Grade

Jessica PlutaESOC 7420

Unit: Great DepressionBig ideas: Change, Empathy

Standards

SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

a. Discuss the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl, and soup kitchens.

b. Analyze the main features of the New Deal; include the significance of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

c. Discuss important cultural elements of the 1930s; include Duke Ellington,Margaret Mitchell, and Jesse Owens.

Knowledge: People: President Hoover, President Roosevelt, Duke Ellington, Margaret

Mitchell, Jesse Owens Events: Stock Market Crash, Dust Bowl, Elections Contributions: New Deal, Soup Kitchens, WPA, CCC, TVA

Skills: Describing, identifying, map skills, research, identifying significance..

Understandings: When the Great Depression happened and how long it lasted. Causes of the Great Depression. Stock Market Crash marked the beginning of the Great Depression, but did not

cause it alone. Different people experienced the Great Depression in different ways. The New Deal was a way that the government tried to take care of the American

people when they were struggling. Americans still contributed many things culturally, despite the economic crisis.

Lesson 1: Introduction

What was the Great Depression?

Learning Goals: What the Great Depression? When did the Great Depression

begin and how long did it last? Work with and discuss primary

sources Introduce our historical fiction

novel for the unit.

Georgia Performance Standards:SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

Background Information:The class has just ended a unit on the turn of the century, and has discussed the Roaring 20’s. Students know that the spirits of the United States were very optimistic during the 1920’s, and Americans began making big purchases such as cars and household appliances.

Materials: Smart Board Images of the Great Depression Power Point “Brother Can you Spare a Dime” song A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

Description of Lesson:

We will begin our study of the Great Depression with a Chalk Talk discussion. I will put two images (see below) on the board, one at a time, and students will take turns recording their reactions to the images on the whiteboard. I will ask that the students initially do so silently, unless they need my assistance with spelling a word. I will play “Brother can you Spare a Dime” in the background. After they have had enough time to record their responses on the board, students will discuss their reactions to the images with the others at their tables. I will offer questions to guide their thinking?

How do these images make you feel? How do you think the people in these images feel? What do you think living conditions were like during the 1930’s based on

these images? Do you think you would like to live in the 1930’s?

We will then come back together as a group to discuss these images, and their observations. My goal for this portion of the lesson is to establish empathy in my students, and help them better understand what life was like in the 1930’s.

I will then show them a Power Point presentation highlighting some key

vocabulary and general concepts. Depression Economy Unemployment Herbert Hoover

Assessment: Chalk Talk Discussion

Differentiation: Using images allows struggling

readers the opportunity to work with primary documents.

Shared Reading: The students will be reading a historical fiction novel throughout the entire unit. I will read the first chapter aloud to them and they will follow along with their own copies of the book. Shared reading is a good way to begin a novel study, because it provides a very low risk way of introducing the book. As I am reading, I will be demonstrating fluency for all readers in the classroom.

Chalk Talk Images

http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blygd45.htm

http://my.telegraph.co.uk/tripodgirl/Lesson 2

Causes of the Great Depression

Lesson Goals Discuss causes of the Great

Depression Understand that there were

many causes for the economic problems of the 1930’s.

Understand that the Stock Market Crash marked the beginning of the Great Depression, but did not cause it alone.

Georgia Performance Standards:

SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

a. Discuss the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Herbert Hoover

Materials: BrainPOP video: “Great Depression Causes” Paper Markers/colored pencils/crayons Pencil Smart Board

Description of Lesson:

We will begin by watching the BrainPOP video as a whole class. I really like this video because it recognizes many causes that lead to the Great Depression, as opposed to an oversimplification of the impact of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. We will then look at the description of the Stock Market Crash on the website http://www.mce.k12tn.net/1920/crash.htm.This site provides a short, age appropriate description of Black Friday. It provides pictures for many difficult words in the text.

Following the video I will divide the class into small groups of mixed ability, each group will elect a spokesperson. I will then ask the class a series of questions that they will discuss and record their answers. After they have had a chance to discuss the answers with their small groups, we will return to whole group and discuss the video together. The spokesperson from each group will share their answers.

What are some of the things people lost during the Great Depression? On October 29, 1929 the Stock Market Crashed. Today we call this day

“Black Tuesday.” Why do you think this event earned this name? What was the “Roaring 20’s”? What happens when there is more supply (goods made in factories) than

demand (people who want to buy these goods)? What is a drought and why is it bad for farmers?

As a class we will determine three causes for the Great Depression during our discussion

The drought caused the crops to fail, so farmers couldn’t make a living. The stock market crashed American companies were making more goods than people wanted.

Assessment: Draw and label a picture of one

of the causes of the Great Depression.

Differentiation: Small group discussions tend to

be much less intimidating than whole group discussions.

Students are divided into heterogeneous small groups.

Spokesperson will volunteer to speak on behalf of his/her discussion group in front of the whole class. With this, students are not asked to answer questions on the spot, but are able to consult with their small group first.

Lesson 3 (2 days)People of the Great Depression

Part 1: Urban Population

Lesson Goals: Georgia Performance Standards:

Students will understand that different people experienced the Great Depression in different ways.

Learn about life in urban areas Discuss relevant vocabulary:

unemployment, soup kitchen, bread line, hoovervilles

SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

a. Discuss the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl, and soup kitchens.

Materials: Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

Primary Documents YouTube video Secondary Document Smart Board

Description of Lesson:I will introduce this lesson with a read-aloud of Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. This is a story about a young girl living in New York City during the 1930’s. The main character must be very imaginative and creative for fun because her family doesn’t have much money.

Centers Groups A&B: Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn635rYnvJI

Interview from a woman who lived during the Depression. She discusses the ways people tried to save money in the 1930’s.

Primary Documents (see below) “City Life During the Great Depression”

http://middle.usm.k12.wi.us/faculty/taft/unit7/citylife.htm**This Center will meet with me**

Centers Groups B&C:

Video: : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn635rYnvJI Interview from a woman who lived during the Depression. She discusses the ways people tried to save money in the 1930’s.

Primary Documents (see below)**This center will meet with me**

Assessment: None.

Differentiation: The class will be divided into

small groups based on reading ability.

The strong reading group/groups will read a passage “City Life During the Great Depression.” This group will meet with me and we will discuss the passage and read parts of it together.

The struggling readers will meet with me during the primary sources center. In this center, I will give them the same information as the strong readers saw in the passage.

Documents

Black Tuesdayhttp://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/photoessay.htm

Year Number of Unemployed (without jobs)

1929 1,500,000

1930 4,400,000

1933 12,800,000http://www.mce.k12tn.net/1920/crash.htm

http://dyn.politico.com/

http://techbuddha.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/the-long-it-security-industry-winter/nobody_knows_you/

Unemployed men looking for jobshttp://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/photoessay.htm

Children waiting in soup kitchen linehttp://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/photoessay.htm

Men in line at soup kitchenhttp://libn.com/blog/2009/01/15/december-wholesale-prices-fall-19-percent/

People in bread line

http://www.ssa.gov/history/acoffee.html

http://arizona.typepad.com/blog/2009/03/bushvilles-the-new-hoovervilles.html

Hooverville on the outskirts of a city.

City Life During the Great Depression

“During the Depression, life was very difficult for farmers, but it wasn’t much better in the cities, where fourteen million people lived in crowded, unheated, unsanitary tenements. In a letter to Harry Hopkins, the director of the Civil Works Administration, Martha Gellhorn described the unemployed workers and their families:

“This picture is so grim that whatever words I use will seem hysterical and exaggerated. And I find them all in the same shape - fear, fear driving them into a state of semi-collapse cracking nerves; and an overpowering terror of the future.... They can't pay rent and are evicted. They are watching their children grow thinner and thinner; fearing the cold for children who have neither coats nor shoes; wondering about coal.”

As the Depression deepened, cities attracted beaten people from all parts of the country. Farmers whose livelihoods had been foreclosed packed up their families and

moved into the cities. Hoboes and other itinerants sought shelter in cities during harsh winters. City dwellers themselves were not immune to the rails of the nation. Thousands of unemployed residents who could not pay their rent or mortgages were evicted into the world of public assistance and bread lines. At the peak of the Depression, seventeen thousand families were put out on the street each month. Although residents were given priority over newcomers for local aid, there were too many other residents standing in the same lines waiting for a check or a bowl of soup. Municipal resources were overwhelmed quickly, and city agencies resorted to thinning relief payments to below the cost of living and watering down the soup to help more people over a longer time.

Many cities just ran out of money and were even forced to pay city employees in scrip (a temporary voucher, redeemable for food and other products). At the height of the Depression Chicago had half a million unemployed, and in New York the jobless figure topped a million. With so many taxpayers both jobless and homeless, American cities lost a major source of income. Relief budgets meant to last a year were spent in several months.

At President Hoover's beckoning, charities had stepped in to help ease the burden on municipal resources. Hoover was a firm believer in volunteerism. Feeling that each community was responsible for aiding people in distress, Hoover created programs that bolstered morale and encouraged charity. But the charities were themselves in trouble because they depended on contributions from a public who could not give any more. In many cities philanthropic groups of businessmen mounted relief drives, but the funds collected dwindled quickly as conditions worsened.

In 1930 the International Apple Shippers Association was faced with an oversupply of fruit and came up with a unique solution to a national problem: to clear out their warehouses and give the unemployed a way to make a little money, they sold apples on credit. The ploy worked. Months later a shivering apple vendor could be found standing over a fruit crate on the corner of every major American city. By the end of November there were six thousand people selling apples in New York alone. The trend spread, and suddenly there were pitchmen of all persuasions standing alongside the apple sellers, handling everything from patent medicines to gaudy neckties. There were even chalk artists who drew figures of women on the sidewalks for passersby to appreciate with a few coins. Many cities soon passed ordinances, however, which banned the street vendors as a nuisance to the public.

Crowded living conditions were not uncommon in the working-class home. Extended families were formed who shared the same space, food costs, rent, and even bed- ding: the "hotbed- was a living arrangement in which night workers slept during the day and day workers used the same beds at night. Furnishings in working-class apartments were sparse. There were a few chairs, tables, and boxes that served as dressers. There was rarely any carpeting, and not all homes had hot water. In older buildings heat was pro-

vided through coal grates, which forced ten- ants to scour the neighborhood for coal or other fuel. Many people planted subsistence gardens in vacant lots or rooftops to feed themselves when grocery money was really scarce. Twenty thousand of these gardens were reported in Gary, Indiana, alone.

When they could no longer pay the rent and were evicted from their apartments, city dwellers used scraps of lumber and cardboard boxes to build shacks that they could live in. These new shantytowns on the edges of the cities were called Hoovervilles, for President Herbert Hoover, since many blamed him for causing the depression. In public parks, homeless men slept on benches, covering their bodies with "Hoover blankets," or newspapers. "Hoover hogs" were jackrabbits or gophers caught and cooked to replace the traditional Sunday ham. "Hoover villas" were public latrines used for overnight stays. "Hoover flags" were empty pockets turned inside out. Probably unfairly, Americans made the president accountable for their situation, and he became the fall guy-the focus of the abuse.

Hoovervilles had no electricity or running water but were usually built near rivers or fireplugs. They were not supported by the city or government in any way, so moving into such an encampment required no registration or security deposit. Prospective residents simply looked around and picked a spot. City dumps, construction sites, and trash bins pro- vided materials for constructing shelters. The gutted husks of old cars made acceptable homes, as did stacks of fruit boxes and worn tires. If a shelter was built well enough, a resident could sell it. There was always turnover, since people continually came and went. A good pre-built home could easily be worth as much as $50. Despite zoning violations and health hazards, many Hoovervilles were allowed to exist. Some cities even lent tracts of public land for the cultivation of small gardens. Not everybody was tolerant, however. Many Hoovervilles were raided and burned down by sheriffs and vigilante groups.

By 1933 millions of Americans (we'll never really know how many) were desperate. Out of work and with his family depending on him, the breadwinner, the patriarch, the father/husband bore the brunt of the despair. When he couldn't provide for his family, he felt ashamed and humiliated. Many of these men abandoned their families and became what one has called "a generation of wanderers," vagabonds, or hobos. Unable to find work and seeing that each job they applied for had hundreds of seekers, these shabby, disillusioned men wandered aimlessly without funds, begging, picking over refuse in city dumps, and finally getting up the courage to stand and be seen publicly - in a bread line for free food. To accommodate these shamed, idle, and malnourished legions, charities, missions, and churches began programs to feed them.

Resembling "a gray, black human snake," bread lines often formed as early as 4 a.m. on cold wintry days when men lined up six across to wait as long as two to three hours before they could sit down inside a soup kitchen and partake of the meager fare offered. (In January 1931, 82 bread lines in New York City served 85,000 "meals" daily!)

Men who experienced the waiting in line recall the personal shame of asking for a handout, unable to care for oneself or to provide for others. Most men found it difficult to look into the eyes of other men in line, who, if asked, had similar stories to tell.

What was it like to be in a 1933 soup kitchen (the term is used synonymously with bread line, although there is a slight difference)? Piecing together recollections, it seemed to resemble an experience at summer camp, with obvious distinctions. First, the men might be "asked" to listen to a sermon for 10-20 minutes before being served any food. Once the speech was over, the men got back in a shorter line and, cafeteria style, were served a cup or bowl of soup or stew. They then sat down at community tables where hunks of stale bread awaited them (but never soda crackers, writes historian William Manchester) on large plates. Sometimes coffee was served. Most men described the soup as tasteless, thin, watery, lukewarm, and rarely with any vegetables. Some recall never being offered a second bowl or having bread to accompany the soup. Others, though a smaller number, remember second helpings, bread, cheese sandwiches, and oatmeal. After several minutes, some authority figure from the mission or church came up to the men who had been eating and asked them to leave, to make room for the others still outside. At this point the departing men went over to another bread line to begin their wait for another meal. This process would be repeated until the third day when familiar "chronic deadbeats" were evicted from the long lines.

Humiliating as it was to wait and get into a soup kitchen in 1931, it was nearly a universal experience for urban people of all classes, or at least it was a metaphor for what most Americans were caught up in during the "hard times" of the early 1930s Now you will re-create this experience with your classmates. Play your role to the hilt and, as you do, feel some empathy for an earlier generation's struggle to survive, cope, and hang on to some dignity in the winter of 1933, amidst personal calamity no doubt unique in our history.”

Lesson 4 (2 days)People of the Great Depression

Part 2: Rural Population

Lesson Goals Students will understand that

different people experienced the Great Depression in different ways.

Understand the meaning of the Dust Bowl and implications.

Georgia Performance Standards:

SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

a. Discuss the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl, and soup kitchens.

Materials: Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at

Weedpatch Camp by Jerry Stanley The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the

Great American Dust Bowl Timothy Egan Timeline of the Dust Bowl Computers Smart Board

Description of Lesson:

I will begin by sharing some images from the Dust Bowl and reading aloud a personal account from the dust bowl from The Worst Hard Times. I actually used this book in an undergrad history course and found it really interesting and informative. I think kids will benefit from hearing some of the details such as feeling gritty dust between your teeth each day, or waking up to a layer of dust on your pillow surrounding your head each morning.

Small group activity Students will read the first chapter and look through pictures from

Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp by Jerry Stanley and record at least five new (and important) facts as a group.

Read Kids Discover magazine: Great Depression article “The Dust Bowl” and view “Time Line of the Dust Bowl 1931-1939.” record at least 5 new facts. http://library.sussex.tec.nj.us/dacunto/Picturing%20the%20Unfamiliar/timeline.htm

Listen to personal audio accounts from the dust bowl. Record 5 new

facts. “Dust Bowl Tale”http://library.sussex.tec.nj.us/dacunto/Picturing%20the%20Unfamiliar/audio.htm

After completing their readings, students will all record their observations on chart paper. We will go through all of the charts as a whole group, and then take notes as a class.

Assessment: Students will record their

observations on chart paper.

Differentiation: Small group activities cater

to different reading levels.

http://www.weru.ksu.edu/new_weru/multimedia/dustbowl/big/dustbowlfollett.jpg

http://www.weru.ksu.edu/new_weru/multimedia/dustbowl/big/usda18.jp

Lesson 5 (3 days)Bringing it all together

Lesson Goals Understand that people in

urban and rural areas experienced the Great Depression differently.

Map skills

Georgia Performance Standards:

SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

Materials: BrainPOP video “The Great Depression” Smart Board Maps Writer’s Notebook

Description of Lesson:

The purpose of this lesson is to bring together what we studied in rural and urban areas. We will look at a map and discuss patterns of drought and unemployment.

http://home.centurytel.net/mr-h/dustbowl/resources.html

http://www.mybudget360.com/state-unemployment-data-7-states-now-with-historical-high-unemployment-rate-michigan-228-percent-unemployment-rate-u-6-with-official-government-data/

We will also watch the BrainPOP video “The Great Depression” which highlights life in both urban and rural regions of the US during the 1930’s.

Assessment: Writing Workshop: Students

will write a personal narrative from the perspective of either a child living in a city or on a farm. Students will go through the entire writing process; this project should take about a week.

Differentiation: Students have the option of

either writing a personal narrative in the form of a story, a diary entry, or a postcard.

Lesson 6

President Roosevelt

Lesson Goals Understand who President

Roosevelt was.

Georgia Performance Standards:

SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

a. Discuss the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl, and soup kitchens.

Materials: Scavenger hunt sticky notes Power Point BrainPOP video: Franklin D. Roosevelt 3x5 index card

Description of Lesson:

I will hide 20 facts (written on sticky notes) about President Roosevelt around the room. Students will go on a scavenger hunt throughout the classroom to locate each of these facts. When they have found all of them, students must arrange facts in numerical order on a space on the wall. I will then go through all of the facts orally with an accompanying power point presentation.

After learning through our scavenger hunt we will watch the BrainPOP video “Franklin D. Roosevelt”

Assessment: Students will write a few things

that they learned about FDR on an index card.

Differentiation: Information on FDR will be

presented orally (I read the facts from the scavenger hunt) and will also be presented on the power point presentation.

Lesson 7 (3 days)The New Deal

Lesson Goals Know what the New Deal is and

understand it’s importance. New Vocabulary: New Deal,

CCC, WPA, TVA, alphabet agencies.

Georgia Performance Standards:

SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

b. Analyze the main features of the New Deal; include the significance of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Materials: Computers BrainPOP video “The New Deal” Library books about the New

Deal Poster board Paper Markers Sticky notes for note taking

Background information:Students have prior experience researching on their own and taking notes based off of their research.

Description of Lesson:

To begin, we will make a KWL chart about the state of the country during the 1930’s and the New Deal. From our previous lessons, the students should already know that people where struggling to keep their jobs, homes, and food on the table. We should also know that FDR wanted to restore faith in the American government through fireside chats and the creation of the New Deal.

Next I will give a mini-lesson using an online passage called the New Deal. http://www.mce.k12tn.net/1920/deal.htmI like this website because it offers information about the New Deal in kid friendly language, and provides images for many challenging words. We will then watch the BrainPOP video “The New Deal”

Both of these sources highlight the three New Deal agencies that students will be researching for their project.

Students will be divided into three groups of mixed ability. Each group will have

at least 2 strong readers to assist the rest of the group with research. The groups will draw from a hat to determine whether they need to research the CCC, WPA, or TVA. They will use computers and library books for their research.

Sources provided for students: Books from the school library http://www.mce.k12tn.net/1920/deal.htm CCC video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChbQI-k5-QQ WPA video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5UiGdje8U TVA video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idCwqXju7w0 General: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/new_deal.htm General:

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/new_deal_programs.htm

CCC: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1586.html WPA: http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/wpa/wpa_info.html TVA: http://www.tva.gov/abouttva/history.htm TVA: http://newdeal.feri.org/tva/index.htm

Assessment: Student will make a poster or a

brochure advertising the CCC, WPA, or TVA.

I will provide a model for each assessment choice in order to demonstrate the quality and information that I expect.

Differentiation: Students will work in small

groups for the New Deal project. Each group should contain an equal balance of strong readers and struggling readers.

Sources provided include images, videos, and text so that they are accessible to all.

Lesson 8Arts and Culture

Lesson Goals Georgia Performance Standards:

Understand cultural contributions of 1930’s America SS5H5 The student will explain how the

Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

c. Discuss important cultural elements of the 1930s; include Duke Ellington,Margaret Mitchell, and Jesse Owens.

Materials: Rent Party Jazz by William Miller “Don’t Mean a Thing if you ain’t got that Swing” Duke Ellington

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg

Description of Lesson:

I will begin with a read-aloud from Rent Party Jazz by William Miller and we will discuss how art can make people feel better during hard times. We will then watch a video of Duke Ellington playing “Don’t Mean a Thing if you ain’t got that Swing” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg

We will also discuss the contributions of Jesse Owens and Margaret Mitchell in power point.

http://www.gibbsmagazine.com/Jessie%20Owens.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind

Assessment: Students will imagine that they

will have dinner with either Duke Ellington, Margaret Mitchell or Jesse Owens. They must consider at least five questions that they would ask their person.

Differentiation: Students have the opportunity

to choose which cultural figure they would like to meet and interview.

Literature Connections

Throughout this unit, students will also be reading a historical fiction novel called A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck. This is the story of a fifteen-year-old girl who had to move from Chicago to a poor 1930’s farm town. I will read the first chapter aloud to the class while they follow along silently in their own books. This novel works very well with this social studies unit because it takes place during the end of the Great Depression and mentions several key facts that we are discussing throughout this unit. For instance, the main character’s brother, Joe works for Civilian Conservation Corps, and the book details struggling farm life.

Reading Groups.The class will be divided into three reading groups based on ability. Audio books will be provided for the group of struggling readers. The class will read the novel in a number of ways. There will be times when I read the book out loud while the class follows along quietly; other times they will read with a partner; and finally, they will read independently (or with audio books).