[Detail] Destitute Pea Pickers in California
Use these lesson plans, created by teachers for teachers, to explore the Great Depression.
- New Deal Programs: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (Grades 9-12) Students investigate people who experienced the Great Depression and received relief from the New Deal.
- Found Poetry with Primary Sources: The Great Depression (Grades 6-12) Students create poetry based on the language found in Depression Era oral histories.
- The Grapes of Wrath: Voices from the Great Depression (Grades 9-12) Students create a scrapbook from the point of view of a migrant worker.
- Personal Stories and Primary Sources: Conversations with Elders (Grades 6-12) Students use primary sources and an interview with grandparent or significant elder, to provide a human face for life in the twentieth century. Lesson III focuses on Gees Bend, Alabama during the Great Depression.
- The Great Depression and the 1990's (Grades 9-12) Students gain a better understanding of why the government takes care of its people and how welfare programs started.
- Immigration and Migration: Today and During the Great Depression (Grades 6-12) Students compare the immigration/migration experiences of their families to those of people living through the Great Depression.
- Migration during the Great Depression: Living History (Grades 3-8) Students create an archival collection of oral histories, telling the stories of individuals in their community. Students will become acquainted with New Deal programs and the experiences of Depression-era Americans.
- To Kill a Mockingbird: A Historical Perspective (Grades 6-12) Students are guided on a journey through the Depression Era South in the 1930s.
- Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History (Grades 3-8) Students gain an understanding of Dust Bowl history through the eyes of a child, using Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust.
- American Lives in Two Centuries: What Is an American? (Grades 9-12) Students look at Depression era life histories to view the changing lifestyle of the average American.
