Virtual Field Trip
to the Dust Bowl
By Rachael Caskey
Themes/Concepts
People, places, and environment
Culture
Grade Level – Fifth Grade
History of the United States
Geography of the United States
New York State Standards
Social Studies, Standard 3. Geography,
students will use a variety of intellectual
skills to demonstrate their understanding
of the geography of the interdependent
world in which we live – local, national,
and global – including the distribution of
people, places, and environments over the
earth’s surface.
Student Outcomes
Explain what the Dust Bowl was, when it
occurred, and who was affected by it
Describe what some people did to cope
with the Dust Bowl
Explain how the geography of the land
contributed to the Dust Bowl
Imagine…
The year is 1935. You are ten years old.
Your parents are trying to decide whether
to pack up their belongings and leave the
farm behind or to stick it out in Oklahoma
until the end of the Dust Bowl. Because of
the Great Depression, drought, and the
Dust Bowl many of your neighbors have
left for California. Read on to see what
you would have decided…
What caused the Dust Bowl?
 The Dust Bowl was caused in part by the raising of cattle
and planting of crops on the plains. This resulted in
destruction of the natural grasslands and allowed the
wind to erode the soil.
 What do you think could have been done to prevent the Dust Bowl from occurring?
Who could have helped you in the
dust bowl?
 Many children wrote to President Roosevelt or his wife
hoping for help.
 Here is a letter written by a 13 year old boy from Kansas who was suffering through
the Dust Bowl.
Life on the Farm in Oklahoma
 Life on the farm was hard. There were chores to
complete every day and you raised most if not all of your
food. Many children had to leave school to help on their
family farm.
 Imagine what life on the farm would be like for you…
If you left Oklahoma, one of your
destinations might have been
Weedpatch Camp…
Click here to see what Weedpatch Camp
was like and what it would have offered
your family…
If you didn’t go to a migrant camp in
California…
 You most likely didn’t receive a warm welcome. Many
migrants were not welcomed in California and if they
found work, they worked for very low wages.
 Was California really a better option for the Okies?
You have reached the end of your journey
through the Dust Bowl…
What do you think?
Would you have stayed in Oklahoma or
gone to California?
What could have been done to prevent the
Dust Bowl? Anything?
If you stayed in Oklahoma what did you do
to get by?
Follow-Up Activity
Write a letter from the point of view living
through the Dust Bowl.
Do you want to know what it’s like in
California, are you looking for help from
someone, or are you writing a letter to a
friend?
Be sure to include at least five facts you
have learned about the Dust Bowl!
Questions?
Resources
 This website gave detailed definition of the Dust Bowl and why it occurred.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572810/Dust_Bowl.html
 This website described the migrants experience upon arriving in California.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX08.html
 This website shows Weedpatch Camp and what it offered migrants from the plains.
http://www.weedpatchcamp.com/camp.htm
 This website offers a glimpse of farm life during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_01.html
 Here is a letter from a 13-year old boy who wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt.
http://newdeal.feri.org/eleanor/fm1137.htm