The Great
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Depression
Unit Plan
By Lisa Harper
6th grade - United States History II
Page Middle School
Lisa Harper
Dr. Stoddard
Unit Plan
Unit:
The Great Depression
(2 week unit)
Course:
United States History II: 1865 to Present
Grade:
6th
Time:
1 40-minute block per week (C days)
2 75-minute blocks per week (A/B days)
Unit Overview:
The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to 1939 and was one of the most
devastating times in history. Overspeculation of stocks with the resulting stock market
crash, overproduction of consumer products, high tariffs and a collapse of the banking
system were causes, but the effects were insurmountable. Banks were forced to close,
unemployment and homelessness were at an all-time high and people were starving.
One man and many programs helped pull America out of the Great Depression. Franklin
D. Roosevelt and his “New Deal” were the answer to what seemed like an impossible
situation.
This unit is structured in a chronology of what caused the Great Depression to
how the people were affected and finally the relief brought by Franklin Roosevelt’s New
Deal. The larger themes and concepts include the role that society, politics and the
economy played in American life at the time of the Great Depression. The students will
be introduced to various forms of learning so all students may in some way demonstrate
understanding of the information. Lessons will include visual representations that must
be evaluated, documents that must be analyzed and writing assignments that serve in a
reflective capacity to help the students internalize the Great Depression and demonstrate
the various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Rationale:
Students will learn about the Great Depression because as part of the Virginia
Standards of Learning students are required to know the causes of the Great Depression,
the impact on the American people, and the features of the “New Deal”. The “New
Deal” proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a group of programs that would
give relief to the American people and help end the Great Depression, although it would
not completely end until WWII.
The unit has been designed in order to give the students multiple ways of
demonstrating their knowledge. The unit lesson plans give a variety of different types of
activities so the students will be engaged. The activities focus on writing skills,
evaluation and analysis of primary and secondary source documents, and technology
integration.
Goals:
1. Students will develop skills in evaluating and analyzing primary and secondary
source documents.
2. Students will learn how to express themselves through various means to include
writing, discussion and an oral presentation.
Essential Questions:
1. What were the causes of the Great Depression?
2. What effect did the Great Depression have on the lives of Americans?
3. What were the features of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal”?
Unit Objectives:
1. Students will be able to identify and describe the impact of the Great Depression
and the resulting social, economic and political consequences.
2. Students will be able to identify and describe the causes of the Great Depression.
3. Students will be able to analyze primary and secondary sources and will be
assessed through formative discussion.
4. Students will be able to construct a written representation that has a thesis
statement and evidence to support the thesis on a topic related to the Great
Depression.
Academic:
1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the social, economic, and technological
changes of the early twentieth century by identifying the causes of the Great
Depression, its impact on Americans and the major features of Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s New Deal (SOL Objective – USII.5d)
Skill:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Students will learn and define terms relevant to the Great Depression.
Students will demonstrate prior knowledge skills.
Students will describe the institutions involved in the Great Depression.
Students will describe the conditions of the people during the Great Depression.
Students will present orally features of the “New Deal” to include visual
representations.
Standards:
Virginia Standards of Learning
1. Students will be able to identify and describe the impact of the Great Depression
and the resulting social, economic and political consequences and will be assessed
through various forms of written expression.
2. Students will be able to identify and describe the causes of the Great Depression
through written expression and formative discussion.
3. Students will be able to analyze primary and secondary sources and will be
assessed through formative discussion and written expression.
4. Students will be able to construct a written representation that has a thesis
statement and evidence to support the thesis on a topic related to the Great
Depression.
NCSS Middle School
1. Students will be able to analyze group and institutional influences on people,
events, and elements of culture (5 b)
2. Students will be able to describe the various forms institutions take and the
interactions of people with institutions (5 c)
3. Students will be able to describe the role of institutions in furthering both
continuity and change (5 f)
4. Students will be able to apply knowledge of how groups and institutions work to
meet individual needs and promote the common good (5 g)
5. Students will be able to give examples and explain how governments attempt to
achieve their stated ideals at home and abroad (6 i)
6. Students will be able to use economic concepts to help explain historical and
current developments and issues in local, national, or global contexts (7 i)
Outline of Content: The Great Depression
I. Causes
A. High Tariffs that discouraged international trade
B. Overspeculation of stocks, using borrowed money that people could
not repay
a. Stock Market Crash of 1929
C. Overproduction of consumer goods with a decline in demand
D. Federal Reserve failed to prevent collapse of banking system
a. Banks demand repayment of loans
II. Effects
a. Banks and businesses fail
b. Unemployment Increases
c. Homes are lost though foreclosure
d. People were hungry
e. Farmers’ incomes fell to low levels
III. Features of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal”
a. Social Security Program
b. Federal Work Programs
c. Environmental Improvement Programs
d. Farm Assistance programs
e. Increased rights for labor
Unit Assessments: Students will be assessed through both formative and summative
assessments. Assessments include discussion, a worksheet, a response paper, a diary
entry/letter and a class presentation. **See Attached Rubrics**
Materials and Resources:
Text Book: United States History: From 1877 to Present, textbook: The American
Nation, notebook, pen/pencil, television, VCR, Video “The Great Depression and the
New Deal”, PBS video “Riding the Rails”, computer, LCD projector, Great Depression
Posters, Nextext History Series book with accompanying worksheets, Large Index Cards
or cardstock.
Unit Calendar
Day 1
Introduction to the Great Depression unit
Video and reflection response writing
Day 2
K-W-L, vocabulary terms, and questions to answer in groups after reading
Day 3
Gallery Walk, reflective response, reading about life during the depression in the text and
life in the Dust Bowl region with accompanying worksheet from the Nextext History
Series.
Day 4
Review: Trivial Pursuit/Jeopardy game
Day 5
PBS Video “Riding the Rails”, Diary Entry/Letter about experiences
Day 6
FDR’s “New Deal” programs, research and oral presentation project, review
Day 7
Unit Test
Daily Lesson Plans:
Unit: The Great Depression
Lesson 1 (45 minutes)
Introduction to the Unit
1. Hook: (35 minutes)
Watch Video “The Great Depression and the New Deal” from the United States History
Video Collection: Origins - WWII
2. Activity 1 (10 minutes)
Students will respond to the video in a reflective response paper of one to two
paragraphs. Students will be graded on the content and support of their response
according to the video
________________________________________________________________________
Lesson 2 (75 minute lesson)
1. Hook (15 minutes)
K-W-L
K---What do you know about the Great Depression?
W---What do you want to know about the Great Depression?
L----What did you learn about the Great Depression? (end of lesson)
2. Activity 1 (5-10 minutes)
Students will share what they know and what they want to know
3. Activity 2 (10 minutes)
Vocabulary terms:
1. Investors – Someone who uses money to buy or make something that will make
more money
2. Stock – shares in a company or corporation that people buy and own part of that
company or corporation
3. Black Tuesday – October 29, 1929, the day the stock market dropped to its lowest
point
4. Great Depression – The period of economic hard times that followed the crash of
1929
5. Activity 3 (5 minutes)
Have students write down the following questions on a blank sheet of paper and leave
several lines between each question
1. What were the signs of economic trouble that led to the crash of 1929 and the
Great Depression?
2. What were causes of the Great Depression?
3. How did the hard times affect American families?
**Bonus Question: Who did people blame for the Great Depression and why?
****I will read pages 746-749 from textbook “The American Nation” (15 minutes). As
I read the students should answer the questions they wrote down.
Transition time-5 minutes (for moving desks and getting students in groups).
4. Activity 4 (20 minutes)
The students will break up into groups of 3 and have 10 minutes to compare answers and
come up with a group response. Each group will be asked to give their response to the
first question. When all groups have responded the groups will each respond to the
second question.
5. Concluding Activity (10 minutes)
Students will answer the L from the K-W-L
L-What did students learn about the Great Depression?
Students will be assessed on participation.
Lesson 3 (75 minutes)
Hook (20 minutes)
Gallery Walk: students will look at various pictures hung on the walls around the
classroom. The students will look at the pictures and answer questions that will be
written on the board.
 Questions
o What do the pictures portray?
o How does the picture make you feel?
o Do you notice anything in the pictures that can give you an idea of the
person (people) in them?
o What do you think the person (people) in the pictures is doing?
Activity 1 (15 minutes)
After the Gallery Walk we will discuss as a class what we thought about the pictures and
how they affected us.
Activity 2 (15 minutes)
Students will look at the box on page 304 relating to the Dust Bowl Region. I will point
out on a map the region that is known as the Dust Bowl. Students will then take turns
reading aloud pages 305-306 in Harcourt Horizons text “United States History: From
1877 to Present”.
Activity 3 (25 minutes)
Students will read a story from the Nextext History Series regarding life in the
Depression and living in the Dust Bowl and answer the accompanying questions. The
students will hand in the answer sheet to be graded. This assessment will count as a
classwork grade.
Lesson 4 (45 minutes)
Hook (5 minutes)
Students will be given two cards when they enter the classroom, one with a question and
another with an answer. In the beginning of class the students will be asked to sit at one
of the seats in the already arranged circle in the classroom.
Activity 1 (30 minutes)
The students will be reviewing what they have already learned in this formative
assessment. This review game will be composed of two parts. The teacher will have the
class role with everyone’s name. First the question will be held up for all to see. The
student who answers it correctly first will receive a point marked down next to his/her
name on the role sheet by the teacher. The questions will continue to be asked going to
the right and so on until all questions have been asked and answered. If no one knows
the answer it gets collected by the teacher and saved for future reteaching. Next the
answers will be shown one at a time and students have to respond with the correct answer
as to what the answer is referring to. Again the students will go one at a time to the right.
The teacher will again mark each student with the correct answer on the role. The
student who has the highest number of correct answers will be given an extra 10 points
on the end of unit test. Second place gets 5 extra points and third place gets and extra 3
points on the test.
Activity 2 (5-10 minutes)
The teacher will go over any questions or answers that were not correct or that caused
difficulty.
Lesson 5 (75 minutes)
Hook (60 minutes)
Watch the PBS video “Riding the Rails”
Activity 1 (15 minutes)
Write a diary entry or letter from the point of view of a teenager during the 1930s who
has run away to ride the rails. Explain why you left and what you are experiencing. What
are your hopes? What are your fears?
**Students will finish their diary entry or letter for homework
***Students will have an example of a diary entry and letter to use for structure and style
**** This assignment will be assessed using a rubric.
Lesson 6 (75 minutes)
***Students will be in the computer lab for this class
Hook
Students will be given a set of letters (acronym) on a card as they enter the computer
classroom. These sets of letters (acronym) will represent one of Roosevelt’s New Deal
programs. There will be 2 sets of each so students may be paired up. The sets will be in
a hat and they will have to pick one randomly from the hat.
Activity 1 (40 minutes)
First students will have to look up the New Deal and find the program that the letters
(acronym) match.
Second the students will have to research the appropriate program and gather information
about:
 what the program did specifically
 who it helped
 any strengths and weaknesses
 where the program was located (was it all over the U.S. or only in a certain
region/area of the U.S.).
 In addition the students will have to find out if the program still exists today.
 Students should also include 2 visuals to represent the program.
Activity 2 (20 minutes)
Students will organize a presentation of their facts related to their specific program and
present it to the class. Presentations will be about 3-5 minutes. Presentations are to
include all of the information asked for and at least two pictures to represent the program.
The assignment will be assessed using a rubric.
Activity 3 (15 minutes)
Closure: As a class we will review the New Deal Programs and talk briefly about how the
Great Depression ended.
Next class period
End of Unit Test on the Great Depression
Differentiation: Groups will be formed that will include students of varying levels so
the students are working with others who are either on the same academic level or
working with others who are higher in academic level to act as to strengthen a student’s
weaknesses, acting as balance so all students can contribute.
Accommodations:
Students with special needs who have IEPs will have their needs met accordingly
depending on their disability. Students will get extra time for writing assignments to
include finishing them at home. The students will have reduced writing or assistance
with writing. They may be allowed to speak into a tae recorder and recite what they
would like to have written. These students will not be able to be assesses on grammatical
skills, but rather content and support.