The Dust Bowl
Karrie Ruestman
Fox Creek Elementary
Spring 2009
Audience watching play in recreation hall, Tulare Migrant Camp, Visalia, California
Students will use primary sources to learn what life was like living in the Dust Bowl.
Living conditions, health and the environment were all impacted by the huge dust storms that blew
through that region in the 1930’s.
Overview/ Materials/LOC Resources/Standards/ Procedures/Evaluation/Rubric/Handouts/Extension
Overview
Objectives
Recommended time frame
Grade level
Curriculum fit
Materials
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Students will:
 learn vocabulary related to the Dust Bowl
 identify locations on a map that were affected by the
Dust Bowl
4 days
4th-5th
Social Studies, Language Arts, Technology
Materials for Day 1:
 Resource table displayed on Smartboard,
 Handout 1 overview of Dust Bowl,
 Loose-leaf paper for diary entries
 Map and worksheet for homework.
Materials for Day 2:
 Map of Dust Bowl on Smartboard
 Book: Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of
the School at Weedpatch Camp by Jerry Stanley.

Crown Books for Young Readers (July 13, 1993)
Rubric for each student.
Illinois State Learning Standards
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Language Arts:
Goal 1: Read with understanding and fluency
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University

1.A.2b Clarify word meaning using context clues
and a variety of resources including glossaries,
dictionaries and thesauruses.
Goal 3: Write to communicate for a variety of
purposes.
 3.B.2d Edit documents for clarity, subjectivity,
pronoun-antecedent agreement, adverb and adjective
agreement and verb tense; proofread for spelling,
capitalization and punctuation; and ensure that
documents are formatted in final form for
submission and/or publication.
Social Sciences:
Goal 16: Understand events, trends, individuals and
movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United
States and other nations.
 16.C.2c (US) Describe significant economic events
including industrialization, immigration, the Great
Depression, the shift to a service economy and the
rise of technology that influenced history from the
industrial development era to the present.
 16.D.2b (US) Describe the ways in which
participation in the westward movement affected
families and communities
Goal 17: Understand world geography and the
effects of geography on society, with an emphasis on
the United States.
 17.A.2b Use maps and other geographic
representations and instruments to gather
information about people, places and environments.
Procedures
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Day One:
 Students will be introduced to The Dust Bowl as
part of their unit on The Great Depression.
 After a brief discussion explaining the Dust Bowl
and sharing pictures from the resource table on the
Smartboard, students will be shown the picture of
the Dust Bowl Refugee and asked to write a diary
entry as if they were that woman. These entries will
be shared in class.
 For homework, students will complete the map
activity.
Day Two:
 Collect maps and ask for questions.
 Show map on Smartboard and discuss how people
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
from the Dust Bowl moved west for what they
thought were better conditions and chances.
 Students will read excerpts from Children of the
Dust Bowl in pairs. They will begin composing an
interview with a Dust Bowl survivor (either
someone who stayed or someone who moved west.
 The rubric will be shared with them.
Day Three:
 Students will work on their interviews together.
Day Four:
 Students will perform their interviews for the class.
Evaluation
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1. Paragraphs will be assessed for proper grammar and
mechanics.
2. Students will be given a grade on the homework
map activity.
3. A rubric will be used to assess interviews.
Extension
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Students will read this letter to Mrs. Roosevelt from a
teenage Dust Bowl sufferer and make corrections. Then
they are to write a reflection of what it must have been
like to be that child. (Letter is posted separately in the
handouts section).
Kismet, Kansas
Nov. 3, 1937
Dear Mrs. Rosevelt:
I am 13 years old and will be 14 the 27 of this month. I
am a victim of a shut in. I have been sick ever since the
12 of July. And have a very lonely place to stay. My
parence's are very poor people. I cant even go to school
yet with the other kids. And doubt if I can this year. I
have nothing I can do but set around and I get so lonely
I don't know what to do. And if you want to cheer me up
and make me one of the happies boys in the world just
send me some money to get a cheap raido. Ihave got
proof by the neighbors that I am sick and have nothing
to do. My parence names is Mr. + Mrs. A. J. M. My
name is F. M. I live at Kismet. Many, many thanks if
you would cheer me up that way I wouldn't spend it for
nothing but a radio. It would pass my lonely time a way
so much faster. I only ask for a cheep one.
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
F. M.
Kismet, Kansas
P.S. If I had any thing to do I wouldent ask you of it. It
will be highly appreached.
I am in the dust bowl. We didn't raise any crop this year.
And we have to live off of the releif and theres no
injoyment out of that. But were thankful for it. My
mother is sick and under the doctor's care most of the
time and my Grandma that lives with me is very poorly.
And that keeps my heart broken all the time. And
nothing to amuse myself with.
thanks alot
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Primary Resources from the Library of Congress
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Image
Description
Home of a dust
bowl refugee in
California.
Imperial County
The winds of the
"dust bowl" have
piled up large
drifts of soil
against this
farmer's barn.
Citation
Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs
Division Washington,
DC 20540 USA, Lange,
Dorothea,
photographer.,
[reproduction number
LC-USF34-016264-C
DLC].
Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs
Division Washington,
DC 20540, Rothstein,
Arthur, photographer,
(reproduction number
LC-USZ62-129049
DLC).
URL
http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@
field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+
8b31761))
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?ammem/f
saall:@field(NUMBE
R+@band(cph+3c290
49))
Dust Bowl Refugee
Library of Congress,
Prints & Photographs
Division, FSA-OWI
Collection,
[reproduction number,
e.g., LC-USF35-1326]
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?ammem/f
saall:@field(NUMBE
R+@band(fsa+8b317
83))
Dusty fields
Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs
Division Washington,
DC 20540 USA. FSAOWI Collection,
(reproduction number
LC-USZ62-130633
DLC).
Wikimedia Commons
(Public Domain)
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?ammem/f
saall:@field(NUMBE
R+@band(cph+3c306
33))
Dust storm
approaching
Stratford, Texas,
April 1935.
http://images.encyclo
pedia.com/getimage.a
spx?id=2794767&her
o=
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Illinois State University
Rubric
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1
2
3
Little information
collected. Needed to be
reminded to stay on task.
Did not use time wisely.
Some information from
book used. Stayed on
task but did not get
“whole picture” of Dust
Bowl from reading.
Reality of the Dust Bowl
really captured in the
information collected.
Included all important
parts.
Interview
Development
Some interview
components are missing.
Minimal facts included.
All interview
components are present,
but information is not
organized in a way that
“flows”.
Interview is well
organized with all
components present.
Presentation
Reading from notes. No
eye contact.
Volume is not loud
enough.
Some eye contact
between interviewer and
interviewee. Had to be
reminded of volume.
Good eye contact and
body language between
interviewer and
interviewee. Volume is
appropriate.
Information
Score
Total _____________
Comments ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Handouts -1
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Dust Bowl is the name given to the to the U.S. prairie states that suffered ecological damage in the
1930's. They also suffered to a lesser extent in the mid-1950's. The problem in the prairie regions of
the United States began during World War I. The high price of wheat and the needs of Allied troops
encouraged farmers to raise more wheat by plowing and seeding areas in prairie states. These states
included Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. These lands had formerly been used for
grazing livestock.
After years of adequate yields on these lands, livestock returned to graze and their hooves pulverized
the vulnerable topsoil. In the year 1934, strong winds began to blow the soil in huge dust clouds. In
succeeding years, from December to May, these dust storms occurred again and again. Both crops
and pasture lands were ruined by harsh wind and dust storms, which proved to be a severe health
hazard. The uprooting, poverty, and human suffering caused during this period is notably portrayed
in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
Through later governmental intervention and new methods of erosion preventing farming, the Dust
Bowl phenomenon has been virtually eliminated, and thus, is now only a historic reference.
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Handouts -2
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Handouts -3
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Name________________________ Date____________ Class Period_____
Student Activity - Dust Bowl Map
by Carol Schlenk
Follow these instructions to complete the map on the following page. Then answer the questions on this sheet
and attach it behind your map.
1. Title your map: Region of the Dust Bowl, 1930’s.
2. Label the following states on your map: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma.
3. Color the central part of the Dust Bowl area orange.
4. Color the larger dust bowl area yellow.
5. Color the area of Texas not in the Dust Bowl green.
6. Color the non-Dust Bowl area of remaining states brown.
7. Draw a compass rose on your map.
8. Create a map key which explains the following:
a) Area of the Dust Bowl (yellow area)
b) Area receiving most severe wind erosion (orange area)
9. Which state had more of its total land area in the Dust Bowl?
____________________________________________________
10. Which state had the least of its total land area in the part of the Dust Bowl receiving the most severe wind
erosion?
____________________________________________________
11. What is a popular name for the area of North Texas affected by the Dust Bowl?
_________________________________________________
12. What do we call the region of the United States affected by the Dust Bowl?
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Illinois State University
Handouts - 4
Kismet, Kansas
Nov. 3, 1937
Dear Mrs. Rosevelt:
I am 13 years old and will be 14 the 27 of this month. I am a victim of a shut in. I have been sick ever since the 12 of
July. And have a very lonely place to stay. My parence's are very poor people. I cant even go to school yet with the
other kids. And doubt if I can this year. I have nothing I can do but set around and I get so lonely I don't know what to
do. And if you want to cheer me up and make me one of the happies boys in the world just send me some money to
get a cheap raido. Ihave got proof by the neighbors that I am sick and have nothing to do. My parence names is Mr. +
Mrs. A. J. M. My name is F. M. I live at Kismet. Many, many thanks if you would cheer me up that way I wouldn't
spend it for nothing but a radio. It would pass my lonely time a way so much faster. I only ask for a cheep one.
F. M.
Kismet, Kansas
P.S. If I had any thing to do I wouldent ask you of it. It will be highly appreached.
I am in the dust bowl. We didn't raise any crop this year. And we have to live off of the releif and theres no injoyment
out of that. But were thankful for it. My mother is sick and under the doctor's care most of the time and my Grandma
that lives with me is very poorly. And that keeps my heart broken all the time. And nothing to amuse myself with.
thanks alot