Woody Guthrie and
The Dust Bowl
A Social Studies Lesson using
Folk Music as a Teaching Tool
The Lesson
• Introductory Lesson
• Focuses on key vocabulary terms (terms
are in yellow during playing of song)
• Collaborative AND independent work
• May also employ primary sources and
photographs
• Music in the classroom
Woody Guthrie
On the fourteenth day of April, of 1935,
there struck the worst of dust storms that ever filled the sky.
You could see that dust storm coming, the clouds looked deathlike black,
and through our mighty nation, it left a dreadful track.
From Oklahoma City, to the Arizona line,
Dakota and Nebraska to the lazy Rio Grande
It fell across our cities, like a curtain of black rolled down!
We thought it was our judgment, we thought it was our doom!
The radio reported, we listened with alarm,
the wild and windy actions of this great mysterious storm.
From Albuquerque and Clovis, and all New Mexico,
they said it was the blackest that ever they had saw.
From ol’ Dodge City, Kansas, the dust had rung their knell,
and a few more comrades sleeping, on top of ol’ Boot Hill.
From Denver, Colorado, they said it blew so strong,
they thought that they could hold out, but they didn’t know how long!
Our relatives were huddled, into their oil boom shacks,
and the children they was cryin’ as it whistled through the cracks!
And the family it was crowded, into their little room,
they thought it was their judgment, they thought it was their doom.
The storm took place at sundown, it lasted through the night.
When we looked out next morning, we saw a terrible sight!
We saw outside our window, where wheat-fields they had grown,
was now a rippling ocean of dust the wind had blown.
It covered up our fences, it covered up our barns.
It covered up our tractors in this wild and dusty storm.
We loaded our jalopies, and piled our families in.
We rattled down that highway, to never come back again.
Texas Standards
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
K,1, 2, 3rd Grades
1. 101-K.L;1.3A;2.2B3.3A: The student understands the concept of chronology: Uses vocabulary related to
chronology…past, present and future. B T5*
2. 205-K.L; 1.5A The student understands how to construct and interpret maps and other graphics: Create and use
simple maps to identify the location of places in the classroom, school, community, and beyond.
3. 301-K.6A: The students understands how basic human needs are met through the production of goods and
services: Identify basic human needs.
4. 712-K.L,1.L: The student understands the impact of technology on the cultural development of societies, past and
present:Explain how science and technology have changed the ways in which people meet basic needs such
as food, clothing, and shelter.
5. 804-K.16A, 1.18A, 2.18A, 3.17A: The student understands how to express ideas orally: Express ideas orally based
on knowledge and experiences.
6. 808-K.15A, 1.17A, 2.17A, 3.L: The student understands how to obtain information using a variety of oral resources:
Obtain information about a topic using a variety of oral sources such as conversations, interviews, music.
7. 809-K.15B, 1.17B, 2.17B, 3.16A: The student understands how to obtain information using a variety of visual
resources: Obtain information about a topic using a variety of visual sources such as pictures, symbols,
television, maps, computer images, print material, and artifacts.
8. 824-K.15.D,1.19A, 2.17E: The student understands how to identify and interpret main ideas: Identify main ideas from
oral, visual and print sources.
9. 222-1.6B:The student understands how humans rely on natural resources: Identify examples of and uses for natural
resources such as water, land…in the community, state, and nation.
10. 702-1.16C The student understands how technology has affected daily lives, past and present: Explain how science
and technology have changed the ways in which people meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.
TEKS
11. 203-2.5A: The student understands how to use the basic tools of geography: Use symbols, find locations, and
determine directions on maps and globes. B T5*
12. 220-2.7A: The student understands how the physical environment affects and interacts with the human environment:
Describe how weather patterns, natural resources, seasonal patterns, and natural hazards affect activities and
settlement patterns. B T2
13. 223-2.7B: The student understand how humans have adapted to, and modified, the physical environment: Explain
how people depend on the physical environment and its natural resources to satisfy their basic needs, suc as food,
clothing, and shelter. B T5*
14. 224-2.8A: The student understand how humans have adapted to, and modified, the physical environment: Identify
ways in which people depend on the physical environment including natural resources to meet basic needs, such as
food, clothing, and shelter. B T5* <WG8G>
15. 226-2.8C: The student understands how humans have adapted to, and modified, the physical environment: Identify
consequences of human modification of the physical environment such as the use of irrigation to improve crop yields. B
T5* <WG8G>
16. 702-2.L, 3.L: The student understands how technology has affected daily lives, past and present: Describe how
technology has changed the way people work.
17. 712-2.16B, 3.L: The student understands the impact of technology on the cultural development of societies, past and
present: Explain how science and technology have changed the ways in which people meet basic needs such as food,
clothing, and shelter. B T2 <WH23A>
3rd Grade cont.
18. 204-3.5C: The student understands how to use the basic tools of geography: Identify and use the compass rose,
grid, and symbols to locate places on maps and globes. B T5*
TEKS
19. 205-3.5D: The students understands how to construct and interpret maps and other graphics: Draw maps of
places and regions that contain map elements including a title, compass rose, legend, scale, and grid system.
20. 207-3.4A: The student understands the physical characteristics of the environment: Describe and explain
variations in the physical environment including climate, landforms, natural resources, and natural hazards.
21. 220-3.L: The student understands how the physical environment affects and interacts with the human
environment: Describe how weather patterns, natural resources, seasonal patterns, and natural hazards affect
activities and settlement patterns in the local community. B T2
22. 224-3.4C The student understands how humans have adapted to, and modified, the physical environment:
Describe the effects of physical and human processes in shaping the landscape such as agriculture…. B T5*
<WG8B>
24. 311-3.7A: The student understands the concept of scarcity: Define and identify examples of scarcity.
25. 312 & 313-3.8B, 8C: The student understands the concept of supply and demand: Explain how supply and
demand affect the price of a good or service; 8C-Explain how the cost of production and selling price affect
profits. B T2
26. 811-3.16E & 3.17B: The student understands how to create visual and written materials from a variety of
sources: Interpret and create visuals including graphs, charts, tables, timelines, illustrations, and maps; 17B
Create written and visual material such as stories, poems, pictures, maps, and graphic organizers to express
ideas. B T5
27. 815-3.L: The student understands how to locate differentiate, and use primary and secondary sources:
Differentiate between, locate, and use primary and secondary sources in communities throughout the world. B
T5
28. 824-3.16C: The student understands how to identify and interpret main ideas: Interpret oral, visual, and print
material by identifying the main idea, identifying cause and effect, and comparing and contrasting.
TEKS
4th & 5th Grades
1. 108-4.L &5.L: The student understands how to sequence events in history: Apply absolute and relative chronology
through the sequencing of significant individuals, evens, and time periods. B T1
2. 205-4.6A & 5.6A: The student understands how to construct and interpret maps and other graphics: Apply
geographic tools, including grid systems, legends, symbols, scales, and compass roses to construct and
interpret maps.
3. 223-5.9C:The student understands how humans have adapted to, and modified, the physical environment:
Analyze the consequences of human modification of the environment in the United States, past and present,
such as farming and the Dust Bowl as well as the effects of deforestation and industrialization B T5*
4. 807-4.22C & 5.25C: The student understands how to organize and interpret information: Organize and interpret
information in outlines, reports, databases, and visuals including graphs, charts, timelines, and maps. B T5
5. 808-4.L & 5.L: The student understands how to obtain information using a variety of visual resources: Obtain
information about a topic using a variety of oral sources, such as conversations, interviews, and music.
6. 809-4.L & 5.L: The student understands how to obtain information using a variety of visual resources: Obtain
information, including historical and geographic data using a variety of print, oral, visual, and computer sources.
7. 811-4.26D &5.23D: The student understands how to create visual and written materials from a variety of sources:
Create written and visual material such as journal entries, reports, graphic organizers, outlines, and
bibliographies.
8. 15-4.22A & 5.25A: The student understands how to locate differentiate, and use primary and secondary sources:
Differentiate between, locate, and use primary and secondary sources such as computer software, interviews;l
biographies; oral, print, and visual material, and artifacts to acquire information about the United States and
Texas. B T5
9. 823-4.22B & 5.25B: The student understands how to apply critical thinking skills to gather and analyze social
studies information through a variety of strategies: Analyze information by sequencing, categorizing, identifying,
cause-and-effect relationships, comparing, contrasting, finding the main idea, summarizing, making
generalizations and predictions, and drawing inferences and conclusions. B T5
National Standards
National Center for History in the Schools: Standards in History for Grades K-4
Standard 5 : The causes and nature of various movements of large groups of people
into and within the United States, now, and long ago.
Sub-standard 5-A: Identify reasons why groups such as freed African Americans,
Mexican and Puerto Rican migrant workers, and Dust Bowl farm families migrated to
various parts of the country. [Consider multiple perspectives ]
National Council for Social Studies Curriculum and Content Area Standards
Thematic Strand III. People, Places, and Environments (Early Grades):
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of people,
places and environments, so that the learner can:
• examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment,
• the use of land, building of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected locales and
regions;
• observe and speculate about social and economic effects of environmental changes
and crises resulting from phenomena such as floods, storms, and drought.
Dust Bowl Maps