Social Studies Unit 6: The World Wars

Social Studies Unit 6 in my 5th grade classroom is about World War I, World War II, and the Great Depression. I've found that many students love learning about the wars, especially World War II. I typically spend much more time on World War II than World War I, mainly because it is a major area of interest for me.

There are some guidelines that you should follow if you're new to teaching about wars, or you notice that your students seem to think they're funny or game-like. The National World War II Museum put out these considerations that should be followed. The real trick in finding these links is finding worthwhile, information rich resources that are kid friendly.

As always, my focus with this unit page is to give some great online resources, and some print ready material as well. I'll outline how I approach the unit, and give any other information as necessary. The end of unit project this time involves students making a 3-dimensional display about World War I or the Great Depression (or both), and a whole group timeline based World War II project. The student information and scoring rubric can be accessed in both docx and pdf format. Now that we have that out of the way, let's get started:

World War I

I'll be the first to admit that I don't spend a lot of time on World War I. I spend the majority of my time in this unit on World War II, it's a personal preference thing. BUT, I do give World War I some attention. Here are some resources that can be used when teaching about World War I. I compiled a list of about 100 sites and documents, and got it down to these, the best of the bunch. Most of these sites are meant to guide teachers, so view these first, the ones that offer information or documents that are strictly for teachers (lesson plans, units, etc.) are in all CAPS:

The Great Depression

It's kind of hard to go straight from World War I to World War II without discussing The Great Depression. There are also many great classics of children's literature that are set in this time period, such as Out of the Dust, Bud Not Buddy, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Esperanza Rising. Here are some resources about this time period, again, with teacher only resources in all CAPS:

World War II

Here we go! I love teaching about World War II, because it's a personal passion of mine. My grandfather fought in the Pacific theater of the war, and the stories he told me when I was a kid are the reason I am so interested in everything WWII. I split my instruction on WWII up into a few areas, but ultimately teach chronologically. My links here will be given in categories. These links are meant to guide teaching and give some resources for kids. What follows are the links, categories are listed in blue, as always teacher resources are IN ALL CAPS.

THE START OF THE WAR IN EUROPE:
World War II began on September 1, 1939 with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. The following links will guide research or teaching on the beginning of the war and WWII before Pearl Harbor.
PEARL HARBOR
On December 7, 1941, America was thrust into action when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. This major event turned the conflict officially into a world war.
  • 2 PAGE PDF TITLED "DAY OF INFAMY": This document includes the statistics on Pearl Harbor.
  • Visual Evidence: A nice interactive presentation on the National Park Service website. Students are asked to analyze pictures of Pearl Harbor. 
  • Pearl Harbor Interactive Attack Map: This visual, provided by National Geographic, includes a full timeline with audio, video, and maps.
  • JOURNALIST ACTIVITY: A neat lesson provided by the Navy's Historical website. Students become journalists reporting on the attack.
This video clip is taken from the film Pearl Harbor. It's been edited to show just the attack scene.

This next clip is actual footage of the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which is kind of amazing considering that not everyone had access to video recording equipment in 1941 like they do now.


WORLD AT WAR
These links address the whole of the war, both the Pacific and European fronts, and general overall information:
This first video clip is 44 minutes long, and is the episode of America: The Story of Us that is all about World War II. It's very good and informational:

This second clip is a small documentary made by a middle school student. It's actually very good, and presents the information in a school appropriate way:



PROPAGANDA
Propaganda posters are one of the most popular classroom activities. Students can analyze the posters, discuss them, make their own, etc. Here are some links to a few sites that offer great resources:
THE HOLOCAUST

The Holocaust isn't an easy topic to teach in the elementary school classroom. I have taught it successfully each year, and believe that older elementary students (grade 5 at least) are old enough to understand the gravity of the Jewish Holocaust, and treat it with the respect it deserves. There are many great books that can be utilized in the classroom to assist in teaching the Holocaust, including Maus, The Book Thief, Night, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and many others, not to mention Anne Frank. I have a post on the main pages of my blog titled Teaching 5th Graders About the Holocaust Through Literature, and that post is based on two posts from my old literacy blog The Literabuss, Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History, by Art Spiegelman, and Teaching the Holocaust. 

Here are some school appropriate, 5th grade appropriate classroom resources.
**I always send home a note to notify parents that we will be learning about the Holocaust, you can view that parent letter here: Holocaust Parent Permission Slip**









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