| Overview:
Utilizing video and photos, elementary school students
will be able to synthesize some of the experiences of
the Dust Bowl by creating a children’s book in
this multi-day activity.
Background:
Beginning in the 1930s, drought wracked Oklahoma, Arkansas
and other areas of the Great Plains. Farmers watched
in despair as their crops died and their children grew
hungry. The experiences of these farmers have been publicized
in many ways, most notably in the stunning photography
of Dorothea Lange. Lange began working for the California
and Federal Resettlement Administrations in 1935 and
through her photography she not only captured the hardships
endured by migrant workers but called for more federal
help for them.
Materials:
• PBS Video “Surviving the Dust Bowl”
and/or excerpts to read with the class. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/
• Photo
analysis worksheet
• Dorothea Lange photos (a large selection is
available at http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId
=ft3f59n5wt&chunk.id=omca_728&brand=oac)
• Copy paper—four pieces per group
• Markers, crayons, colored pencils
• Storybook
rubric
Essential Question:
What were the experiences of farmers displaced by the
Dust Bowl during the 1930s?
Motivation:
Think-pair-share.
Think: Have students spend thirty seconds to
one minute thinking about what natural resources make
crops grow.
Pair: Each student will have thirty seconds
to share his/her ideas with a partner.
Share: The partnered students will share their
ideas with the whole class.
Objectives:
• Students will analyze Dorothea Lange’s
photographs
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the Dust
Bowl
• Students will be able to identify three to five
facts about migrant farm workers’ experiences
during the Dust Bowl.
• Students will be able to explain the story behind
some of the Lange photographs.
Procedure:
1. After motivation, discuss what happens to farmers
if there is a prolonged period of no rain, or drought.
Explain to students that this is what happened in the
1930s in Oklahoma and other areas in the Great Plains
region. There was a drought so severe that the soil
blew away and it was called the Dust Bowl.
2. Watch excerpts from the PBS video “Surviving
the Dust Bowl.” Alternatively or in addition,
students may read or you can read to them excerpts from
that website that can be found at www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/.
3. Distribute three different Dorothea Lange photographs
to each group of three students. Photos can be found
at http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId
=ft3f59n5wt&chunk.id=omca_728&brand=oac.
4. Each group will analyze their photos using the photography
analysis worksheet.
5. The teacher will work with the groups to make sure
they understand the stories behind the photographs.
The teacher can assess understanding verbally, by collecting
the worksheets, or through whole group or small group
discussions.
6. Students will share their photographs with the class
and discuss what they think is happening (or has already
happened) in each.
7. Students will create a children’s short story
book centered around the pictures that they have analyzed.
Give out rubric and explain the task.
8. Pass out four pieces of paper and drawing implements.
Explain to students that they will paste each picture
to a paper and write a story about what is happening.
The fourth piece of paper will be the cover page where
they will make up a title and create a cover illustration.
9. Students will share the books with their classmates
when they are finished.
Extension:
To extend this lesson on the experiences of Dust Bowl
migrants, students can listen to songs written and performed
by migrants and compiled on the American Memory website
of the Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tshome.html.
Students can discuss the lyrics and create their own
songs, lyrics and or podcasts. Two songs of particular
interest are “Sunny Cal” by Jack Bryant,
available here
and “Root Hog or Die” by Bill Jackson, available
here.
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