1850-MOD - Week 23 (including the Great Depression)

[Marie]

1850-MOD - Week 23 (including the Great Depression).

[kellybell]

My 8 year old girl wants to research the Great Depression for her history fair project. Does anyone have any suggestions on resources or project suggestions for this time period? Thanks!

The new Kit Kittridge movie (it's now out on DVD -- check the library) is a fun picture of the depression. Of course, it's more entertainment than it is history, but it would probably be a fun family movie night. Perhaps watching this movie would be a great treat after the project is done -- your daughter could find things in the movie that agree with her research and things in the movie that conflict with her research...

Also, look around church and ask any really old people if they remember the Depression era. That would be best.

[cbollin]

You might try a companion book to the Kit series,
Welcome to Kit's world: Growing up during America's Great Depression. I can't remember if that book had crafts or projects or not. But I vaguely remember it has information.

How about early episodes of the Waltons? It was loosely based on the the screen writer's real life growing up back yonder in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in a tiny little place called Schuyler (pronounced skylar, by the way) anyway, the TV show early episodes might give a nice visual of the stores, phones, stoves, clothing. That kind of thing.
oh great, now I can't get the theme song out of my head......


One of the read alouds in the 1850MOD supplement for younger kids ---
A letter to Mrs. Roosevelt.
that might have some insights too. check library.

-crystal

[Julie in MN]

My 8 year old girl wants to research the Great Depression for her history fair project. Does anyone have any suggestions on resources or project suggestions for this time period? Thanks!

We haven't studied the depression yet, but ds read "Bud, Not Buddy" and got a glimpse into the times.

Other ideas that come to mind...

Can she interview anyone she knows? She could do a display of her interview, a photo, and any items the person was willing to share? (Or the person might give leads to unusual depression-era items you could find photos of on the internet.)

Looking at photographs might help young children visualize it. I'm sure the library has many, as well as the internet. There's a slide show here. Maybe copy or print out a few pix?
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activitie ... a/journal/

I can see focusing on something specific about how life was different at the time. How about cooking something with a sugar substitute, etc.?

There are other things online, such as letters to Mrs. Roosevelt from children here:
http://newdeal.feri.org/eleanor/er3a.htm

[DS4home]

Here's an idea: Make a Then and Now poster. Divide the poster board in half and print out some of those pictures on the internet from that era for one side, then find a current picture of the same type of thing for the other half. A fun visual to make and see how things have changed!

Dawn

[Julie in MN]

Week 23 - President FDR's speeches on audio
To me, FDR's presidency marks the beginning of the more "accessible" history. You can listen to audios of his actual speeches in lots of places. FDR's two most famous speeches are probably the 2 below, and you can find them with an internet search "FDR Inaugural" or "FDR Infamy" using Google or something similar. Wikipedia has an audio of the Infamy speech, plus a shorter audio of just the most famous Infamy line, down near the bottom of the FDR page under "media."

(1) First Inaugural Address, March 1933, including, "The only thing you have to fear is fear itself..." (This line is quite early in the speech, if you're listening for it.)

(2) The Infamy speech given after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 1941, named after the line, "Yesterday.... a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked..."


Week 23 - FDR Memorial, 2 statues
We thought it was interesting that there are two statues at the FDR Memorial. We were able to look at both using Google "images."

(1) The original statue shows him covered by a huge cape, which looks like it could cover his wheelchair but in one place I read it is supposed to depict him riding in a car (?). Nearby is his dog, Fala.

(2) A new statue was added to the site a few years later, in 2001, to include his wheelchair. This one was apparently passionately campaigned for by some, while others felt it was not true to the image FDR chose to present to the public.