Sixth graders study depression era
By ANNETTE WEEMS
January brought a month long learning unit on the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s for the students in the sixth grade class.
In social studies, students analyzed the effects of the stock market crash, the dust storms, President Roosevelt's New Deal, and the people of this era.
Soil erosion and soil conservation were the main topics of discussion and experimentation in science. Students set up demonstrations on chemical, water, and wind erosion. They then brainstormed ideas for soil conservation and tested them.
In continuing with the unit, the students are reading "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse, which is a novel based on the Great Depression. The Newberry Award winner in 1999, this novel is a series of free-verse poems. Billie Jo, the main character, relates the trials and struggles of growing up on a wheat farm in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl years. The students are enjoying reading a more personalized account of what life was like in the 1930s.
Students were able to receive a first-hand account of living in the Depression years from Mr. and Mrs. Warkentine (Weems' parents). They were able to ask questions about living as a youth during this time. Personal stories about attending a one-room country school (without electricity and indoor plumbing), life on a farm, medical treatment, and homemade toys and games were shared.
Another interesting fact the students discovered was regarding the current football stadium and rock wall. Mrs. Warkentine's father received employment with the WPA (Works Progress Administration) to help with construction. They were constructed as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal programs.
Throughout this unit, students have become enthralled with learning new and interesting facts. They have discovered the perseverance of the American people: how they survived those trying years; how they put food in their stomachs; what they thought; how they behaved; and, finally, how they maintained their sanity in the midst of a world that was fast crumbling around them.
