What Was Life Like During the Great Depression?
In this lesson, students will interview an individual about his/her life, present an oral report based on an oral interview (rather than from books), and explain the Great Depression as described by someone who lived in that era.

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
The Great Depression 1929-1941: This unit is broken into nine (9) mini-lessons. In the unit, students will investigate the events which precipitated the Great Depression, research the lives of individuals who experienced the depression, gain an appreciation for the hardships endured by a majority of Americans.  In addition, students will examine the initiatives and programs which made up Roosevelt's New Deal and the lasting legacy of these programs..

The Great Depression and the 1990's
By using the American Memory's American Life Histories, 1936-1940 documents, personal interviews, and the Library of Congress's on-line legislative information, students will be able to gain a better understanding of why the government takes care of its people and how this type of welfare state started. Armed with this knowledge, they can then evaluate the current need of government programs, such as welfare, Medicare and Social Security, on the federal and state level.

Roosevelt's New Deal
This lesson plan instructs students on conducting online research and examining the New Deal.

Riding the Rails (PBS): Teacher's Guide
Students will learn about "teenage hobos" in this depression-era lesson plan. Emphasis is put on the causes of homelessness and what made these young men leave home. The plan also outlines topics for discussion, as well as small group activities.

Surviving the Dust Bowl (PBS): Teacher's Guide
In this PBS lesson plan, students begin studying "The Dust Bowl" and how Farmers reacted to it. The Teacher's guide includes eight (8) activities and discussion topics. PBS recommends the purchase of the film Surviving the Dust Bowl in order to fully utilize this lesson plan.

Living Without Technology
Presented by PBS, this lesson plan introduces a project that allows students to experience the difficulties of the Great Depression. Students are instructed to live 24 hours without many of today's modern comforts.

Celebrate the Century: Search the Web for U.S. History of the 1930s
In this WebQuest activity from Education World, students use the Internet to answer scavenger hunt type questions about the 1930s. These questions range from pop culture to politics.

Visions in the Dust
This lesson plan uses photographic examination to teach students about the Dustbowl. This Library of Congress lesson plan also uses PBS resources.

Worth a Thousand Words: Depression-Era Photographs
Using the authentic photographs that were taken to introduce the New Deal, students will follow this MarcoPolo lesson plan and learn about the depression.  

The four (4) lessons below are part of the Library of Congress' unit on the Great Depression, Figuring Somepin' 'Bout the Great Depression.  In the lessons, students select photographs and use the sound recordings of voices of the migrant workers to create captions, letters, and/or songs based on primary sources.

Lesson 1:  Analyzing a Photograph
Students search, select, and analyze a photograph of a migrant farm worker.

Lesson 2:  Gathering Voices
Students collect migrants' quotations, illustrating different aspects of their colloquial language.

Lesson 3: Analyzing Issues
In this lesson, students interpret articles and editorials from newspapers to gain understanding of political issues of the Great Depression relevant to migrant farm workers.

Lesson 4:  Putting It All Together
Students compile a scrapbook of photographs, quotations, and notes, representing the perspective of a migrant farm worker selected in Lesson One.

The five (5) lessons below are from the "New Deal Network." The unit is entitled The Great Depression and the Arts.  This unit was originally designed for grades 8-12, however these lessons can be modified to fit the middle school curriculum.  Teachers should introduce these lessons after examining the causes of the Great Depression.

Lesson 1: Documentary Film—"The Plow that Broke the Plains"
This lesson gives students the opportunity examine a film script to see how the problems and potential solutions to the Dust Bowl were presented by a New Deal agency.

Lesson 2: Documenting the Migrant Experience
In this lesson, students assess multiple narratives regarding the migrant experience and identify the point of view from which each narrative was constructed.

Lesson 3: Film Study of "The Grapes of Wrath"
In this lesson, students view the film "The Grapes of Wrath" as a "cultural document" of its time and as a visual document depicting the effects of the Dust Bowl on tenant farmers.

Lesson 4: The New Deal's Federal Theatre Project
This lesson acquaints students with the New Deal's Federal Theatre Project and the social, economic, and political issues which were the focus of Living Newspaper productions of the FTP.

Lesson 5: Evaluation Activities
These concluding activities are meant to draw the lessons in this unit together and provide students an opportunity to synthesize the diverse materials and activities.
 

Breadline: 1929-1939. Part of PBS's People's Century television series
This site explores the massive unemployment in America during the Depression and offers interviews, a timeline, and a teacher's guide

American Life Histories, 1936-1940
These life histories were written by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states.

Surviving the Dust Bowl. Part of PBS's American Experience television series
This site examines the region in the Southwest renamed the "Dust Bowl" because of a catastrophic eight-year drought. Included is a time line, maps, eyewitness accounts, New Deal remedies, people and events from the era, and a teacher's guide.

Voices from the Dust Bowl (Library of Congress)
This site documents the everyday life of residents in central California in 1940 and 1941. There are audio recordings, photographs, manuscript materials, publications, related sources and more.

The Hoover Dam
A companion to the American Experience video series, the site focuses on the Hoover Dam construction. There is a timeline of construction, Dam facts and environmental issues, maps of the Dam, stories of key characters and incidents and a teacher's guide.

Riding the Rails. Part of PBS's American Experience television series
This site focuses on the plight of more than a quarter million teenagers living on the road in America. There is a timeline, maps, "tales from the rails", Hobo songs, a teacher's guide, recommended resources and more.

American in the 1930s
This University of Virginia production features a museum for American studies, cultural maps, on-going hypertext projects, an electronic classroom, and special features.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Educational Program website includes biographies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, a Roosevelt Timeline, Online Documents and Photographs, a Research Guide and Puzzles and Activities.

The Flint Sit-Down Strike, 1936-1937
This site is an audio gallery of the strike that features a slide show and timeline

Depression Papers of Herbert Hoover. A large collection
Tariffs and Agriculture, Economic Stability Program, Relief, Unemployment and Public Works, The Dust Bowl, Banks & Finance, The Federal Budget, Economic Recovery Measures and the Bonus March.  

Walker Evans Image Project
Depression era photos of the hard life by this FSA photographer.

The Lawless Decade
The Lawless Decade is a pictorial history of the "convulsive shocks" from WWI armistice and prohibition to its repeal and the New Deal. It is based on the book by the same name and is organized by year.

"Between the Wars" Webpage
This site offers numerous links to the 1920s and 1930s.
 

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