As children learn and grow in elementary school, goals mainly relate to the future. Unfortunately, history may be viewed merely as facts to memorize and only discussed during special anniversaries or monthly commemorations. Social studies is an often neglected subject due to our needed focus on the development of literacy skills. Most of my students come from Latin and Hispanic cultures from around the world and bring a rich background of diversity to the classroom, as well as great curiosity. Yet many lack historical knowledge. Students will examine our present culture as it relates to the 1930s by comparing and contrasting in order to analyze “who” we are now as a result of “who” we were in the past. Students will also analyze patterns and changes over time. The goal of this unit is to expose students to the 1930s in order to engage student historical curiosity, discourse, reading and writing.
(Developed for Literacy/Social Studies, grade 3; recommended for Literacy/Social Studies, grades 3-5)
