Tobacco bag stringing: Elementary activity three

In this activity for grades 3–6, students will read and evaluate primary source letters from the Tobacco Bag Stringing collection. This should be done after Activity one, which is the introductory activity about tobacco bag stringing.

A lesson plan for grades 3–5 Social Studies

By Pauline S. Johnson

Learn more

• Secondary source: Tobacco bag stringing This article introduces the concept of tobacco bag stringing and discusses its importance as a source of income for women in North Carolina and Virginia during the Great Depression. Adapted for elementary students.
• Primary source: Tobacco bag stringing: Life and labor in the Depression Images and text from a report in the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill documenting tobacco bag stringing work in North Carolina and Virginia in 1939.

Related pages

• Tobacco bag stringing: Elementary activity four: In this activity for grades 3–5, students will read and evaluate a primary source letter from the Tobacco Bag Stringing collection. This should be done after Activity one, which is the introductory activity about tobacco bag stringing. Students will investigate the influence of technology, and its lack, on the tobacco bag stringers. They will do a role play/debate in which they will assume the roles of owners of companies and other people that were involved in the issue.
• Tobacco bag stringing: Elementary activity one: This activity for grades 3–6 will help students understand what tobacco bag stringing was and why it was important to communities in North Carolina and Virginia. Students will read and analyze an adapted introductory article about tobacco bag stringing.
• Primary source letters lesson plan: This is one of a series of activities that will help educators use the Tobacco Bag Stringing project...

Related topics

• Learn more about American history, Great Depression, North Carolina, United States, history, letters, oral histories, social studies, tobacco, tobacco bag stringing, and work.

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This is one of a series of activities that will help educators use the Tobacco Bag Stringing project materials in their classrooms. Throughout the series students will learn about tobacco stringing, study primary source documents and visuals, engage in a role play/debate, and practice critical thinking and analysis skills.

This activity should be done after Activity one, which is the introductory activity about tobacco bag stringing.

Learning outcomes

• Students will read and evaluate primary source letters.
• Students will understand the role of the historian as they examine primary source letters.
• Students will experience historical empathy in a written assignment.
• Students will practice higher order thinking.

Teacher planning

Materials needed

• Copies of the letter activity sheets.

Time required for lesson

20 minutes

Procedure

1. Ask the students how many of them have written a letter. This number may be very small as more students email than write letters. Ask them why people in the past may have written letters.
2. Ask the students why historians might be interested in letters from the past.
3. Pass out copies of the letter excerpts to students. Allow them to work individually, in pairs, or in small groups. Teachers may need to read the letters to younger students.
4. Discuss answers as a whole class.
5. Letter activity two can be done in class or as a homework assignment.

Assessment

• Assess by clarity of student understanding as evidenced during discussion.
• Assess letter activity one by completion of questions.
• Assess letter activity two by clarity of persuasion, grammar, and style.