Browse lesson plans

Analyzing children's letters to Mrs. Roosevelt

Students will analyze letters that children wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)

By Angie Panel Holthausen.

Canning for country and community

In this lesson plan, students will use primary source documents to evaluate the technological challenges of food preservation in the 30s and 40s, compare food preservation in the first half of the twentieth century with today, and consider the political role of food in the community.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Melissa Thibault.

Paired writing: Hoover and FDR

Taking on the persona of FDR and Hoover, students will write responses to citizens seeking help with real world problems.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Social Studies)

By Angie Panel Holthausen.

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.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

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.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

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.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Resources on the web

Designing museum exhibits for “The Grapes of Wrath”: A multigenre project

This lesson asks students to focus on one issue from the Depression as it applies to the novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Working alone or with a partner, students create artifacts in a variety of genres for a museum exhibit that... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

The Great Depression and the 1990s

Students frequently echo sentiments such as, “The government is too big,” or “The government should make welfare mothers pay for their own needs.” It seems that many citizens, high schoolers included, have begun to believe in reduced... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 Social Studies)

Provided by: Library of Congress