Week 1

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

ELA- Students
get into reading
groups for the
two week
period

ELA- students start journaling

activity, where they write
journal entries 3x a week,
including the new information
they learn

ELA- Book Club

Meeting 1

Science- Day 2students

investigate how
to prevent soil
erosion by
wind and will
complete an
entry in their
science journals

ELA- Journal
check, Book
club Meeting 2

Social Studies/
LiteracyStudents look
at pictures from
the Dust Bowl
and record
observations
and write
narratives

Week 2

ELA- Book
Club Meeting 3
Social Studies
-Have students
listen to I aint
got no home
by Woody
Guthrie
-class
discussion on
the themes of
this song
-how does this
relate to today?
-Students read
article about
Okies
-add to KWL
Chart

Social StudiesWhat was the Dust Bowl?

-Start time with a KWL chart
-look at map of Dust Bowl
area and discuss what we
know of the areas geography,
and introduce why the Dust
Bowl happened here
-students watch intro video
http://www.history.com/topics/
dust-bowl/videos/americablack-blizzard and write down
what happened Before the
Dust Bowl and During the
Dust Bowl
-add to KWL chart

Science
-students investigate
agricultural tools and how
plowing affects the land
-science journal entry
- discussion on how the Dust
Bowl was a man-made
disaster, and how can we relate
what happened in the past to
today? How did the people
back then use up their
resources, and how do we do
this today?
Social Studies- Students will
receive a person from the Dust
Bowl to research from
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/d
ustbowl/bios/
And write down everything
they learn in a graphic
organizer

Science- Soil erosion

day 1- students
investigate wind soil
erosion and how it
happens
-students will complete
an entry in their science
journals
Social Studies- Revisit
video from previous day,
then watch PBS video
http://video.pbs.org/vide
o/2284398428/
And History channel
video
http://www.history.com/t
opics/dustbowl/videos/blackblizzard
-Students create a list of
major causes for the
Dust Bowl as a class
-Class discussion on
what might have been
the most prominent
cause of the Dust Bowl
-Add to KWL Chart
ELA- Book Club
Meeting 4
Social StudiesContinue working on
recording biographical
information
-Students will write 2-3
paragraphs about how
the Dust Bowl affected
that person
Science- Turn in Science
Journals (assessment)

Social StudiesMake timelines

about major
events of the
Dust Bowl
period
(assessment)
http://www.read
writethink.org/fi
les/resources/int
eractives/timelin
e_2/
ScienceStudents
investigate the
grasses of the
Great Plains and
build off the
previous days
activity and
discuss how the
grass affected
the Dust Bowl

Social studies-Students given

final
performance
assessment
assignment
-complete work
on biographical
information

ELA- Final
Journal Check,
Final Book Club
Meeting
Social studiesCharacter Round
table where
students will be
pretending they
are their person
at a historical
panel where
they are asked
about their
experiences
from students
(performance
assessment)