You Get What You Need

Connor Letts
World War II
7th Grade

Title: Economics in World War II

Materials:
Paper, pencils, computer with projector, “Food is a Weapon” poster, pictures from Winona Historical Society, entitled salvage guide, poster, waste paper, ration coupon, Winona stocking, recipes, and black market.

Goals:
The student will better understand the demand for resources due to World War II, and the effects of this demand on the United States.

Objectives:

The student will indentify the resources that became scarce in the United States during World War II, as well as recognize the impact of this scarcity on women’s involvement in the workforce.

Procedure:

Introductory Experiences
Show the “Food is a Weapon” propaganda poster to the class. What do you think this poster means? What is the purpose of this poster? Have students write down answers for an informal discussion, and once every student has gathered ideas, discuss these questions as a class. After discussion, explain that this poster was meant to remind citizens to conserve food because of the soldiers’ needs overseas. (5 minutes)

Developmental Experiences
During the war, many items that were once common and plentiful were now in extremely high demand. This is due to the amount of soldiers overseas and their need for many items. Discuss supply and demand, making sure to emphasize that value is directly related to this concept. For example, if a supply is low demand is high for an item, value is also high. So what kind of items do you think the soldiers needed overseas? Discuss as a class. Soldiers needed food, copper for bullet production, ropes and rubber for various uses, metals, paper items, and many other materials. Show “salvage guide” picture, “poster” picture, and “waste paper” picture. Discuss as a class. (10 minutes)

Items like these were so needed during the war, that many items were rationed. A ration is a fixed portion of an item in times of scarcity. U.S. citizens were each allowed only a certain amount of many items like sugar, gas, rubber, or other items. Coupons were issued to everyone, and in order to by some items, a coupon was needed. Show “ration coupon” picture and “Winona stocking” picture. Discuss the impact of rationing to local areas like Winona, and use this picture of Winona to give the students a sense of locality with even national or international problems. Some items, such as beef and pork, were so needed overseas, that people had to rely on other meats for nutrition. Show “recipes” picture, and read aloud some of the unappetizing ingredients in the meals. Discuss as a class. Some items were so needed overseas that people illegally sold extra ration coupons to make money. Show “black market” picture and discuss as a class. (10 minutes)

What other items that we haven’t discussed do you think were in high demand? People! Discuss how many men were shipped all over the world because of the war, and left many jobs unattended. Therefore, many jobs that were traditionally done by men were temporarily given to women. A good example of these are factory jobs. Remind them about views of women in the workplace before the war, and how much of a change it was to allow women to do men’s jobs. Although many women had to leave their jobs and return to homemaking after the war’s end, this was a very important step toward women’s rights and equality. (9 minutes)

Culminating Experiences
Have the students get into groups of 3 or 4. Explain that for the following activity, imagine that there is a flash flood all over the world as we speak!! Thankfully, everyone is alright, but dry land is disappearing fast! With less and less dry land available, certain items are becoming increasingly valuable, while others are losing their value dramatically. In groups, answer the following questions. What items might increase in value in this situation? What items might lose their value? Why would these items change value? After groups have had time to discuss and brainstorm ideas, discuss the answers as a class. There are no right or wrong answers, this activity is just meant to promote hypothetical thinking and discussion. (11 minutes)

Some answers to look for are:
Items with increasing value: boats, scuba gear, rafts, food, drinking water, matches, land
Items with decreasing value: TV, video games, cars, etc.

The Holocaust

World War II: 7th grade

Title:

The Holocaust
This lesson concerns the Holocaust of World War II. It will overview the motives, sentiments and an individual associated with the Holocaust.

Materials:
5-digit number for each student, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, “Your Own Words” handout, pictures for slideshow: http://shea05.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/camp.jpg, http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/images/auschwitz.jpg, http://www.annefrankguide.net/en-GB/content/2barak-b-foto.jpg
Local Winona article: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2138/2035850929_ea639d9fdc.jpg?v=0

Goals:
The student will better understand the Nazi’s anti-Semitism and their severe mistreatment of Jews during the Holocaust.

Objectives:
The students will learn about the Holocaust’s anti-Semitism, concentration camps, and eventual genocide. They will learn about Viktor Frankl, a Jewish author who survived the camps.

Procedures:
Introductory experiences
The students will sit and immediately be shown a short slideshow of pictures showing aspects of the Holocaust. The students will write one-word reactions to the pictures. More than one reaction can be recorded by each student per picture, and emotions should be encouraged. After the slideshow, the class will discuss these reactions, which will help set the mood of the topic. How did the children feel, and why? Guide them to answers of sadness, despair, unjustness, exhausted, starving, etc. ( 6 minutes)

Developmental experiences
The Holocaust was the killing of about 6 million Jews during World War II, led by Adolf Hitler. Many of society’s problems Hitler blamed on the Jews; he sought to remove them from society. As the power of the Nazi party grew, so did their objectives. What started out as isolating Jews in ghettos turned to mass transporting and killing. Discuss genocide; extermination of a group (political, cultural, etc). Discuss concentration camps like Auschwitz and their conditions and methods. Discuss the starvation and abuse of the camps. Briefly show the Winona article relating to the Holocaust, and describe how world events can influence even the smallest towns. (13 minutes)

The students will each be given a five-digit number. As a class, they will order themselves from lowest to highest, using mathematical reasoning. Once they have done so, discuss how the Jews were tattooed with numbers in the camps. Why were they given numbers? Besides documentation, if I gave “Billy” a number instead of a name, what am I saying about him? Guide students to demoralization, Discuss learned helplessness; the Jews had huge groups, but no morale, no hope. (13 minutes)

Culminating experiences
Briefly discuss Viktor Frankl, who is a psychologist who endured years of abuse in Nazi concentration camps. He wrote Man’s Search for Meaning, which deals with his experience though thoughts, feelings and philosophies. Hand out “Your Own Words” worksheet to the class. Tell them that these phrases are passages from his book, and they all deal with suffering at the hands of the Holocaust. Have the students rephrase each passage. What does Frankl mean by these statements? Do they agree? How does this pertain to the Holocaust? Guide students to themes like morality, overcoming pain, love, fairness, fear; any emotions that students can interpret through Frankl’s work. There are no wrong answers. (13 minutes)

Assessments:
Informal assessments will be used when discussing the slideshow, the number assignment, and the Frankl worksheet. Incorporate thought-provoking questions, and try to hear from everyone.

Below is a portion of the "Your Own Words" worksheet, which I shortened to save space. Let me know if you would like the full worksheet!

Your Own Words

Viktor Frankl overcame years of anguish trapped in concentration camps, and barely escaped with his life. His thoughts, feelings and ideas are represented in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Here are some passages from his book, which all concern the Holocaust. Rephrase each passage in your own words. What does Frankl mean by each of these statements? Do you agree? What does this have to do with the Holocaust? Be deep, be insightful!!

The human being is completely and unavoidably influenced by his surroundings.

Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death.

Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.

An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.

Local newspaper article concerning the Holocaust (A bit hard to read. Any suggestions on how to increase picture size??)