CHS History Cross-Curriculum Project

Project Topic: World War II - The War Effort At Home

Project Date: March 1-5, 2010

	Through this project CHS students will gain an appreciation for The War Effort At Home during WWII as an account of people and their experiences, rather than just facts to be memorized. Students should begin to see history as a living thing, involved in all areas of their education. As teachers prepare for this project, they will find concepts within the topic that relate to their own subject area. Teachers are asked to strengthen their instructional strategies by using Constructivism in this project to build a curriculum unit that extends beyond the level of "recall" to teach concept-based thinking skills. Teacher lesson plans should include some questions and discussions that are supported in the curriculum, but require the student to "construct" their own answers. The right questions, supported by the right resources, can start the student on a powerful independent learning experience that can set up a skilled teacher for an effective high-level thinking class discussion.

Basic Resources:

• Wars and the Home Front resources from the Library of Congress.
• Historical World War II Posters
• Women's Recruiting Posters
• WWII in Newsreels
• WWII Homefront Museum
• Rationing on the U.S. Homefront during WWII

All classes participating in this project will support Oklahoma PASS Standard 5C for U.S. History: "The student will evaluate the impact of preparation and mobilization for war, including the internment policies and their effects (e.g., internment of minority Americans, such as, Japanese, Germans, and Italians; Korematsu v. United States; rationing; role of women in the workforce and armed services; and discrimination and segregation at home and in the armed forces).

Participating Classes

American History WWII at home   Art Classes All art students will study WWII posters and political messages. We will use lessons from: World War II Lesson Plans - USHistorySite.com Powers of Persuasion - Poster Art of World War II Document Analysis Worksheets - The National Archives Each student will create a political poster that expresses a WWII related theme or a curent foreign policy theme and is rendered in their choice of styles, including realism and regionalism. The Pop History Dig

American Literature DBQ Assignment: During WWII, how were American citizens of Japanese ancestry treated, and why? Japanese-Americans - Historical Overview Pearl Harbor - Attack and Aftermath Executive Order 9066 Internment Camps Historical Letters Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project JARDA: Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives   Math Classes Math students will do a WebQuest on how math was used in breaking codes during WWII. Cryptography Cryptanalysis The Enigma Machine The Code War Code Talkers The Navajo Code Words

Family & Consumer Science Classes Project topic − Contribution to the War Effort on the Homefront. As a result of this unit, students will know: Women's roles changed during WWII. Women played a vital role in the war effort. Students will complete a Rosie the Riveter photo analysis: Students will analyze copies of the photos of working women then write an analysis of the photo. Students' analysis will include what the woman/women are doing; how this "job" contributed to the war effort; and why they feel the contribution by women during WWII had a lasting effect on the American attitude regarding the World War II era women. Students will be assessed on both their oral and written response using the U.S. National Archives & Records Administration Picture Analysis Worksheet. Additional discussion questions: Before Pearl Harbor, the U.S. was supplying the Allies with land and water craft, as well as guns and ammunition. How did this impact the demand for labor in the U.S.? Why was there sufficient excess labor to increase production? When the U.S. officially entered the war, what happened to the demand for production? What happened to the supply of labor when the military began drafting civilians? So, if the demand for production increased and the labor force became smaller, what should have been the impact on prices? Inflation was the result during World War I. In the first 53 months of WW I, the cost of living rose over 60%. Why was the rate of inflation lower during WWII? Discuss the experiences women would have faced entering the workforce: new freedoms, earning wages, child care, prejudice When the war ended and men who had served their country returned to the States, in some cases, women were let go to give the servicemen employment. Was this fair? What could employers have done? How did women's participation in the domestic and military labor markets impact their post-war role in society?

Pre- and Post-Tests

Guest Speakers/Presentations

Staff Development Trip - July 12-17, 2010