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Alphabet Soup Web Quest

 

Introduction Task Process Evaluation Conclusion Teacher's Page

   

Introduction

    ABCD,  EFG, HIJK, LMNOP... There may be a few more letters in the song, but we aren't singing.  These aren't just letters to the alphabet.  They're a whole lot more than your favorite Campbell's Soup.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with his own special alphabet soup.  You may think a President of the United States inventing soup?  How strange!  Well, alphabet soup was the new president's solution to the Great Depression. 

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Task

    Times were tough for everyone during the Great Depression.  People were hungry.  There were no jobs.  President Roosevelt pledged to the American people a "new deal".  These words were his plan to end the Great Depression.  President Roosevelt quickly got to work to get the nation back to work.  In his first 100 days in office, President Roosevelt passed more laws than at any other time since our nation's creation.  These laws created jobs.  These actions by the federal government created a huge amount of government workers.  The workers produced job programs that became known only by their initials which became known as "Roosevelt's Alphabet Soup".
    You have been appointed to President Roosevelt's special committee to organize these programs so that people can find work.  You and a team of others will gather photographs for one of the many programs so that people can get a glimpse at their future.  You will then organize these photographs in a brochure to be passed out among the job applicants.


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Process

1. You will be placed on a team with four or five other students.

2. Your team will need to select a program from the following list that you would like to promote.

Select ONE Program:
Agricultural Adjustment Act
Civilian Conservation Corps
Farm Security Administration
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Rural Electrification Administration
Tennessee Valley Authority
Works Progress Administration

3.  After your team has selected a program, you will need to investigate.  Using the American Memory Collection, you will need to search for the program you choose in             America from the Great Depression to World War II: Black and White Photographs from the FSA and OWI, ca. 1935-1945.
(You will need to type your search topic in and then click gallery view to see the available photographs.)

4.  You will need to select photographs that demonstrate what workers would be doing with this job.  Please select between 4 and 6 photographs for your brochure.  Each photograph must include a caption.

5.  Once your team has decided on the photographs to use, create a brochure using Microsoft Publisher.   Click the  to view guidelines for your brochure.

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Evaluation

Students' brochures will be graded using the following rubric.

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Conclusion

    You and your team have worked hard to create a brochure that will give hope to the many who are short of hope in these hard times. The many other members of your organization have spent long hours creating brochures for the masses that will help fulfill President Roosevelt's promise of a New Deal. 

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Teacher's Page

Students will need exposure to the American Memory Collection and Microsoft Publisher prior to use of this web quest.         

South Carolina Fifth Grade Social Studies Standards:

5.2.5     describe the rise of the American labor movement and how it effected social and economic change;
5.2.8     explain the effect of the Great Depression on the United States;
5.2.9     identify structures in the nation that are a result of New Deal policies and programs;
5.18.2
   explain how government regulations influence the economic activities of individuals, families, communities, and regions.
5.19.3   investigate why money is important to individuals, families, and communities;

 

 

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