Pick a Project!

1. Pick a Project! What do you want to do to SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW??

2. The Dictators • The people of Germany, Italy, and Russia did not necessarily want dictators to come to power. Research in the library using Lex-Connect and Grolier Online Kids. Find out why Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin . • were able to take over their countries. • What was the environment like in their countries that allowed them to take over? • What was the economy like? • You can review 341 and 342 in the text as well • Your assignment: write a speech to persuade people not to listen to one of the dictators. Use information you learned in your research. Present alternate solutions to the problems the country was having. • Keep your notes organized to be turned in as well

3. Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes. • Read the book Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes. This is based on a true story of a survivor of Hiroshima. • Write a summary of the book that you will read aloud to the class. You can just read it aloud, or you can be creative and make something else to present the book to the class: a poster, book cover, puppet show, dramatization of the book, poem, etc. • If you have time: Use the instructions to try and create paper cranes that you will make to pass out during your presentation.

4. Letter to Anne Frank • Get on Lex-Connect and find the websites on Anne Frank. She was a Jewish girl who hid during the Nazi invasion of her country. • Read about her and her history. Who was she? What was her story? • Find examples of entries she put in her diary-excerpts from the book. Imagine that these entries were addressed to you. Print these out. • Your assignment: write back to Anne for each diary entry you printed out. You can explain to her the outcome of the war and react to her descriptions.

5. Wartime Budget • Think about how you would plan meals and activities for your family during wartime and the rationing. • What would you plant in your victory garden? What things would you be willing to give up for the war effort? What changes would you make in your life in order to help? • Your assignment: create a meal plan and schedule for your family for one week. Consider rationing, recycling, helping the war effort, victory gardens, and daily life on the home front. • You can create a “page from a planner” or a week from a calendar “blown up” on a long piece of construction paper • Use pages 12-13 in small readers and the text book

6. Radio News Program • Pick a few important events from World War II. • Write a “news flash” radio news broadcast for each one. Include dates, times, important information. You can include sound effects, a program jingle, interviews, commercials, be creative. • You can also include public service announcements about “doing your part”. • Use the text book, books from the classroom and examples of news programs on Lex-Connect to do your research. • Each one should be a few minutes long.

7. Japanese Internment • After the attack on Pearl Harbor, there was a great amount of distrust toward Japanese Americans • Do some additional research about Japanese Internment camps using WebPath Express. • How many were interred? • What was camp life like? • How did they “prove their loyalty?” • Think about possible alternatives that the United States could have used instead of the internment camps. • Your assignment: make a two sided poster. One side summarizing the interment camps with interesting facts. The other side should outline a plan of action from the point of view of government officials. It should outline an alternate to the camps that balances the fears of Americans with the need to be fair to all citizens.