I want 7th graders to understand the Great Depression using information combined with a way to check their understand and personal experiences
It sounds like a wonderful project! Combining solid historical facts with personal, human stories is a fantastic way to make this era come alive for middle schoolers.
To help me tailor the reading level, activities, and depth of the materials we create together, how much do your students already know about the Great Depression? Also, do you have a specific emphasis in mind—such as focusing heavily on the personal, daily struggle stories, or leaning more into the economic causes and government policies?
They are beginners. Let's focus mostly on the personal stories of daily survival.
Your path
Daily Life and Human Impact
Government Response and Conclusion
A Worldwide Rainy Day
Let's start our journey in the 1930s, an era when the global economy experienced a massive, unprecedented downturn known as the . If we want to understand how this affected families, we first have to understand what it actually was: the worst and most prolonged economic crisis in modern history.
Think of a healthy economy like a bustling neighborhood where everyone buys, sells, and trades with each other, keeping money flowing in a big circle. During the 1930s, that flow of money ground to a screeching halt, leaving millions of people worldwide out of work, hungry, and struggling to survive.