The Dust Bowl - History Unit Study
Travel back in time to a period in history when farming practices and huge storms threatened the American food system and sent thousands fleeing. This three-week cross-curricular unit study packs emotional depth that will have children understanding the WHY behind environmental conservation practices. When the soil became unhealthy, people’s health suffered, they lost their homes, their jobs, and struggled with hunger. Resources in this guide are recommended with great care to sensitive children and age-appropriateness. There is also a lot of hands-on fun built into this study - with a STEM Lab, map work, story starters, playful math, and an engaging timeline game!
Kids will explore:
What was the Dust Bowl?
How do historians work? How do we understand source materials?
When did it occur? What was the sequence of events?
What parts of the United States were impacted?
What was it like to live through the Dust Bowl?
What is erosion and how can it be prevented? (You can get even deeper with this topic in “Dirt: unit Losing Ground”)
What are statistics? How do we understand large numbers?
Secular Homeschool Unit Studies
NorthStar’s unit study guides can be combined to form a stand-alone secular homeschool curriculum, as cross-curricular lesson plans, or as a homeschool unit study to bring variety and enhance the curriculum of your choice. Dust Bowl was designed with homeschool families in mind, but it is equally as useful for classrooms, cooperatives, afterschool programs, and science clubs. The flexible unit study plan encourages child-led learning with inquiry and discovery at the core of the activity design. Adults will love the clearly laid out activity guides, easy-to-use graphic organization, integrated math and literacy activities, and cross-curricular extensions. Kids will love the hands-on fun activities, engaging books, visual learning and media options, and so much more!
This 26-page guide is packed full of easy fun activities for elementary kids:
3 main hands-on projects for elementary and middle school students ages 5-12 with detailed how-tos, troubleshooting, supply lists, and information about the science
1 storytelling prompt to engage the imagination of little problem-solvers
Vocabulary list with activity ideas
Play-based math and literacy activities integrated into core projects
Curious questions prompt inquiry-based learning for deep science exploration and discovery.
6 carefully selected living book recommendations - Excellent book selections that bring challenging ideas with a compelling narrative and imagery (books are not required to complete the study)
Kid-approved media recommendations that highlight personal accounts of the Dust Bowl
Notebooking activities and templates - kids will make a “Discovery Journal” to track and reflect on learning
Level indicators to make it easy to select activities or differentiate for the ages of your learners - from early elementary through middle school
NOTE: This product is a digital download. No physical copy will be sent. Sales are final. We recommend downloading within the first 24 hours. You are purchasing a document license for one household only. Please do not share or redistribute - our small business depends on your honesty!
If you are looking for printing services, we have partnered with Watson Family Press to provide our customers with discounted printing costs. The code will be provided to you in your download email.
The NorthStar Approach - A Learning Adventure
Engage: Great books and media recommendations help teach the big ideas.
Explore: Hands-on science explorations, process art, food fun, and more provide multi-sensory learning experiences to deepen understanding.
Express: Children are encouraged to track their observations in their Discovery Journal and to reflect about their key discoveries at the end of their studies.
Extend: Children are encouraged to take it further with resources to deepen learning about the topic and additional project ideas. Each lab includes optional cross-curricular extensions including math and literacy activities with poetry copywork, wordplay, math fun, and story starters.
