Module 1:

Resilience in the Great Depression

What makes Bud a survivor?

What hardships did people face during the Great Depression?

How is Bud transformed by his journey?

What sustained people’s spirits during the Great Depression?

How does hardship alter the characters’ perspectives in Out of the Dust?

What makes the characters in Out of the Dust survivors?

How can enduring tremendous hardship contribute to personal transformation?

Reading

Module 1: Resilience in the Great Depression

In this first module, Resilience in the Great Depression, students will study one of the worst economic situations in United States history, the Great Depression. We will explore the hardships families faced and the triumphs they endured during that period?

Core Texts:

Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis
Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse Historical Account
“The Drought,” PBS American Experience
“Hoovervilles,” History.com
“Hoover’s Prodigal Children: Hungry Times on Mean Streets,” Errol Lincoln Uys Poetry
“Mother to Son,” Langston Hughes Music
“It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing,” Duke Ellington and Irving Mills

Class Art, Videos & Other Media:

Kentucky Flood, Margaret Bourke-White
Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange
“1930s GM Sit-Down Strike,” History.com ▪ “Black Blizzard,” History.com
“Migrant Mother Photo,” History.com

Books to Extend Learning at Home:

Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How Monopoly was Invented, Tanya Lee Stone
Dorothea Lange: The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Great Depression, Carole Boston Weatherford
Children of the Great Depression, Russell Freedman ▪ On the Blue Comet, Rosemary Wells
A Long Way from Chicago, Richard Peck ▪ Esperanza Rising, Pam Muñoz Ryan
Moon Over Manifest, Clare Vanderpool
My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George
Sounder, William H. Armstrong
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor
No Promises in the Wind, Irene Hunt

Writing

Focus: The Writing Community, Writing Process and Argumentative (Weeks 1-3)

Build a caring writing community
Get ideas for writing from read-alouds
Draft many pieces in a variety of genres
Select drafts to develop & publish
Revise, Proofread, Write Final Drafts & Publish
Identify audience and purpose for argumentative writing
Research nonfiction topics with partners that are debatable
Evaluate the credibility of sources and take research notes
Generate and select claims to write argumentative essays about
Support claims with reasons and research-based evidence
Address counterclaims
Establish and maintain a formal style
Cite sources correctly in a bibliography
Recognize and correct run-on sentences and sentence fragments

Teacher Mentor Texts

Goldilocks and Just One Bear

The Elves in the Shelves

Two True, One False

Probuditi!

Sideways Stories from Wayside School

About Louis Sachar

Milk

Journey

Mosquito

Sneed B. Collard III's Most Fun Book Ever About Lizards

Mysterious Disappearances

Birmingham 1963

More About Louis Sachar

Do Not Raise the Driving Age to 18

The Minimum Driving Age Should be Raised

Losing Is Good for You

Why Parents Should Push their Kids to Play Team Sports

Sleep Deprivation and Teens: Walking Zombies

Bring Naps, Recess, and the Arts Back to School