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World War II

Activity 1 | Activity 2 | Activity 3

1919 -- World War I was over! People believed that this would never happen again. But during the 1920s and 30s, a charismatic leader, Adolf Hitler, rose to power. Once again, Europe was engaged in war. Some in the United States believed that this was a European War and we should not be involved. This changed dramatically when, in 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Once again we were plunged into war. As Japan stated, the "sleeping giant" was awakened. Find out more about the war by doing the exercises below.

Life Interrupted: The Japanese-American Experience in WW II in Arkansas
http://www.lifeinterrupted.org

Children of World War II http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2children/home.shtml

Grolier Online -- World War II http://gi.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_i.html

World War II War Memorial http://www.wwiimemorial.com

Prelude to War (tells about the Allied and Axis powers involved in the war)
http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/foreword.htm#top

The Impact of War http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/epilogue.htm#top

A World of War: History of WW II 1939-1945 http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/main.htm#top

Military History http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/WWII.html

Navaho Code Talker http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-2.htm

Activity 1

Objective	Students will compare and contrast World War I and World War II.
Procedure	Divide the students into groups Have the students divide a sheet of paper in half. Label one half World War I and the other half World War II. Under each heading, have the students fill in information about the following areas (use the Web sites listed above): Dates each war began and ended Who our allies were Who we were fighting When we entered the war Mortality rate for each war Reasons why we entered the war Consequences of the war
Evaluation	Click here for rubric to evaluate comparisons.

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Activity 2

Objective

Students will identify people who played a key role in the World War II.

Procedure

Students will work in pairs.
The pair will pick one person who played a significant role in World War II and do research on this person.
Students will make a poster citing key facts about this person. Facts can be found using the Web sites below or available print materials. At least five facts should be cited. The top of the poster will be labeled WHO AM I? The name of the person will be identified on the back of the poster.
Posters will be numbered and displayed around the classroom.
Students will number their papers and go around the room and try to identify the person described in each poster.
A prize could be awarded to the pair that correctly names the most people on the posters. (The teacher could give a list of people who are named on the posters and the students could match the names with the posters.)

Key People

Adolf Hitler http://remember.org/Facts.root.hitler.html

Winston Churchill http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~vfores/churchill.html

Franklin D. Roosevelt http://members.aol.com/FDRmem

George C. Marshall http://www.marshallfoundation.org

Benito Mussolini http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWmussolini.htm

George S. Patton http://www.bobtuley.com/georgepatton.htm

Neville Chamberlain http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0811259.html

Douglas MacArthur http://faculty.washington.edu/kendo/macarthur.html

Evaluation

The poster should be titled WHO AM I? and cite five facts about the person; the name of that person should be listed on the back as well as the students' names. The teacher can evaluate based on the content of the poster and the students' ability to follow directions.

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Activity 3

Objective	Students will write two paragraphs about a World War II poster -- one giving objective commentary and the other describing their feelings about the poster.
Procedure	Select one of the posters from Poster Art From World War II at http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/powers_of_persuasion/powers_of_persuasion_home.html. You are to write two paragraphs about that picture. The first paragraph should give an objective observation of that picture. The second paragraph should be a subjective observation. An objective observation gives the facts of the picture. Readers should be able to see the picture in their minds by reading your evaluation. A subjective observation describes your personal feels about the subject matter in the picture. You might make statements like "This picture makes me think that" or "I feel ..when I look at this picture because"
Evaluation	Click here to get a rubric for evaluation.

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