SKYLINE FARMS: The Heart of the New Deal in Alabama

Lesson Activity: Then and NowEducation in a New Deal rural Resettlement Community
Grade Suggestion: 3-5th grade Overview: Students will compare and contrast the classroom experience of children in the Skyline Farms community during the Great Depression and their own experience in the modern day classroom using photographs from the FSA collection. Students will write a comparison essay or journal entry to communicate the similarities and differences.

School at Skyline Farms, Alabama. Mydans, Carl. 1936.

School scene at Skyline Farms, near Scottsboro, Alabama. Mydans, Carl. 1936.

Tennessee Standards English/Language Arts Grade 3 0301.2.4 Listen and respond to a variety of media (e.g., books, audio, videos) 0301.3.4 Write journal entries 0301.3.5 Practice writing to a prompt within a specified time limit Grade 4 0401.3.3 Practice writing to a prompt within a specified time limit 0401.3.4 Write poems, stories, and essays based upon personal reflections, observations, and experiences 0401.3.6 Compare in writing two persons or things 0401.5.2 Make inferences and draw conclusions while reading, viewing, or listening to print and non-print media. Grade 5 0501.3.4 Write poems, stories, and essays based upon personal reflections, observations, and experiences. 0501.3.5 Compare and contrast two persons, places, things, or ideas. 0501.3.13 Compose clear, coherent, well-organized multi-paragraphed works. Alabama Standards English Grade 3 Objective 3.9.4: Organize complete sentences into a paragraph to address a topic or tell a story Objective 3.12.5: Collect information from print and non-print resources to investigate selected topic.

Common Core Standards English Language Arts 3rd grade CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic. 4th grade CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. 5th grade CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently. Materials: Copies of photographs of Skyline Farms School (see image list), copy of the Skyline Herald, photograph analysis worksheet, primary source analysis worksheet, journal, pencil Procedure: Day One 1. Explain to the class that they will be looking at photographs of a rural community named Skyline Farms during the Great Depression. A background of Skyline Farms can be found here. 2. Project one photograph of a school scene at Skyline for the entire class to view together. What is happening in the photograph? Can you tell what they are studying? Use the photography analysis worksheet as a guide for inquiry during the class discussion. 3. Now that the process for analysis photographs has been demonstrated, divide students into small groups of 2 or 3. Give each group one photograph of the Skyline Farms community school. Tell each group to fill out one photography analysis worksheet. 4. Provide excerpts from the Skyline school paper, the Skyline Herald for the students to read. Class discussion: What types of activities are discussed in the newspaper? Does this newspaper look similar to modern day school papers? Do modern day students participate in similar activities that were discussed in the Skyline Herald? Have the children fill out the primary source analysis worksheet. 5. Class discussion: Describe the classroom/school scene. How is it different than the room you are in now? What are the children doing in the photos? Are the children all of the same age in the photographs? What did you think of the school newsletter? Day Two Have the students write a comparative essay, comparing schools from the 1930s (like Skyline Farms) and their modern day school, using information they gathered from the analysis worksheets. How are modern schools different than those in the photograph? How are they the same? Do you think children at the first Skyline school learned the same things as students today? How do you think their day differed? How do you think it felt to go to school in the 1930s?

The Skyline Heraldthe school newspaper of the Skyline Farms School. October 26, 1939. The front page is transcribed below. * a space (_____) indicates that the word was illegible due to the quality of the paper.

Community Fair _____ at Skyline Farms School Saturday, October 15 was a red letter day for Skyline Farms. A community fair was held a the new school building. A very large crowd attended and everyone had a good time. The booths for distribution purposes were placed inside the auditorium. There was a booth for each different division of the new colony, N.Y.A., Health, Vocational Home Economics, and Vocational Agriculture. The ______ _____s booth won first prize. Each of the classrooms exhibited the work of the children between 9 and 11 AM. Toward noon Judge ___ and Judge Money of Scottsboro made a very interesting talk. Saturday night a square dance was held in the auditorium which ended the day. Everyone went back home tired and happy.

Junior III English Club Has a Debate The Junior III English Club recently held a debate among the class members. The question for discussion was: Resolve that feeble minded people should be prohibited by law from marrying and rearing children. Representing the affirmative side was Bill Cornelison, Tracy Bellemy and Philip Cornelison. The negative issued was upheld by J.W. Dyer and Stanley Green. Following the debate a general discussion was held among the class members with no definite decision been reached.

It is reported that Skyline School will have running water in the building in approximately thirty days.

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Students Enjoy Excursion to Wilson and Wheeler Dams On Saturday, October 8 a group of Skyline students went on an excursion to several points of interest in the Tennessee Valley. Among the sights visited were Joe Wheeler and Wilson Dams, the famous springs at Huntsville, and the campus of Florence State Teachers College. Although it was not possible to visit below the first floor of Joe Wheeler Dam students say that the display shown ____ was very interesting. The display consisted of numerous pictures showing the progress on the various dams being built by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The power house at Wilson which is seven stories below the water level continues to be a lively topic in student conversation. In the library at the college the group was shown just how books and magazines were cataloged and indexed so that students could get greater benefits from them. Skyline pupils enjoying the trip were: (list of names given) Miss West and Mr. Thomas accompanied the group.

Suggested images from the from the Library of CongressUS Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection

School, Skyline Farms, Alabama. Arthur Rothstein, 1937

School at Skyline Farms, Alabama. Arthur Rothstein,

School scene at Skyline Farms, Alabama. Carl Mydans, 1936

School scene at Cumberland Mountain Farms (Skyline) near Scottsboro, Alabama. Carl Mydans, 1936.

Schoolhouse and school scene at Skyline Farms near Scottsboro, Alabama Carl Mydans, 1936.