UBD Unit Plan

 Topic:    World War II   Grade Level:

      

(Module 7)
Stage 1—Desired Results

Established Goals Transfer

VA SOL: Students will be able to independently use their learning to…
 
     ​ VA SOL ●  Create a visual, written, or oral timeline       
Standards:USII 7a,b,c ● Describe life on the homefront through, visual, oral, or 
  written presentation. ​      
   

Meaning
Understandings
Students will understand
 that…​     
● Hitler, the Nazi Party, and
Germany's invasion of other
countries caused WWII.
● The Axis powers: Germany,
Italy, Japan
● Allied Powers: US, France,
Great Britain
● That the US mainly entered
the war, because of the
attack on Pearl Harbor
● The US joined the war and
fought on both fronts
● The US bombed Nagasaki
and Hiroshima ending the
war in the Pacific
● D'Day was the beginning of
the end to WWII in Europe.
● What life was like on the US
homefront throughout the
war.​           homefront in America during
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering…
● Describe the major events that
lead up to and occurred during
World War II?
● (Students will be able to exhibit
an understanding of major
events in time order leading up
to World War II. Students will
also be able to describe major
events in time order that
occurred during World War II.)
● Q1: What brought the United
States into World War II?
● Q2: What was the Holocaust
and what was its impact during
World War II?
● Q3: Describe life on the
World War II.​     ​     

Acquisition of Knowledge and Skill

Students will know…
● What the Holocaust is and
its impact
● The events leading up to
WWII
Students will be skilled at…
● Create a timeline of events leading
up to, during, and ending WWII.
● Describe major events (Holocaust,
Pearl Harbor, etc).
● The major events during
WWII
● Pearl Harbor
● Axis and Allied Powers
● The events ending
WWII.​     
● Describe/ portray life on the
American homefront
● Build self connections with events/life
on the homefront
     ​    
 (Module 7)
Stage 2—Evidence
Checks for
Alignment Students will show their learning by…
Evaluative Criteria TRANSFER TASK(S):
● Creating and explaining timelines
● Building connections between text and themselves
● Roleplay what life on the homefront was like
OTHER EVIDENCE:
● Check in quizzes and Kahoots
● Classwork
● Homework
● Class observations
      
 (Module 8)
Stage 3—Learning Plan
Checks for
Alignment
Summary of Key Learning Events & Instruction
1. Students will be learning about the beginning of WWII. Students will be in one of two stations.
Doing a Webquest with a video or small group reading of one of two articles with the teacher. After
students have read their small groups article we will come together as a whole group to discuss the
beginning of the war. See page 2, lesson for day 1 of the unit.

2. Students will be getting a deeper look into the Holocaust with visit and scavenger hunt at the
Virginia Holocaust Museum. See page 11, lesson for day 2 of the unit.

3. Students will be focussing on the attack of Pearl Harbor and the United States entry into WWII.
Students will be doing a Jigsaw style reading of a Newsela article about the attack on Pearl Harbor. They
will then watch Roosevelt's speech declaring war on Japan and debate on if that was the right decision
for the U.S. See page 15, lesson for day 3 of the Unit.
4. Students will be looking at the war from both fronts. U.S. in the Pacific and U.S. in Europe. Students
will be given this lesson via Powerpoint and will be creating a Venn Diagram as we go through the
presentation. Students will then choose to be a soldier from the U.S. in the Pacific or Europe and write
about what life is like. Students will also be introduced to life on the American homefront. We will have
open discussion comparing life now to life on the homefront during WWII. See page 21, lesson for day 4
of the unit.

5. Students will be learning about the Axis and Allied powers and D’Day. Students will learn about the
different powers through a Powerpoint presentation and then will play a Kahoot to match pictures,
words, and phrases to each country. Students will be reading the D’Day article for homework and will
participate with a Kahoot to review the article. Based on Kahoot results we will review D’Day the
following day. See page 27, lesson for day 5 of the unit.

6. This will be the final day of the unit and students will be learning about the atomic bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Students will learn this through 2 videos. Students will then debate on
whether or not dropping the bombs were the right thing to do. We will finish the debate with a video
from a survivor's point of view. We will then discuss the liberation of Europe and the concentration
camps. Students will then write a small paragraph from the point of view of a liberated Jewish prisoner.
See page 32, lesson for day 6 of the unit.

7&8. On days 7 and 8 class will be held in the library. The teacher and librarian will assist students on
their projects. Students will be given the rubrics and all their work in their unit binder. Students will
do part one, the poster/Powerpoint presentations in the library. Then students will be given the rubric
for the 2 parts of the project, the journal entry/ monologue from life on the American homefront.
Students will work on this at home. Students may bring these in on days 7 and 8 for feedback. See page
33, day 7 and 8 of the unit.

9 & 10. These will be presentation days for parts one and two. See page 33 for the end of the unit.
      

Day 1 WWII

Objectives:
Students will be able to…
● Navigate through Webquest
● Give and receive important information

Lesson overview:​ Students would have completed the student interest and prior knowledge
survey prior to this lesson. Introduction into WWII with brief information on all events. This will
also be students introduction and lesson on the beginning of WWII, with an introduction into the
Holocaust.

Assessment​: Students individual submissions of their Webquest and work done in their
groups for the jigsaw reading.

Lesson Activities:
❏ Students will start the day with a warm-up, take about 10 minute to discuss current
events during open discussion.
❏ For the second part of class students will be in one of two stations. Students will be
working independently on their Webquest or be in small groups with the teacher reading
the article designated for their team.
❏ Students will do a Webquest, linked below, to get an introduction to WWII. This
webquest will get the ball rolling on the beginning of WWII and the Holocaust. Webquest
will take place in Google Classroom.
During the Webquest teacher will be going around the room offering assistance to all students,
as well as to make sure all students are on task. Teachers will also have GoGuardian up to be
able to see what each student is doing on their Chromebook. (See Appendix 1)
❏ During the Webquest if students finish early they will be able to play a Brainpop timeline
game. This is just to get students practicing with a timeline.
❏ Students who are reading in small groups first will be with the teacher and reading one of
two articles (See Appendix B and C).
❏ After both stations are complete students will come together as a whole class and share
what they read. This is somewhat of a Jigsaw activity where students will have to share
key information about their article with other classmates who did not read it.
❏ Teachers will have note sheets made up to give out after discussion with key
points for students to study/reference.
Differentiation:​ ELL’s will have a modified Webquest, depending on the students English
level some key terms may be. If ELL’s are level 1’s I will also give their ESL teacher some
preview materials to give them some prior knowledge. For Sped students I would work with
their Sped teachers to help give them the best accommodations. For struggling readers that is
why we have the Webquest and article readings put in stations. For the article everyone will
read with the teacher in a small group, then switch to do the Webquest.

Lesson Wrap-up:​ Go over what students will need to bring tomorrow for the Holocaust
Museum field trip. If students are not going, then the teacher will give directions for where they
will be going and what they will be doing.
Appendix A
Intro to WWII Webquest!
(Ideally this would be done in a one to one classroom where each student would have a
Chromebook. I would also instruct students that they would have 50 minutes to finish their
webquest, this out of a 90 minute class period.)
1. To begin our Webquest we are going to watch this video. After watching the entire
video move on to the next questions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUqy-OQvVtI&index=13&list=PLhn6sPxbKOsMQ50
HiJrzLkZtn5M9yYzor&t=0s
a. When did WWII begin in Europe?

b. Who started the war?

c. What brought the United States into WWII?

d. What year did the war end?

2. Once you have finished the video I want you to try and do the timeline activity on Brainpop.
You don’t need to get everything right! Just try your best!

https://www.brainpop.com/games/timezonexworldwarii/
Appendix B
Newsela Article for Team 1
The first in a two-part series

The word “Holocaust” comes from the Greek words “holos” (whole) and “kaustos” (burned). The

term was historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar.

Since 1945, however, the word has become synonymous with one of the darkest chapters in

human history: the mass murder of some 6 million European Jews by the German Nazi regime

during World War II. Millions of others from targeted groups were also put to death, including

Gypsies (sometimes negatively called Gypsies), homosexuals and people with disabilities. Jews,

though, were the Nazis' main targets and victims.

To Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race. He and his followers considered Jews an

alien threat to German racial purity and society. Once he came to power, he was able to turn his

nightmarish ideas into deadly action. Hitler’s “Final Solution” — now known as the Holocaust —

happened under the cover of world war. As world powers concentrated on battlefronts, Nazis

constructed mass killing centers in the concentration camps of Nazi-occupied Europe.

Historical anti-Semitism and Hitler's rise to power

Anti-Semitism, or anti-Jewish bigotry, had roots in Europe long before Hitler's rise. Followers of

the Jewish faith were often viewed as strange outsiders by their Christian neighbors. However,

an intellectual movement in the 17th and 18th centuries, called the Enlightenment, emphasized

religious tolerance. In the 19th century, Napoleon and other European rulers passed laws ending

official discrimination against Jews. But anti-Jewish feelings did not end. In many places,

hateful attitudes became less about religious differences and more about racial hostility.
The roots of Hitler’s vicious brand of anti-Semitism are unclear. Born in Austria in 1889, he

served in the German army during World War I, which began in 1914. After its defeat in 1918,

Germany was left with a shattered government and ruined economy. Like many anti-Semites in

Germany, Hitler blamed the Jews for the country’s downfall. This ignored the fact that some

100,000 German Jews fought for their country during the war.

Soon after World War I ended, Hitler joined a political group that became the National Socialist

German Workers’ Party. It was better known to English speakers as the Nazis. In 1923, Hilter

was found guilty of treason for his leadership role in an attempt to overthrow the government of

Bavaria, a German state.

While imprisoned, Hitler wrote the book "Mein Kampf”—"My Struggle" — in which he predicted

a European war that would result in “the extermination of the Jewish race in Germany.” Hitler

was obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the “pure” German race, which he called

“Aryan.” He also argued for the need for “Lebensraum,” or living space, for that race to expand.

In the years after he was released from prison, Hitler took advantage of the weakness of his

political opponents. He built his party’s power. On January 20, 1933, he was named chancellor

of Germany. The next year he anointed himself “der Führer" — Germany’s supreme ruler. Huge

Nazi rallies drove home the message of party strength.

The twin goals of racial purity and territorial expansion were the core of Hitler’s worldview.

After 1933, they became the driving forces behind his foreign and domestic policy.

Nazis start the “Aryanization” of Germany

The Nazis opened the first concentration camp at Dachau, Germany, in March 1933. Many of its

prisoners were the Nazis' political enemies. By July that year, such camps held some 27,000

prisoners. Like the network of labor and prison camps that followed, Dachau was under the
control of Heinrich Himmler. Himmler served as head of the elite Nazi guard, the Schutzstaffel

(SS). He later became chief of the German police, or Gestapo.

In 1933, Jews in Germany numbered around 525,000, about 1 percent of Germany's population.

During the next six years, Nazis undertook the “Aryanization” of Germany. They dismissed Jews

from civil service. They closed Jewish-owned businesses and stripped Jewish lawyers and

doctors of their clients. Under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, anyone with three or four Jewish

grandparents was considered a Jew. Those with two Jewish grandparents were designated

Mischlinge, or half-breeds.

Under these laws, Jews of all ages became routine targets for discrimination and persecution.

This came to a head on Kristallnacht, or the “night of broken glass,” in November 1938.

Synagogues, Jewish buildings of worship, were burned and windows in Jewish shops were

smashed. Some 100 Jews were killed and thousands more arrested. Between 1933 and 1939,

hundreds of thousands of Jews fled Germany if they could. Those who remained lived in a

constant state of uncertainty and fear.

World War II begins

In September 1939, the German army invaded the western half of Poland, marking the

beginning of World War II. German forces soon forced tens of thousands of Polish Jews from

their homes. They were sent to Jewish areas in Polish cities known as ghettos where they were

surrounded by high walls and barbed wire. These virtual prison camps suffered widespread

poverty and hunger. In addition, overpopulation made them breeding grounds for deadly

diseases like typhus.

In the fall of 1939, Nazi officials began identifying about 70,000 Germans with physical and

mental disabilities. Hilter planned for them to be systematically gassed to death in the so-called

euthanasia program. After German religious leaders protested, Hitler officially ended the

program in August 1941, but it continued in secret. By the war's end in 1945, some 275,000
people with disabilities had been killed. In hindsight, it seems clear that this program served as a

test run for the Holocaust.

Appendix C
Newsela Article for Team 2
The second in a two-part series

Throughout the spring and summer of 1940, the German army expanded Adolf Hitler’s empire

in Europe. Nazi soldiers conquered Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

and France. Beginning in 1941, Jews from all over the continent were transported to Poland.

They were placed in confined city sections called ghettos. In June 1941, the German raid on the

Soviet Union marked a new level of brutality in warfare. Mobile killing units would murder more

than 500,000 Soviet Jews and others over the course of the German occupation.

On July 31, 1941, one of Hitler's top commanders wrote about the need for a "final solution" to

"the Jewish question." Beginning in September 1941, every person designated as a Jew in

German-held territory was marked with a yellow star. This made all of them open targets. Tens

of thousands of Jews were soon being deported to the Polish ghettos.

Since June 1941, experiments with mass killing methods had been ongoing at the concentration

camp of Auschwitz. That August, officials used a pesticide called Zyklon-B to gas 500 Soviet

prisoners of war to death. Nazi leaders soon placed a huge order for the gas, a disturbing sign of

the coming Holocaust.

Germans built mass killing centers in Poland

Beginning in late 1941, the Germans began transporting huge numbers of people from the

ghettos in Poland to the concentration camps. They started with those people viewed as the least
useful: the sick, the old, the weak and the very young. The first mass gassings began at the camp

of Belzec on March 17, 1942.

Five more mass killing centers were built at camps in occupied Poland. These camps included

Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz. From 1942 to 1945, Jews were deported

to the camps from all over Europe. The heaviest deportations took place during the summer and

fall of 1942, when more than 300,000 people were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto alone.

The Nazis tried to keep the operation of the camps a secret, but the scale of the killing made this

impossible. Eyewitnesses brought reports of Nazi atrocities to the Allied governments, who were

fighting against Germany in the war. The Allied powers included Britain, France, the United

States and many other countries. Their governments were harshly criticized after the war for

their failure to respond to news of the Holocaust.

This lack of action was most likely due to the Allied focus on winning the war at hand. But it was

also a result of the governments' refusal to believe that such atrocities could be occurring on

such an enormous scale. At Auschwitz alone, more than 2 million people were murdered. A large

population of Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners worked in the labor camp there. Only Jews were

gassed to death, but thousands of others died of starvation or disease. During the summer of

1944, even as Germany was beginning to lose the war, a large part of Hungary’s Jewish

population was deported to Auschwitz. As many as 12,000 Jews were killed every day.

Germany surrenders after Hitler's death

By the spring of 1945, German leadership was suffering from internal conflict. Several Nazi

leaders were trying to distance themselves from Hitler and take power. In his last will, dictated

in a German bunker on April 29, Hitler blamed the war on “international Jewry and its helpers.”

The following day, he committed suicide. Germany’s formal surrender in World War II came

barely a week later, on May 8, 1945.

German forces had begun evacuating many of the death camps in the fall of 1944. They forced

prisoners to march away from the advancing enemy's army. These so-called “death marches”

resulted in the deaths of some 250,000 to 375,000 people. In his book “Survival in Auschwitz,”

the Italian Jewish author Primo Levi described life in the camp the day before Soviet troops

arrived in January 1945: “We lay in a world of death and phantoms. The last trace of civilization

had vanished around and inside us. The work of bestial degradation, begun by the victorious

Germans, had been carried to a conclusion by the Germans in defeat.”

Germans and Jews were deeply affected by the

Holocaust
The wounds of the Holocaust were slow to heal. Survivors of the camps found it nearly

impossible to return home. In many cases they had lost their families and been denounced by

their non-Jewish neighbors. As a result, the late 1940s saw a great number of refugees and other

displaced populations moving across Europe.

In 1945, the Allies began the Nuremberg Trials, an effort to punish the villains of the Holocaust.

The trials brought Nazi atrocities to horrifying light. Increasingly, there was pressure on the

Allied powers to create a homeland for Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. This eventually led to

the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

Over the years that followed, ordinary Germans struggled with the Holocaust's bitter legacy.

Meanwhile, survivors and the families of victims sought repayment for the wealth and property

stolen from them during the Nazi years. In 1953, the German government began to make

payments to individual Jews and to the Jewish people. This was a way of acknowledging

responsibility for the crimes committed in their name.

Day 2 WWII

Objectives:
Student will be able to…
● Make personal connections to key information.
● Examine key pieces of the Holocaust and its survivors.

Lesson Overview:
Students will be taking a trip to the Virginia Holocaust Museum, to get a more hands on look at
the Holocaust. Hearing about survivors and seeing the Holocaust from a different point of view.

Assessment:
Students will be working on a scavenger hunt throughout the field trip and will turn in the
scavenger hunt sheet as homework.

Lesson Activities:
❏ Students will be taking a trip to the Virginia Holocaust Museum.
❏ Before leaving the school teacher will explain expectations to students and
consequences of breaking the museum rules/ teacher expectations.
❏ Once at the museum students will be given a scavenger hunt sheet and will be filling it
out throughout their visit. This activity is to help build emotional connections to the
material. (See Appendix A)
❏ For students who did not attend the field trip, they will be watching Run Boy Run and for
homework will write up a summary of the movie, well at least a summary of however far
they had gotten in the movie.
❏ I would prefer to have some comprehension activities or interactive activities, but
I have not seen the whole movie at this time. If I were to teach this lesson I
would have seen the movie and created a different assignment.

Differentiation:
For ELL’s I would give their ESL teacher key information from the museum to help prepare
them. I would also translate key information from exhibits or try to get translated exhibit
information. I would also translate pieces of the scavenger hunt depending on their English
level. For Sped students I would get advice from Sped instructors on the best way to
accommodate their students. I would also try to get a Sped teacher or IA to come on the field
trip as well. For struggling readers I , or other chaperones, would give them assistance with
answering questions throughout the trip.

Lesson Wrap- Up:

We will have a quick wrap up talk during their lunch, which follows the tours, and then students
will submit their scavenger hunt sheets the following morning.
Appendix A
Name:____________

Holocaust Museum Scavenger Hunt  

❏ What do I already know about the Holocaust?

❏ I watched the video before the tour, I learned 2 new things…

❏ I went into the railroad car, I thought…

❏ Who are the Ipsons?

❏ When I saw the broken storefronts, I thought…

❏ Where did the Ipsons hide?

❏ Could you live in a potato hole?

❏ I was in the Nuremberg Courtroom, where would I want to be sitting and
why?

❏ Who are two people in the Jewish Hall of Fame and what are they known
for?

❏ What are two things you learned from this trip?

❏ How would you rate this trip from 1 to 10? 1 being not worth it and 10 being
amazing!
Day 3 WWII

Objectives:
Students will be able to…
● Give and receive important information
● Build connections between different forms of information (video and text)
● Build text to self connections
● Debate orally on a given topic

Lesson Overview: ​Students will be learning about the attack on Pearl Harbor and the
United States official entrance into WWII. Teacher will be sharing personal photos and stories
of WWII from trips to Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri, as well as stories from her
grandmother that lived on the big island during WWII.

Assessment:
Students will each have to turn in an exit ticket. On the exit ticket students will have to write
down one thing they learned from each of the other groups and two things they learned in their
section. They will also need to include something they didn't quite understand, as well as
something they would like to learn more about.

Lesson Activities:
❏ We will be watching a video about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to give students
some background knowledge on the article they are to read.
❏ Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor Article from Newsela, Jigsaw style every student must
read two intro paragraphs and then I will divide them into 4 groups to read the article
where they will round robin read 1 of the 4 smaller chunks of texts. We will then have
open discussion as a class and write down important points of each. (See Appendix A)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBdIR7_B3JA
https://newsela.com/read/govt-pearl-harbor/id/24389/
❏ Youtube, Roosevelt's speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK8gYGg0dkE
❏ Debate
❏ Should the United States have gone to war?
❏ Students will split into groups based in YES or NO. Then they will have 10
minutes to discuss their argument.
❏ Show artifacts that I have and share my personal story
❏ Complete exit ticket.
Differentiation:
For ELLs I would do more circulation with their reading groups and try to place them with
students they feel comfortable with, so they feel more comfortable asking questions. I would
also lesson the exit ticket requirements. For ELL’s I would also have subtitles in English playing
in every video. I would do the same with struggling readers, except the exit ticket
requirements. For Sped students I would ask their teachers for assistance in the best way to
accommodate them.

Lesson Wrap-up: ​We will end class with me sharing personal stories and artifacts from the
Pearl Harbor memorial and USS Missouri. Giving students a different look at the events that
took place. Students will also complete their exit tickets and turn them in. Based on exit ticket
responses we will review certain information the following day to clarify for students.
Appendix A
The attack on Pearl Harbor came after years of worsening relations between Japan and the

United States. They had differences over Japan's behavior toward China. This breakdown began

in 1931, when Japanese army extremists defied their government policy and invaded the Chinese

province of Manchuria.

Japan ignored American protests. In 1937, it launched an attack on the rest of China. Although

alarmed by this action, the United States was not willing to use military force to stop the

advances.

Japan felt threatened by the U.S.

Over the next three years, war broke out in Europe and Japan joined Nazi Germany and Fascist

Italy in the Axis Alliance. Britain, France and several other countries were in the Allies group.

The United States used diplomatic and economic pressures to try to resolve the conflict between

China and Japan. The U.S. blocked Japan from getting oil. The Japanese government viewed

these measures as threats to their national safety.

By 1941, Japan had already decided on war. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was part of a

plan to conquer the western Pacific. The objective was to immobilize the Pacific Fleet so that the

United States could not interfere with plans to invade. The planner of the attack was Admiral

Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet. Though personally

opposed to war with America, Yamamoto knew that Japan’s only hope of success in such a war

was to achieve quick victory. If there were an extended conflict, America’s superior economic

and manufacturing power would likely tip the scales in her favor.

Japan's attack fleet had 33 warships

On November 26, the Japanese attack fleet of 33 warships and other craft, including six aircraft

carriers, sailed from Japan for the Hawaiian Islands. They went far to the north of the normal
shipping lanes to avoid notice. By early December 7, 1941, the ships had reached their launch

position, 230 miles north of Oahu. At 6 a.m., the first wave of fighters, bombers and torpedo

planes took off. The night before, some 10 miles outside the entrance to Pearl Harbor, five

midget submarines carrying two men and two torpedoes each were launched from larger subs.

Their mission was to enter Pearl Harbor before the air strike, remain submerged until the attack

got underway, then cause as much damage as possible.

Meanwhile at Pearl Harbor, the 130 vessels of the U.S. Pacific Fleet lay calm. Seven of the fleet’s

nine battleships were tied up on the shore of Ford Island. Aircraft were lined up at Ford Island,

Kaneohe Bay and Ewa air stations. At several airfields, aircraft of the U.S. Army Air Corps were

parked in groups as defense against possible attackers.

At 6:40 a.m., the crew of the USS Ward spotted a midget sub headed for the entrance to Pearl

Harbor. The Ward sank the sub, then reported the information to headquarters. Before 7 a.m., a

radar station picked up a signal indicating a large flight of planes approaching. These were

thought to be either aircraft coming from the carrier Enterprise or an expected flight of B-17s, so

no action was taken.

Five U.S. battleships sunk
The first wave of Japanese aircraft arrived shortly before 7:55 a.m. At approximately 8:10 a.m.,

the USS Arizona exploded, hit by a 1,760-pound bomb that slammed through her deck and

ignited ammunition. She sank with 1,177 of her crew. The USS Oklahoma, hit by torpedoes,

rolled over, trapping more than 400 men inside. The USS California and USS West Virginia sank

at their docks, while the USS Utah overturned with more than 50 of her crew. The USS

Maryland, USS Pennsylvania and USS Tennessee all suffered significant damage. The USS

Nevada attempted to run out to sea but took several hits. The ship had to be run aground to

avoid sinking and blocking the harbor entrance.

While the attack on Pearl Harbor intensified, other military establishments on the island of

Oahu were hit. Several airfields and air stations suffered damage. Hundreds of planes were

destroyed on the ground and hundreds of men killed or wounded.

American military fights back

After about five minutes, American anti-aircraft fire began to register hits. However, many of the

U.S. shells that had been improperly fused fell on Honolulu. Residents assumed they were

Japanese bombs. Soon, a second wave of planes continued the strikes in the harbor, destroying

the USS Shaw, USS Sotoyomo and a dry dock. The attacks had caused heavy loss of life and

reduced American ability to strike back.

Army Air Corps pilots managed to take off in a few fighters and may have shot down 12 enemy

planes. At 10 a.m., the second wave of attacking planes withdrew, and the assault was over. The

Japanese lost 29 planes and five midget submarines.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a great, but not total, success. Although the U.S. Pacific Fleet

was shattered, its aircraft carriers, not in port at the time of the attack, were afloat and Pearl

Harbor was in surprisingly good shape. Some areas suffered only slight damage.

More importantly, the American people, previously divided over U.S. involvement in World War

II, rallied together and soon joined the Allies. They committed to victory over Japan and her

Axis partners.
Day 4 WWII

Objectives:
Students will be able to…
● Compare and contrast aspects of side of the war ( Europe vs. Pacific)
● Describe as a soldier on a side of the war
Lesson Overview: ​Students will be given a more traditional lesson. Students will view a
Powerpoint containing information about the war on both fronts (Europe and the Pacific). Then
throughout the power point we will be adding information to a Venn Diagram. Students will then
write a small paragraph describing life from the point of view of a soldier fighting on one of the
fronts. Then we will move into life on the homefront.

Assessment:​Students will be turning in their Venn Diagrams and short paragraphs. For
homework students will compare what's in their fridge to what would have been in the fridge if
they had to ration.

Lesson Activities:
❏ U.S. War on both fronts, Powerpoint and lecture xplain the U.S. was battling on both
sides
❏ Imagine you are a soldier on one side of the war and describe what your life is like.
❏ What would you bring? Show students examples of what soldiers packed.
❏ Students will get into groups of two and partner read the article on integration in WWII.
The partners will pair up into groups of four and decide what they believe the most
important aspect of the article was. Then the groups will share and we will have open
discussion. (See Appendix A)
https://newsela.com/read/gl-history-african-americans-world-war-II/id/31312/
❏ As a class we will watch this short video about life on the homefront and have an open
discussion on life on the homefront. Teacher will lead discussion towards war bonds,
women in the workforce, and rationing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aRVVae2i_c

Differentiation:
For ELL’s I would either pair them with a student they felt comfortable with and translate key
terms or I would pull them and work with them on the article. Throughout all lessons ELL’s
would have complete access to bilingual dictionaries. For struggling readers I would most likely
pull them with ELLs to read. I would also give ELLs and struggling readers a key points sheet
for words they need to be looking for and what the main ideas are. For Sped students I would
work with their teachers to help make the right accommodations.
Lesson Wrap-up: ​For homework students will make a list of everything in their fridge and
the following morning I will show them everything that would be in a rationed fridge and we will
have a discussion on if the students were surprised or not, building personal connections.
Appendix A
African-Americans have been the victims of racial oppression throughout the history of the

United States. Before 1865, many were slaves, and after that many were treated like second-class

citizens. Whites in power thought blacks did not deserve the same rights as white citizens. Still,

blacks have always supported the U.S., especially during wartime.

During World War II, over one million African-Americans served in the armed forces. Most

black men who served were in the Army. They were segregated from white soldiers and often

were not permitted to fight, but only to perform tasks like cooking and cleaning.

Segregated units in the armed forces

Many black soldiers did see action, though, and many of them fought with great skill and

courage. More than 12,000 black men who served in the segregated 92nd Division received

citations and were decorated for their effort. The all-black 761st Tank Battalion received the

Presidential Unit Citation for “extraordinary heroism.”

By 1944, there were 145,000 black men serving in the U.S. Army Air Force. Among them were

the members of the 99th Fighter Squadron, popularly known as the Tuskegee Airmen. The

Tuskegee Airmen became legendary for their heroic feats. In all, the unit's members received

several silver stars, 150 distinguished flying crosses, 14 bronze stars and 744 air medals. The

entire unit was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation.

U.S. Army Air Corps Tuskegee airmen in 1942. Photo from Wikimedia. [click to enlarge]
Black women also came to the defense of the nation by enlisting in the Women’s Army Auxiliary

Corps (WAAC). Black women in WAAC made up 10 percent of all women recruited. Like black

men in the armed forces, they were placed in segregated units, lived in segregated housing, ate

at segregated tables and were trained separately from whites. More than 6,200 black women

served in WAAC. In spite of serving in segregated units and facing harsh discrimination, black

women served with distinction.

"We are Americans too!"

Although African-Americans supported their government during WWII, they were not silent

about racism in America. In fact, some even noted the similarities between the way Jews were

treated in Nazi Germany and the way blacks were treated in America. Both Jews in Germany
and African-Americans in the United States, particularly the South, were treated as less than

fully human, and were denied equal rights. Both were savagely mistreated and discriminated

against.

The United States claimed to be fighting Nazi Germany to help defend democracy.

African-Americans couldn't help noticing the gap between the ideals the United States said it

was fighting for in Europe and how it treated people in the U.S. They also realized that the war

created an opportunity to press U.S. leaders for full citizenship.

In February 1942, the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the nation’s largest black newspapers, launched

its “Double V” campaign. Its goal was to encourage blacks to both support the war effort in

Europe and fight for civil rights in the U.S. The campaign's name referred to the slogan "Victory

at Home, Victory Abroad.”

The Courier argued that African-Americans should wage a “two-pronged attack against our

enslavers at home and those abroad who would enslave us. We have a stake in this fight ... We

are Americans too!"

The Double V campaign was enthusiastically received, and heavily promoted by the newspaper.

The Courier urged the country to not only preach democracy to the world but to practice it at

home.

The Double V campaign was eventually adopted by several other black newspapers. Throughout

the war years, the campaign helped provide a voice to Americans who wanted to both protest

racial discrimination and contribute to the war effort.

A victory for racial equality during WWII

Protesting was another crucial way that African-Americans pushed for civil rights during WWII.

As the war progressed, American industries began stepping up production of ships, tanks, guns

and other military items. Despite the urgent need for tens of thousands of workers, companies
that made weapons and military equipment refused to hire blacks. In addition, the federal

government refused to take steps to end this discrimination.

In response, civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph launched the March on Washington

Movement in 1941. Randolph soon announced that thousands of African-Americans were ready

to march on the nation’s capital. Their goal was to force President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to

issue an executive order banning discrimination in the war production industry.

The threat of thousands of black protestors coming to Washington, D.C., convinced Roosevelt to

hold a meeting with Randolph in June 1941. The president asked Randolph to call off the march.

Randolph replied that he would only do that if an executive order was issued.

Eventually, Roosevelt agreed to a compromise with Randolph. The compromise was Executive

Order 8802, which banned employment discrimination in the war production industry and in

government. Having successfully forced the government to take action against discrimination

for the first time since the 1870s, Randolph agreed to call off the march.

Randolph and the other march organizers won a major victory for racial equality. Their success

laid the groundwork for the civil rights protests of the 1950s and 1960s.

Clarence Taylor teaches in the history department and in the black and Hispanic studies

department at Baruch College, The City University of New York. His books include "Knocking

at Our Own Door: Milton A. Galamison and the Struggle to Integrate New York City Schools"

(1997) and "Black Religious Intellectuals: The Fight for Equality from Jim Crow to the 21st

Century" (2002).
Day 5 WWII

Objectives:
Students will be able to…
● Identify key characteristics and information related to the Axis and Allied Powers.

Lesson Overview:
Today we will go through a Powerpoint presentation with information on the Axis and Allied
Powers. We will then play Kahoot showing images related to Allied and Axis countries. Then
after our Kahoot we will go over the D’Day invasion.

Assessment:
Teacher will analyze student Kahoot results to see if review is needed. Students will read the
D’Day article for homework and will do a review Kahoot the following morning based on the
Article.

Lesson Activities:
❏ Axis/ Allied Powers Powerpoint
❏ Kahoot!
❏ D’Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cGuB-OWR0g
❏ Students will start reading D’Day article from Newsela is homework (See Appendix A)
https://newsela.com/read/gl-history-wwII-dday-end-war/id/24539/

Differentiation:
For ELLs I will put images and quick facts on a sheet of paper to help them connect countries to
their facts. I will also use this for struggling readers. I would also create a main idea sheet for
the D’Day article and highlight some key words/phrases in their articles. For Sped students I
would ask their Sped teachers to help me with their accommodations.

Lesson Wrap-up:
Students will begin reading their D'Day articles for tomorrow's Kahoot on D’Day.
Appendix A
The last in a four-part series.

The story of June 6, 1944 – also known as D-Day – has been told many times. D-Day was an

invasion by Allied forces from the United States, Canada, and Great Britain onto a German-held

beach in France. It was the largest seaborne invasion in history, and it started the process of

liberating Europe from Nazi control and putting an end to World War II.

Eisenhower's crucial role

General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in charge of the invasion. He did four things that will

distinguish him forever. First, he made a decision on June 5 to go forward with the invasion

despite a terrible weather forecast. By contrast, the German commander in charge of protecting
the beaches decided that the weather would be so awful that he could safely go back to Germany

to visit his wife and son.

Second, he took personal responsibility for possible failure. He prepared a statement for release

to the press in case the invasion force was hurled back into the sea, which said that his soldiers

and sailors had done everything expected of them and that the failure was his fault alone. This

message never had to be released.

Third, Eisenhower visited the airfields where many thousands of Americans were getting ready

to be dropped behind German lines. Eisenhower knew that hundreds of them, maybe more,

would be killed the next day. He walked informally among the young men, chatting about their

hometowns and recognizing the dangers they would face.

Finally, as the thousands of ships set out on the short voyage to Normandy, General Eisenhower

read a personal message to the troops. It read:

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many

months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people

everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other

Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi

tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe and security for ourselves in a free world.”

The end of the war

The D-Day landings were successful. In the coming months, Allies pulverized the

once-unbeatable German war machine. Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker on

April 30, 1945. All resistance ceased within the week. Upon accepting the surrender of Nazi

officials, General Eisenhower sent to his superiors a succinct message: “The mission of this

Allied force was accomplished at 0241 hours, May 7th, 1945.”

Although Japan had brave and devoted soldiers, fine airplanes and world-class sailors, it never

had a chance against the United States. It did not have enough of anything to compete with a
continental nation with almost infinite resources. At many battles, the Japanese fought almost

to the last man. It was no use. In desperation, they created an elite force of pilots called

kamikaze. Their mission was to crash their aircraft into U.S. ships. They died in glory, but they

were too few and too late.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had led the country when it was attacked by Japan in

1941 and who brought the United States into World War II, died in April 1945. His successor,

Harry S. Truman, ordered atomic bombs to be dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and

Nagasaki in August of 1945. By then, the Japanese had to realize that further resistance was

madness. On August 14, 1945, Truman announced over the radio that the war was over. On

September 2, 1945, representatives of the Japanese government officially surrendered. World

War II had ended.

The war in retrospect

In many ways, the United States was the big winner in World War II. Relative to Germany,

Japan and the Soviet Union, its battle deaths were relatively few in number. Its great cities, like

New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles, were never occupied

by enemy armies or bombed. Its factories and steel mills, farms, stores and schools were

unscathed by the conflict. The U.S. government emerged from the war more confident than ever,

with a military superior to any in the world. By every measure, the United States led the world in

1945, and it was about to begin two generations of prosperity unmatched in history.

But no one in America who had lived as an adult through the Great Depression and the years of

war that followed it would claim that the experience had been easy. It had been achieved with

enormous sacrifice and cost. Indeed, those years of deprivation, fear and longing would always

be as central to their lives as they were to the 20th century.

Kenneth T. Jackson is the Jacques Barzun Professor in History and the

Social Sciences. He is also the director of the Herbert H. Lehman Center

for American History at Columbia University. His publications include

"Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States" (1987),

"Empire City: New York through the Centuries" (2002) and "The

Encyclopedia of New York City" (2nd ed., 2010).

Day 6 WWII

Objectives:
Students will be able to…
● Debate over a controversial topic
● Provide evidence for their claims

Lesson Overview: ​Students will be learning about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. They will have a debate on whether it was the right thing to do or not. They will also
be learning about the liberation of Europe.

Assessment: ​Students will submit an exit ticket stating their view on the atomic bombing and
the argument against their opinion.

Lesson Activities:
❏ Atomic bomb debate, was it the right thing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5OI9xrJ8Zw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIc3Hw6Nm0c
❏ Give students discussion time.
❏ Begin debate moderated by teacher.
❏ The last video will be a closing to the atomic bomb debate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uas1WtocwOo
❏ Surrender and liberation videos. I will show students the videos and explain to students
the different surrenders and what the liberation of Europe and concentration camps
were.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPcRfzRtM9o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KCKagd6Ihk

Differentiation: ​For ELLs and struggling readers I would create a concept map with images
to help students understand the main ideas and those that stem from the main ideas. I would
also make groups with a good mix of students to assist ELLs and struggling readers. For Sped
students I would get with the Sped teachers to use the correct accommodations.

Lesson Wrap-up: ​For homework students will be writing a short paragraph ( minimum of 6
sentences) from the point of view of a liberated person from a concentration camp.
Day 7 & 8 WWII

Objectives:
● Create visual/oral timelines
● Apply learned information to the formation of a final product.
● Compose a written/oral piece describing life on the homefront

Assessment: ​Students will be going back into their notes and prior activities that they have
saved in their unit binder and begin work on a poster or powerpoint timeline.

Lesson Activities:
❏ Students will be spending these two days in the library. Students will be working with
teacher and librarian to create poster/powerpoint timelines of WWII. Teacher and
librarian will be helping with format and information giving constant feedback. During
these days students will have access to rubrics, as well as art supplies.
❏ Students will also be creating a journal entry or oral monologue from the point of view of
someone living on the American homefront during WWII. Students will be using their
notes and videos from class to design the second part of the project. They will have the
rubric, but may also bring in their monologues/journal entries into class on days 7 and 8
to get feedback from the teacher.

Day 9 & 10 WWII

During these final two days students will present or submit their work.