Level W/60
The Great Depression by the Numbers
Social Studies Teacher’s Guide
Skills & Strategies
Anchor Comprehension
Strategies
• Draw Conclusions
• Summarize Information
Comprehension
• Determine text importance
• Identify cause and effect
• Use graphic features to interpret
information
Vocabulary/Word Study Strategies
• Identify antonyms
Social Studies Big Idea
• Significant economic events of the
twentieth century influenced the political,
social, and economic systems of the
United States.
Themes
• Economy
• Stock Market
• Survival
B
e n c h m a r k
E
d u c a t i o n
C
o m p a n y
Le sson at a G l a nce
Core Lesson Planning Guide
Before Reading (page 3)
• Build Background
• Introduce the Book
• Administer Preassessment
During Reading (pages 4–10)
Introduction–Chapter 1 (pages 4–6)
• Model Metacognitive Strategy: Determine
Text Importance
• Set a Purpose for Reading
• Discuss the Reading
• Model Comprehension Strategy:
Summarize Information
• Identify Antonyms
The following five-day lesson plan is just one option for
incorporating this teacher’s guide into your daily lesson plans.
Day
1
Chapter 3–Conclusion (pages 9–10)
•A
pply Metacognitive Strategy:
Determine Text Importance
• Set a Purpose for Reading
• Discuss the Reading
• Apply Comprehension Strategy:
Summarize Information
• Identify Antonyms
After Reading (page 11)
• Administer Posttest
• Synthesize Information:
Research Information/Identify Cause
and Effect
Writing Workshop (pages 12–13)
•M
odel the Writing Process: Write a
Summary Including Main Points and Ideas
Blackline Masters (pages 14–16)
• Summarize Information (page 14)
• Identify Antonyms (page 15)
• Summarizing (page 16)
2
Page 3: Before Reading
• Build Background
• Introduce the Book
• Administer Preassessment
2
Pages 4–6: During Reading: Introduction–Chapter 1
• Model Metacognitive Strategy: Determine Text Importance
• Model Comprehension Strategy: Summarize Information
• Identify Antonyms
3
Pages 7–8: During Reading: Chapter 2
• Apply Metacognitive Strategy: Determine Text Importance
• Guide Comprehension Strategy: Summarize Information
• Use Graphic Features to Interpret Information: Charts and Graphs
4
Pages 9–10: During Reading: Chapter 3–Conclusion
• Apply Metacognitive Strategy: Determine Text Importance
• Apply Comprehension Strategy: Summarize Information
• Identify Antonyms
5
Page 11: After Reading
• Administer Posttest
• Synthesize Information: Research
Chapter 2 (pages 7–8)
• Apply Metacognitive Strategy: Determine
Text Importance
• Set a Purpose for Reading
• Discuss the Reading
• Guide Comprehension Strategy:
Summarize Information
• Use Graphic Features to Interpret
Information: Charts and Graphs
Activities
Additional Related Resources
Notable Trade Books for Read-Aloud
• Appelt, Kathi. Down Cut Shin Creek:
The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky.
HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2001.
• Graves, Kerry A. Going to School during
the Great Depression. Capstone Press,
2001.
• Hoffman, Nancy. Eleanor Roosevelt and
the Arthurdale Experiment. Shoe String
Press, 2001.
• Lasky, Kathryn. Christmas After All: The
Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift.
Scholastic, 2001.
Web Site for Content Information
• New Deal Network
http://newdeal.feri.org/
The New Deal Network is a teaching and
research database consisting of over
20,000 photographs, political cartoons,
and texts from the New Deal period. It
was created by the Franklin and Eleanor
Roosevelt Institute. Its “Classroom”
section includes lesson plans, additional
resources, and a time line.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other
part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-4108-2590-2
Before Reading
Build Background
•Say: You’ve probably heard the word depression before.
What is a depression? (Possible answer: a time of sadness or
discouragement) What other meanings are there for that word?
(Possible answer: a low part in an area or a time of money
troubles) Have you ever heard of the Great Depression? What
do you know about it? When did it take place? How were
people affected by the Great Depression?
• For two minutes, have students write down everything they
know about the Great Depression. Then ask students to
volunteer what they have written.
stock market crash of
1929
unemployment
The Great
Depression
1930s
homelessness
• Draw a web with “The Great Depression” in the center circle.
Write the students’ ideas in the outer circles. Add as many
circles as needed. (Possible answers: unemployment, 1930s,
stock market crash of 1929, homelessness)
• If important concepts such as unemployment, stock market
crash, and Black Tuesday are not familiar to students, introduce
them.
Introduce the Book
•Give students a copy of the book. Have them read the title and
then turn to the table of contents. Ask: What do you think you
will read based on the chapter headings?
• Have pairs of students use the table of contents to choose one
chapter to skim. Have pairs skim the chapter to locate one or
two boldfaced words and one or two pictures to talk about.
Remind students to use the glossary to check word meanings.
• Ask: Based on the words and pictures, what do you think this
book will be about?
• After students share and respond, explain that The Great
Depression by the Numbers will be about one of the most
difficult times in the history of the United States.
Administer Preassessment
•Have students take Ongoing Assessment #29 on page 94 in the
Comprehension Strategy Assessment Handbook (Grade 6).
• Score assessments and use the results to determine instruction.
• Keep group assessments in a small-group reading folder. For
in-depth analysis, discuss responses with individual students.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

I nformal
Assessment Tips
1. Assess students’ ability to
use the table of contents
and glossary.
2. Document informal
observations in a folder or
notebook.
3. Keep the folder or notebook
at the small-group reading
table for handy reference.
4. For students who struggle
with using the table of
contents and glossary, model
how to read a table of
contents, running your
finger down each column to
find the chapter titles and
page numbers. If necessary,
also model how to read a
glossary and skim a chapter
for boldfaced words.
3
During Reading:
Content Information
Students may be interested in the
following facts about the 1920s:
• On a farm in the 1920s, there was no
electricity or indoor plumbing. Most
small cities, however, had paved
streets, electricity, water systems,
and phone systems.
• At first, electricity was used to light
homes in small cities. Later it was
also used to run appliances such as
washing and sewing machines,
toasters, and irons.
• On farms, it took another ten to
twenty years before electric appliances
were used. One of the most
important changes for farmers was
the availability of gasoline-powered
automobiles and trucks, especially in
states that were sparsely populated.
q
Minds-On/
Hands-On Activity
1. Have small groups of students play a
stock market game. Tell students that
they are to imagine they have $1,000
a in the stock market. Have
to invest
each group read the stock quotes in
the newspaper (or on the Internet)
to determine which and how many
stocks they want to buy as a group.
2. Model how to read and use the
stock quotes section and determine,
for example, how many shares of a
$50 stock you could buy with $1,000.
(20 shares) Challenge the groups to
decide whether they should invest
all their money in one stock or
diversify—buy several different
types of stocks.
3. Ask each group to create a chart
or scorecard, recording which and
how many stocks they bought, the
total amount invested, and how
much leftover “cash” they have, if
any. Have each group select a
spokesperson to present the group’s
stock investment plan to the class.
4
Introduction–Chapter 1
Model Metacognitive Strategy: Determine Text
Importance
Good readers decide and remember what is important and
what is not important as they read. To do this well, readers
must be able to identify the difference between key topics
and supporting details, notice and select new information,
and distinguish between important and interesting
information. Good readers keep track of their thinking by
writing ideas in a journal or on self-stick notes.
•Use a real-life example of determining text importance. Say:
When I read a magazine or newspaper article, I read the
headline to guess what the key points might be. Then I read the
first paragraph and see if the key points are listed there. If so, I
continue reading, looking for details that explain, expand, and
prove those points. These details are called supporting details.
If the story contains sidebars, charts, or captions, I read that
information, too, because I may need it to understand the
author's main ideas. Authors include lots of interesting details
that are not part of the key topics. You need to think: Why is
the author writing this? What does the author want me to
know? Is this detail important to my understanding of the main
ideas in the writing?
•Read pages 2–3 aloud. Say: In the introduction, the author
directs my attention to the ideas she wants me to learn. On
these pages, not all of the paragraphs give key topics. The
second paragraph, for example, gives more details about the
different ways people survived during the Great Depression.
The picture and Solve This! section add interesting details, but
are not essential to my understanding of the main topics.
The time line, however, is important because it summarizes
most of the main events in the book. To help me figure out
what is important, I can ask who, what, when, where, why, and
how questions.
Set a Purpose for Reading
•Ask students to read Chapter 1 silently to discover what caused
the Great Depression. As they read, have them jot down the
author's key topics on self-stick notes or in their journals. Point
out that there are many sidebars, illustrations, and captions in
the chapter. Students should read them with the understanding
that the information found there may not be as important as
the information in the running text, but may provide supporting
details.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Discuss the Reading
•Have students take turns sharing one key topic they learned.
• Ask: What key topics did the author want you to learn? What
are some interesting supporting details that she included? Look
for details that answer the questions who, what, where, when,
and how much or how many.
• You may wish to list the ideas on the board, and then have
students suggest supporting details for each. For example, list
this idea from page 6: People went into debt. Then list
supporting details: Americans wanted more goods; they bought
on credit; they thought they could pay off their debts.
Model Comprehension Strategy:
Summarize Information
•Say: Nonfiction text is more difficult for me to understand
than fiction text because there is so much information to
remember and learn. Even if I keep notes, I still have a hard time
remembering key pieces of information. To help me remember,
I can summarize or paraphrase the information using my own
words. Summarizing means pulling out the most important
details and reducing a long piece of text to a few sentences.
I have to remember to use only the key topics and a few
supporting details when I summarize.
•Continue: I know that a main idea often appears in the topic
sentence of a paragraph. Other times, I must use what I read to
guess or infer the main idea. If I can reduce several pages of text
to a few key sentences, I find it much easier to understand and
remember what I’ve read.
•Pass out the graphic organizer “Summarize Information”
(blackline master, page 14 of this guide). You may want to make
a chart-size copy of the organizer or use a transparency.

Informal
Assessment Tips
1. Observe students as they
differentiate between key
topics and supporting details
on self-stick notes or in their
journals.
2. In a folder or journal, jot
down what you see each
student doing.
3. Take notice of students who
are not writing notes about
the text they read.
4. Remind students that
determining text importance
helps them focus on the
author's reasons for writing
and enables them to better
summarize what they've read.
Summarize Information
Chapter
Chapter 1:
Causes of
the Great Depression
Key Topics
Summary
Page 4: In the 1920s, great
prosperity made people
want to buy things.
Businesses produced more.
Chapter 2:
Effects of
the Great Depression
•Tell students that as they read, they will complete the first two
rows together and the last row independently.
•Have students return to Chapter 1 and follow along while you
show them how to find the causes of the Great Depression.
Write the information on the graphic organizer as you find it.
Read pages 4–5 aloud and say: On page 4, the author says the
1920s were a time of great prosperity for many people and
businesses mass-produced more goods. This made people want
to buy more things. I’ll write that idea in the Key Topics column.
The graph on page 5 is a graphic feature that supports the key
topic. Write ideas on the chart.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Chapter 3:
Effects of
Government Actions
5
Introduction–Chapter 1
Summarize Information
Chapter
Chapter 1:
Causes of
the Great
Depression
Chapter 2:
Effects of
the Great
Depression
Chapter 3:
Effects of
Government
Actions
Key Topics
Summary
Page 4: In the 1920s,
great prosperity made
people want to buy
things. Businesses
produced more.
Pages 6–9: Many
Americans bought on
credit. Farmers had
more food than people
needed. Americans
thought the good
times would continue.
Pages 10–11:
Businesses’ sales
dropped, workers lost
their jobs, and stocks
fell.
The 1920s were a time
of great prosperity.
Businesses produced
more products.
Americans went into
debt buying on credit,
thinking money would
always be available.
Farmers produced
more food than people
could buy, so they
earned less money.
Then business sales
dropped, workers lost
their jobs, and stocks
fell.
•Remind students to continue to look for causes of the Great
Depression for their summaries. Read pages 6–9 and say: The
author explains that many Americans bought things on credit
and that farmers had more food than people needed. She also
describes how Americans thought the good times would continue,
so they bought more products and stocks. I’ll write those ideas
in the Key Topics column.
• Complete the row by reading aloud pages 10–11. Say: These
pages are about how businesses’ sales dropped, workers lost
their jobs, and stocks fell. I’ll write that in the Key Topics column.
Now I can put all of the key topics together and write a summary.
Write the summary in the Summary column of the graphic
organizer. Say: My summary does not include every fact and
detail, but it does include what’s important. We’ll continue
summarizing text as we read the rest of the book.
Identify Antonyms
•Tell students that words that show contrast are called antonyms.
Have students turn to page 10 and locate the word rose. Say:
What do you think this word means? (increased or went up) Can
you find a word in the text that is its opposite? (drop) What
does this word mean? (decrease or go down) What word does
the author use to signal an opposite? (but)
• Tell students that they will look for additional antonyms as they
continue reading The Great Depression by the Numbers.
6
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Chapter 2
Apply Metacognitive Strategy:
Determine Text Importance
•Have students review how they determined text importance by
focusing on key topics. Ask them to share any strategies they
used.
• Say: Today we’ll look at locating new information. We will use
our background knowledge to compare this information to
what we already know.
• Ask: What do you know about unemployment? (Possible answer:
Unemployed people do not have jobs.) Read page 12 aloud
while students follow along. Ask: What does this chapter tell
you that you did not already know about unemployment? How
has your definition of unemployment changed with what you
learned? (Possible answers: People without jobs cannot pay for
homes or food. Schools closed in the Great Depression because
there was no money to fund them.)
• Explain to students that as they read nonfiction, they will often
be faced with new information. Based on their background
knowledge, they will be able to learn new information and
determine if it is important to the main topics of the text. Often,
that new information is the most valuable or important because
it gives them an understanding that they did not have before.
Set a Purpose for Reading
•Ask students to read Chapter 2, looking especially for any
information that is brand-new to them and noting it in their
journals or on self-stick notes. Remind them to look at charts
and
captions as they read. These may not include key topics, but
they may hold information that is new to the students and is
therefore interesting.
Discuss the Reading
•Ask students to share any information that they learned for the
first time while reading Chapter 2.
• Have volunteers explain how this new information relates to the
key topics they have identified in the text thus far. Is the new
information an important key topic or just a supporting detail or
interesting fact?
Content Information
Students might be interested in the
following events during the Great
Depression:
• S ome of the most popular songs
of the time were “Brother Can
You Spare a Dime,” “We’re in the
Money,” and “Life Is Just a Bowl
of Cherries.”
•P
eople grew their own food in
gardens. They sewed clothes
and reused material to make
other household items.
•H
arlem, a part of New York City,
had an unemployment rate of
50 percent. In 1935, property
owned or managed by African
Americans fell from 30 percent
to 5 percent.
• S chools, with budgets shrinking,
shortened both the school day
and the school year.
q
Minds-On/
Hands-On Activity
1. Have students work in pairs
and look at the photographs in
Chapter 2.
a
2. Ask students to tell what they
see and to describe what they
think is happening in each
picture.
3. Then have students choose the
image that they think is the most
interesting. Encourage them to
talk about how the picture
relates to the topic of the Great
Depression.
4. Invite students to share their
thoughts in small groups or as a
class. Discuss their responses,
helping them connect the
images to the book topic.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
7
Chapter 2
Summarize Information
Chapter
Chapter 1:
Causes of
the Great
Depression
Chapter 2:
Effects of
the Great
Depression
Key Topics
Summary
Page 4: In the 1920s,
great prosperity made
people want to buy
things. Businesses
produced more.
Pages 6–9: Many
Americans bought on
credit. Farmers had
more food than people
needed. Americans
thought the good
times would continue.
Pages 10–11:
Businesses’ sales
dropped, workers lost
their jobs, and stocks
fell.
The 1920s were a time
of great prosperity.
Businesses produced
more products.
Americans went into
debt buying on credit,
thinking money would
always be available.
Farmers produced
more food than people
could buy, so they
earned less money.
Then business sales
dropped, workers lost
their jobs, and stocks
fell.
Pages 12–13: Life was
very hard for most
people by 1932. Many
people lived in shantytowns, with little food.
Pages 14–15: There
was no state or federal
money to help. Jobs
paid very little.
Pages 16–19: President
Hoover asked
businesses and
government to help
create jobs but did not
provide a welfare
system. People became
angry and he lost the
next election to Franklin
Roosevelt.
By the end of 1932, life
was very hard for
many Americans. Many
lived in shantytowns,
with little food. There
was not enough state
and federal money to
improve the situation.
President Hoover tried
to help, but was not as
successful as people
wanted. He would not
create a national
welfare system, and
people became angry.
He lost the next
election to Roosevelt.
Chapter 3:
Effects of
Government
Actions
Guide Comprehension Strategy:
Summarize Information
•Remind students that a summary briefly presents the main idea
and important supporting details of a longer piece of writing.
• Tell them that you are going to work as a group to summarize
Chapter 2. Ask students to skim pages 12–13 and find the key
topics. Then have them skim and find the key topics on pages
14–15 and 16–19 and write them on the chart.
• Then work with students to complete a summary of Chapter 2.
• Use the graphic organizer on this page for suggested answers.
Tell students that the next time you meet, they will practice
summarizing on their own.
Use Graphic Features to Interpret Information:
Charts and Graphs
•Have students turn to page 15 and locate the chart. Point out
that the chart has a title (Depression-Era Prices). The title shows
what the chart is about. Each column has a heading to show
what information will be in the column. (Item; Price)
Demonstrate how to locate information on the chart. Say: To
learn how much a shirt cost during the Great Depression, I run
my eye down the first column and find the word shirt, then I
run my eye across to the second column and see that a shirt cost
$0.47. Wow! Compare that to the today’s prices! How much do
shirts cost today?
• Have students practice reading items from the chart.

Informal
Assessment Tips
1. Watch students as they work on
the “Summarize Information”
chart.
2. In your folder, jot down what
you see the students doing.
3. Ask yourself: Are students having
problems with this strategy?
If so, what are the problems?
Are students mastering this
strategy? If so, how do I know?
4. For struggling students,
• Have students find the graph on page 17. Ask: What is the
title of this graph? (Unemployment 1929–1932) What is being
measured? (the number of unemployed people in millions per
year) What does the line on the graph show about unemployment? (Possible answer: Unemployment rose dramatically over
four years.) Explain that a graph is read similarly to a chart, but
without columns and rows. Demonstrate finding the number of
unemployed people in 1931. Say: To learn how many people
were unemployed in 1931, I run my eye across the bottom of the
graph to 1931, then I run my eye up to the place where 1931
meets the line. Then I look left at the number listed, which is 8. I
know that the numbers are in millions, so 8 million people were
unemployed in 1931.
• Challenge students to practice using the graph by working on
the Solve This! problems in pairs. Ask volunteers to share their
answers with the class.
review the strategy using the
comprehension strategy poster.
Use both sides of the poster if
needed.
8
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Chapter 3–Conclusion
Apply Metacognitive Strategy:
Determine Text Importance
Content Information
Students may be interested in the
following points from President
Roosevelt’s second fireside chat
about plans connected with the
New Deal:
•Have students look through their notes. Ask them to review different
methods for determining text importance. (Possible answers:
discriminating between key topics and supporting details; noticing
new information and summarizing it based on background
knowledge) Explain that another method of determining text
importance is to decide which information is key, and which is
interesting but unimportant.
• Jobs would be given to onequarter of a million unemployed
men with families. They would do
forestry and flood-prevention
work, live in camps for free, and
send their paychecks home to
their families.
• Read page 20 aloud. Ask students to identify the key topics of this
page. (Roosevelt had a New Deal for the country to end the Great
Depression.) Ask volunteers to share any new information they
learned. (Possible answer: He wanted to stop runs on banks first.)
• States would be given more power
to improve welfare programs, to
provide money and food to needy
women and children.
• Model deciding which information is important and which is
interesting but unimportant. Say: Congress passed laws to stop runs
on banks. Is that important or unimportant information? (important)
Congress passed laws to create programs to provide food and
jobs. Is that important or unimportant information? (important)
These programs were called by their initials. All the programs
together were sometimes called “alphabet soup.” Is this important
or unimportant information? (unimportant) Remind students that
information may be interesting and important or interesting and
unimportant. Interest is a matter of taste and opinion. What one
student finds interesting may not interest others.
• President Roosevelt ended his chat
by urging the nation to be happy
about these improvements, but
not to go out and spend wildly.
Set a Purpose for Reading
•Have students read Chapter 3 and the Conclusion by themselves.
Encourage them to practice deciding whether information is
important or unimportant. Ask them to record their summaries in
their journals or on self-stick notes.
Discuss the Reading
•Ask volunteers to share their notes with the class. You may wish to
have them record their ideas on the board or on chart paper.
• Ask students to explain which information they decided was
important and which was unimportant. Challenge the class to
suggest guidelines for determining whether information is important
or unimportant. (Possible answers: Important information is in bold
print. It is in the headline. It is given a lot of space for discussion. It is
a supporting detail of a key topic. It is new information to me.)
q
Minds-On/
Hands-On Activity
1. Have students create and
implement their own New Deal.
2. Askastudents to form small groups.
Have each group brainstorm a list
of problems in the school or the
community that they think need
fixing.
3. Have each group choose one
problem from their list and then
have them develop a plan for
solving it. Remind students that
Roosevelt’s New Deal programs
often helped people help
themselves. They provided jobs
rather than just giving people
money. Encourage students to
think creatively about solving
problems by empowering others.
Give them time to do research in
the library or interview school or
town officials if necessary.
4. Groups should implement their
plans and report back to the
class about how successful their
programs were. Have students
share what they learned in the
process of trying to solve a
community problem.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
9
Chapter 3–Conclusion
Summarize Information
Chapter
Key Topics
Chapter 1:
Causes of
the Great
Depression
Chapter 2:
Effects of
the Great
Depression
Chapter 3:
Effects of
Government
Actions
Summary
Page 4: In the 1920s, great
prosperity made people
want to buy things.
Businesses produced more.
Pages 6–9: Many Americans
bought on credit. Farmers
had more food than people
needed. Americans thought
the good times would
continue.
Pages 10–11: Businesses’
sales dropped, workers lost
their jobs, and stocks fell.
The 1920s were a time of
great prosperity.
Businesses produced more
products. Americans went
into debt buying on credit,
thinking money would
always be available.
Farmers produced more
food than people could buy,
so they earned less money.
Then business sales
dropped, workers lost their
jobs, and stocks fell.
Pages 12–13: Life was very
hard for most people by
1932. Many people lived in
shanty-towns, with little
food.
Pages 14–15: There was no
state or federal money to
help. Jobs paid very little.
Pages 16–19: President
Hoover asked businesses
and government to help
create jobs but did not
provide a welfare system.
People became angry and he
lost the next election to
Franklin Roosevelt.
By the end of 1932, life was
very hard for many
Americans. Many lived in
shantytowns, with little
food. There was not enough
state and federal money to
improve the situation.
President Hoover tried to
help, but was not as
successful as people wanted.
He would not create a
national welfare system, and
people became angry. He
lost the next election to
Roosevelt.
Pages 20–24: President
Roosevelt and Congress’s
first New Deal provided jobs
through the “alphabet soup”
programs, such as the CCC
and TVA.
Page 25: A long drought
ruined Great Plains farmers,
causing many to move west.
Pages 26–27: The Second
New Deal programs included
the WPA, the Social Security
Act, and the Fair Labor
Standards Act. World War II
brought the U.S. out of the
Great Depression.
The first New Deal programs,
such as the CCC, provided
jobs for people and helped
farmers earn more for their
work. But many Great Plains
farmers moved west after
they were ruined by a
terrible drought. Roosevelt’s
Second New Deal increased
government aid through
programs such as the WPA
and Social Security. The
Great Depression ended
when World War II started
and more workers were
needed in factories.
Apply Comprehension Strategy:
Summarize Information
•Review the graphic organizer with students and explain that they
will summarize information on pages 20–27. Ask them to look for
the effects of the government programs on unemployment. Ask:
How did government programs help people get jobs?
• Ask students if they have any questions before they begin. Remind
them to write key ideas, not supporting details.
• Monitor their work and intervene if they are having difficulty
completing the organizer. Watch specifically for students wanting
to write supporting details instead of key topics related to the
“alphabet soup” programs discussed on pages 20–24.
• Discuss student responses together.
• For more practice, have students complete the blackline master
“Summarizing” on page 16 of this guide.
Roosevelt and Congress provided jobs to artists during the Great
Depression. The government wanted people to unite, have hope, and

Informal
Assessment Tips
1. Watch students as they summarize
information. Ask yourself: How
have the students progressed with
summarizing information? What
problems are they still having?
What questions or concerns do I
have about what I observe?
2. Watch students as they complete
the graphic organizer
independently. Ask yourself: Who
is still struggling with this
strategy? What are they doing or
not doing that makes me think
they are struggling? How can I
help them?
have pastimes. Artists painted murals, writers wrote plays, and actors
acted in them so that Americans would have hope, beauty, and fun
in even the toughest times.
Identify Antonyms
•Have a volunteer remind the class what an antonym is. (A pair of
words that are opposites in meaning.)
• Have students find the word closed on page 20. Ask: Can you
find the opposite for this word in the same paragraph? What
is it? (open) Explain to students that sometimes antonyms have
indicators such as the word but; however, sometimes they do not,
as is the case on page 20.
• For more practice, have students complete the blackline master
“Identify Antonyms” on page 15 of this guide.
1. was over, had begun
6. unemployed, employed
2. to sell, to buy
7. close, far
3. new, old
8. more, less
4. better, worse
9. began, ended
5. lost, find
10. blazed, faded away
3. Jot down your thoughts in your
folder or notebook.
10
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
After Reading
Administer Posttest
•Have students take Ongoing Assessment #30 on page 96 in the
Comprehension Strategy Assessment Handbook (Grade 6).
Synthesize Information: Research Information/
Identify Cause and Effect
•Tell students that the United States faced slow economic times
before and after the 1930s, including during the depressions of
1873–79 and 1907–08. You might also mention the 1980s and
2000s recession.
• Ask pairs of students to choose a time period of depression or
recession to research. Have them identify its causes, effects, and
the role the government played in helping the economy or the
American people before and after this time.
• As a class, review research strategies. Ask students to suggest
methods and tools for research. Ask: Where can we find
information? (Possible answers: at the library, on the Internet)
How can we find information? (Possible answers: We can look
for books and magazine articles at the library. We can search
online catalogues, using the topic of “depression” or recession."
We could go on the Internet and use a search engine, using the
years and the words depression or recession and economy as
key words.) What do we do with the information once we find
it? (Possible answer: Take notes on the key topics, supporting
details, and important and interesting information. Then we
share our findings with the class.)

I nformal
Assessment Tips
1. Score assessments and
determine if more instruction
is needed for this strategy.
2. Keep group assessments in a
small-group reading folder.
3. Look closely at students’
responses. Ask yourself:
Why has this student
answered the question in
this manner? For in-depth
analysis, discuss responses
with individual students.
4. Use posttests to document
growth over time, for
parent/teacher conferences,
or for your own records.
• Suggest to students that they use an organizer, such as the chart
shown, to help them take notes as they research.
The American Depression/Reccession of _______ – _______
Causes
Effects
What Government Did Before the
Depression/Recession
What Government
Did Before the
Depression/Recession
• Provide class time for students to present their findings.
• Ask: What do all these depressions have in common? How are
they different? Is there a pattern in a depression? If so, what is
it? Do you think our country will have another big depression?
Why or why not?
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
11
Writing Workshop
eaching Tips:
 TProcess
Writing Steps
1. Have students independently
write a first draft using the
cause-and-effect structure.
2. After students complete their
paragraphs, have them revise
and edit with the help of a
classroom buddy.
3. Confer with each student
following the first revision and
editing.
4. Have students make any
additional changes and create a
final copy of their paragraphs.
5. Finally, invite students to share
their paragraphs with other
students.

I nformal
Assessment Tips
1. Observe students as they
participate in the individual
writing project. Identify those
who might need additional
assistance during the writing
process. Jot down your notes
in your journal.
2. During conferences, keep
notes on each student’s writing
behavior. Ask yourself: What
evidence do I have to support
the conclusion that this student
is writing well or poorly? What
can I do about it?
Model the Writing Process: Write a Summary
Including Main Points and Ideas
•Remind students that throughout the book, they summarized
chapters.
• On chart paper or the board, make an outline as shown below.
Say: I researched information about the dot com depression of
the late 1990s. I picked the key topics and supporting details
from what I read and wrote them on this outline.
• Use the writing model to show how the information from the
outline can be used to write a summary that includes the main
points and ideas from the article.
• Have students write summaries of the depression they
researched during the activities on page 11 of this guide.
• Encourage students to use books and the Internet to research
the topic they chose. Remind them that they are writing a
summary, which should include only the main idea and
important supporting details.
• Remind students that they are summarizing the information in
their own words and not copying another author's words.
The Dot Com Depression
1. During the 1990s, many small Internet companies called
“dot coms” were started.
2. Many people invested in these dot com companies. The
owners bought expensive offices and paid the workers
high salaries.
3. Many dot com companies did not have enough customers
to make a profit.
4. When many dot coms went out of business, investors lost
their money.
3. Suggest that struggling students
summarize the information
they read orally and then
transfer their thoughts to
paper.
12
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Writing Model
Dot Com Depression
During the early 1990s, when the Internet first started,
people got excited about the new idea of buying and
selling on the Internet. Many people started small
companies—often out of their homes, garages, or even
their cars! These Internet businesses have addresses
that look like this: www.something.com. The letters
“com” after the “dot” stand for “company.” These new
companies were often called “dot coms.”
People with money to loan began investing in these
dot com companies. Many dot coms bought expensive
office buildings and paid high salaries to their employees.
However, some dot com companies did not have enough
customers to make a profit. Many dot coms went bankrupt
because they could not pay their bills. Investors lost their
money. Other dot coms survived this “depression”
because of wise management.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Name________________________ _________________
Date___________________
Summarize Information
Chapter
Key Topics
Summary
Chapter 1:
Causes of
the Great Depression
Chapter 2:
Effects of
the Great Depression
Chapter 3:
Effects of
Government Actions
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Name________________________ _________________
Date___________________
Identify Antonyms
Directions: Each sentence contains a pair of antonyms. Read the sentences, and underline
the antonyms.
1. World War I was over and the new era of prosperity—the Roaring Twenties—
had begun.
2. Businesses and factories developed technology to mass-produce and to sell
goods, and people wanted to buy those goods.
3. During the 1920s, young people listened to new jazz music and stopped
listening to old, traditional music.
4. It seemed as if life had never been better—no one suspected that in a few
short years, it would seem as if life could never get worse.
5. During the Great Depression, many families lost their homes. They had to
live wherever they could find shelter.
6. During the Great Depression, the number of unemployed people was a
quarter of the number of employed people!
7. Farmers who lived close to the land, far from the booming cities, struggled
to feed their families.
8. U.S. farmers produced a surplus, or more food than people needed to buy,
which meant they earned less money.
9. In 1941, the United States began to fight in World War II, and the
Great Depression ended.
10. As World War II blazed, the Great Depression faded away.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Name________________________ _________________
Date___________________
Summarizing
Directions: Read the passage. Then write a summary of its most important points.
Art of the Great Depression
Most of the jobs created by the government during the Great Depression were
practical—building roads and dams, planting trees, and cleaning up cities.
However, some of the jobs President Roosevelt and Congress created were for
artists—photographers, actors, painters, and writers. It was the government’s
belief that art was also important, even in a time of emergency. Roosevelt hoped
that an art program would unify America, help citizens understand what
American art was about, and make art a national pastime. Artists painted murals
on subway walls, writers wrote plays, and actors performed in them. Even in a
time of great loss and despair, people found beauty, enjoyment, and hope in art
during the Great Depression.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Skills Bank
Build Comprehension
Draw Conclusions
••Explain
Create an overhead transparency of the graphic organizer
“The Great Depression by the Numbers” or draw it on the board.
Say: An author can’t give us every piece of information about the topic
of a book. We have to figure out some ideas on our own. We can use
the text and graphic features as our clues. Using three or more clues
to figure out an idea that the author does not state directly is called
drawing a conclusion.
••Model Say: I will draw a conclusion about The Great Depression by the
Numbers using clues from the text. On page 4, I read that the 1920s
were a time of great prosperity for many people. They danced, listened
to jazz, and went to the movies. They bought cars and other machines
that made their lives easier. On pages 12 and 13, I read that in the early
1930s, millions of people lost their jobs and homes. They had no money,
and their families went hungry. Record these clues in the first Clues
box on the graphic organizer. Then say: Now I will use these clues to
draw a conclusion. I can conclude that the United States in the 1930s
was very different from the United States in the 1920s. Write this
conclusion in the first Conclusion box.
••Guide Say: Now let’s draw a conclusion about what the 1920s and
1930s were like for farmers. Read the text on page 7. What do you
learn about farmers in the 1920s? Now read the text on page 13. What
does it tell you about farmers in the 1930s? (Allow time for students
to respond, assisting if needed.) Farmers never experienced the good
times of the 1920s. Because of surpluses, crop prices were low, so
farmers earned less money. In 1933, prices for crops were 60% lower
than in 1929. Even so, farmers couldn’t sell the food they grew. Record
these clues in the second Clues box on the graphic organizer. Ask:
What idea can we figure out from these clues? What conclusion can
we draw? (Again allow time for students to respond.) Yes, we can
conclude that both the 1920s and the 1930s were bad times for farmers.
Record this conclusion in the second Conclusion box on the
graphic organizer.
••Apply Ask pairs of students to work together to draw other
conclusions using the text and graphic features in the book. Remind
them that they are looking for clues they can use to figure out
ideas that the author does not state directly. After each pair shares
its clues and conclusions, record the information on the graphic
organizer. Finally, ask volunteers to read the completed graphic
organizer aloud.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
17
Name _______________________________________________________ Date __________________
TheGreat
GreatDepression
Depression by
the Numbers
The
by the Numbers
Draw
Draw Conclusions
Conclusions
Clues
Conclusion
©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Notes
©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Notes
©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC