Lesson: Pearl Harbor

Teacher: Lisa Harper

Class: United States History: 1877 to Present-6th grade

Lesson: Pearl Harbor and American Involvement in World War II

SOL Objectives: The lesson will meet the requirements of SOL US II.6 a: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the major causes and effects of American involvement in World War II by identifying the causes and events that led to American involvement in the war, including the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Lesson Objectives: 1. To identify the causes of World War II 2. To identify the main reason America became involved in World War II. 3. To identify the effects that race relations had in America and the treatment that was experienced by Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Instructional Materials: Pen/pencil, notebook with paper, computer access to the internet, textbook, handout on Causes of World War II, television with VHS video player, and the movie “Pearl Harbor”.

Introductory Activity-10 minutes The students will have a free write in their notebook about what they know about Pearl Harbor and how they would have felt if they were at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed.

Introductory Activity/Procedures 1. The students will sit in their seats with all of their materials necessary for class. 2. When the bell rings and all students are seated the teacher will introduce the first activity: free write (pre-reading activity). 3. The students will be asked to get out a piece of paper and pen or pencil. 4. The students will free write about what they know about Pearl Harbor and how they would have felt if they were there when it was bombed. 5. After 10 minutes students will be asked to share their responses which will take about another 10 minutes.

Instructional Activities/Procedures 1. The students will be given a handout with causes of World War II to review (10 minutes). 2. The teacher will be given vocabulary terms to copy from the board that are relevant to the reading and subject area to be read and discussed (10 minutes).

Kamikaze-Japanese aircraft loaded with explosives that crashed its pilot onto its target on purpose.

Relocation camps-Army-style settlements where the Japanese Americans were forced to live. These were also called internment camps.

Civilian-A person who is not in the military. An ordinary citizen of a country. 2. The students will open their textbooks to read about Pearl Harbor from pages 341- 346. The reading will be done between the teacher and the students (15 minutes).

3. The teacher will show a 20 minute clip from the movie “Pearl Harbor”. The clip will start from when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The students will see how the Japanese surprised the United States and the destruction that was done. The students will be able to see how the military reacted as well as civilians.

4. The students and the teacher will take turns reading about the Japanese Americans and the Relocation (Internment) Camps on pages 352-353. This will show how the Japanese Americans were treated and the discrimination they faced (10 minutes)

Closing Activity-10 minutes

1. The students will have to complete an Acrostic Poem about Pearl Harbor. In an Acrostic poem each letter of the words “PEARL HARBOR” will have a word, words or a sentence that reflects something related to Pearl Harbor. This will demonstrate the students understanding of the subject matter that has been discussed. If the students do not finish the assignment in class they will be able to complete it at home and will be assigned a homework grade in the grade book for its completion.

For Homework: In Addition to completing their Acrostic poem the students will have to write a paragraph about what they learned about Pearl Harbor that they did not already know and if they think the United States should have entered World War II. The students will be graded using a rubric. Rubric for Pearl Harbor Assignment

Point Value Given for meeting criteria Criteria to be 4 3 2 1 assessed Offers great Offers some Offers little Offers no Content variety of variety of variety of variety of information information information information and follows and follows and follows and does not the assignment assignment follow assignment criteria criteria assignment criteria criteria

Grammar and Grammatical Grammatical Grammatical Grammatical Mechanics structure and structure and structure and structure and (Spelling, Mechanics Mechanics Mechanics Mechanics punctuation, 80% - 100% 60% - 80% 40% - 60% Less than correct correct correct correct 40% correct tenses/parts of speech used, correct letter format used) Presents Presents Presents No Creativity paragraph in paragraph in paragraph in attention- interesting interesting interesting getting way that way that has way that has strategy or includes a medium a low level personal personal level of of personal expression expression personal expression used freely and expression and attention- and attention- getting attention- getting strategy getting strategy strategy