Angels in the Dust

Unit Study Prepared by Mary S.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Geography: Oklahoma
Locate Oklahoma on the map. Make a story disk to place on Oklahoma. You may also wish to make a small book with a map and state symbols (see links below for additional information/print-outs).

Oklahoma Facts
46th State joining the United States of America on November 16, 1907
Oklahoma is the 20th largest state in the U.S.
Industry: Wheat Farming, Cattle Farming, Oil, Natural Gas
Capital: Oklahoma City

Oklahoma Map/Quiz Print-out
Oklahoma Outline Map
Oklahoma Flag
Crayola Oklahoma Page

History: Dust Bowl/Great Depression
Study the Dust Bowl, it's various causes and how it changed the way we farm today.

Three years of record drought, 1934-1936, and record high temperatures set the stage for the “Dust Bowl”, a term coined to describe the years of constant dust storms that rolled through much of Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas . During 1934 hundred died from the record heat in these 4 states.

Farmers had cleared the land of trees so the continuous winds blew the dried up land into huge rolling billows of dirt. In 1933 alone there were 139 “dirty days”.

Farmers learned from these mistakes. Lines of tree were planted to help break the wind, ground cover is planted to slow erosion, etc.

Great Pictures of Dust Storms, Lots of Information-- http://www.ptsi.net/user/museum/dustbowl.html

Additional Books
Children of the Dust Bowl - Jerry Stanley
The Dust Bowl - Tricia Andryszewski

Human Relationships: Dealing with Death
Annie's mother dies due to dust pneumonia. Annie helps her little sister deal with their mother's death by comparing explaining that their mother is now like an angel. Even though their mother isn't with them all in person she is with them in their heart and making the dust angels makes them feel she is close. Everyone deals with death of a loved one differently.

Family Tree
"Great Grandma"
Does your student know who his great grandparents are? Take the time to make a simple family tree that includes your student's mom/dad, grandparents, and great-grandparents on both the maternal and paternal sides. If you are able, locate photos of each person to put next to his or her name.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Similes
A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as. Margot Theis Raven uses many descriptive similes. She begins the second page with the simile “...I lived on a wheat farm, as flat as a breadboard.” Find other examples of similes throughout the story.

Here are some more examples
That's where the land reaches out straight as a handshake, like the end of a pot.

Papa said I had Mama's eyes--as big and blue as a bowl of prairie sky

mean new winds came blowing, too, scorching hot and stiff as a dragon's breath
they baked our land bone-dry until it looked as cracked and old as Mama's white milk pitcher

still it came to call like an unwanted visitor

He was as black as Mama's frying pan

suddenly an idea began sprouting up in me like the seeds in my garden

soon my garden turned as green as a spring meadow

Have your student fill in the blanks to create her own similes. Prepared Worksheet

I lived on a ____________ , as ___________ as a ___________

Papa said I had Mama's ____________--as _________ and _______as a ___________

He was as ___________as _____________

soon my _____________turned as ______________ as a ______________

Genre: Historical Fiction
Discuss the difference between fiction, made-up stories, and non-fiction. This story is based on actual events and set in an actual place, but the story has been fictionalized.

Literary Device - Repetition:
Repetition is the use repeating a sound, word, or phrase. The first page of the story and last page of the story begin the same way. The repetition ties the story together, bringing the reader back to the present.

Storytelling:
The book begins, "Great Grandma Annie tells the story"
This is a good opportunity to ask your student if she remembers any stories that her grandparents have told her. Take the time to record them on paper. If she doesn't really remember anything, ask a grandparent to write a letter that contains a story of his or her childhood. This will be a keepsake for your student in the years to come. You could also schedule an "interview" with a grandparent.

Vocabulary –

breadboard - a slab of wood on which dough is kneaded and bread is sliced
lean-to - a room abutting the wall of house with three walls and a sloping roof.

prairie- a tract of grassland

fierce- expressed with extreme force or anger

withered- to lose liveliness, force, or freshness

scorching- to burn so as to dry, wilt, or turn brown

scraps- things discarded as worthless

    pneumonia- a disease of the lungs marked by inflammation, congestion, fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing and caused especially by
    infection
    meadow- an area of moist low usually level grassland

drought- a long period of dry weather

powdery- resembling or consisting of powder

waltz- a ballroom dance in 3/4 time with strong accent on the first beat

dusk- the darker part of twilight especially at night

Prepared Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle

SCIENCE:

Fire Safety
The house fire incident provides an opportunity to discuss fire safety with your student.

Oxygen, fuel and heat must all be present for a fire to continue. Take any one of these elements away and the fire dies. Air is the source for oxygen. Fuel is anything that burns: wood (houses, furniture, trees, etc.), fabric, etc. Heat sources include a stove, match, electrical wire, heater, etc.

Within two minutes whatever that catches fire is totally engulfed in flames. In three minutes the entire room is engulfed in flames and the heat produced kills all living things. By four minutes the entire room is nothing but flames.

Go over fire safety rules, and practice escaping their house in a fire. Blindfolded your students, put them in bed and practice getting out of the house. A house is completely dark when engulfed in flames and it takes practice to get out without panicking.

Helpful Links and Resources
www.USFA.FEMA.GOV – SESAME STREET Fire Safety Station. Games, songs and activities to teach fire safety (preschool safety lesson plans, but much of it is usable for elementary ages too)
http://www.smokeybear.com/
http://firesafety.buffnet.net/
The Nature and Science of Fire - Jane Burton and Kim Taylor

Field-trip Idea – visit the local fire station and discuss fire safety with the firefighters.

Wind and Erosion
Wind is the horizontal movement of air caused by uneven heating of the earth's surface. Wind cannot be seen but can be felt. The effects of wind can sometimes be seen. Older students may want to further research air currents, trade winds, the jet stream, etc.

Erosion is the movement of soil, mud, rocks, etc. by wind, water or ice, or by downward or down-slope movement due to gravity. Some erosion is natural and healthy for the environment, but when people cause an un-natural amount of erosion damage to the land occurs. Look at the pictures throughout the book. Notice there is only one tree in the whole book. Look at the page where Annie is watering her garden. What is around the garden? A blanket fence. Notice the difference in the fields where there is no trees or other wind-break around the fields and the garden. Why are the fields blowing away and not the garden?

Set up a pan or bucket of sand. Blow across the sand. What happens? Wet down the sand and blow again. Is there any difference? Go out side and blow across the ground where there is grass. What is the difference now?

If you own Backyard Scientist Series 4 by Jane Hoffman, try this experiment-- “Measuring Wind Speed and Direction” pp. 4-5
In this experiment you make a mini-weather station and observe wind speed and direction.

Irrigation
Irrigation is the replacing or supplementing rainfall with water from another source to grow crops or plants have. The two methods of irrigation are flood irrigation, and overhead or sprinkler irrigation.

Flood irrigation consists of digging ditches, furrows, or basins. Plants are then grown in raised beds, rows, or flat basins. The field is filling the ditches, furrows or basins with

In overhead or sprinkler irrigation, water is piped to one or more locations in the field and distributed by overhead sprinklers the spray the water up into air. The pipes can be above ground pipe systems or underground system that have heads that pop up when activated to spray the water. There are many kinds of systems that each have various situations for which they are better suited.

If you live in a rural or agricultural area, have fun finding irrigation equipment in the farm fields in the area as we drove to town.

FINE ART:

Medium: Oil Pastels
Let your student experiment with oil pastels-- a chalk-like crayon. Encourage her to make sky and fire pictures and to experiment with the colors and blending. She could try to mimic the colors that the illustrator, Roger Essley, used in his pictures.

Choices Artist Make: Color
Choose some illustrations for this exercise.
Ask your student-- what colors did the artist choose? Why do you think he chose those colors? The neutral colors (browns, tans, etc.) tend to make one think of earth causing dust to fly from the full page illustrations.

APPLIED MATH:

Adding/Counting Money – Make a “little book” like the neighbors gave Annie's family with different amounts of money given listed. Have the student practice adding the money to see how much he received.

BIBLE:

"The Golden Rule" - Mt. 7:12
Annie, the Ralstons, and the other neighbors all practice this rule. Annie shares her garden produce with other families who couldn't afford to buy it because of the drought. The Ralstons took Annie's family into their home after the fire and would give them a ride to church in their car, Annie's neighbors all pitched in from their savings even though they were poor themselves so that Annie's father could buy a new house for himself and the girls. Has your student ever had the opportunity to practice "The Golden Rule"-- when? What are some situations he may be facing that he needs to remember to practice this rule? Memorize "The Golden Rule" this week. Another verse that goes along with this lesson is Proverbs 18:24.

JUST FOR FUN:

Bake a loaf of bread from scratch.

Can some home-grown veggies, or EAT some.

Extra activity (could be used for any lesson) put a thin layer of sand in the bottom of a cake pan or on a cookie sheet and let the student practice writing their phonograms, spelling words, math facts, etc. in the sand.

More HSS units about the Dust Bowl:
Leah's Pony
Treasures in the Dust (chapter book)