Dust Bowl & Great Depression Dice Simulation with Writing Connection

An interactive simulation that allows students to experience the trials and tribulations of a person suffering during the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression for an experience they won't soon forget. Students connect their experiences to their learning through a narrative.

This is a simulation meant to represent the struggle people faced during the Great Depression and especially the Dust Bowl in farming regions of the United States.

The goal of this simulation is to demonstrate the difficulty people faced to find work, food, and a place to live. This topic can be very difficult for some students whose families are currently facing difficulties.

I have tried to be as factual as possible while still respecting we all have students from different backgrounds. Please keep this in mind while planning on completing this simulation.

With this being said, this simulation should be treated with integrity and it should be emphasized that these are people’s lives and experiences and should not be minimized. The context of using this simulation should be to help students empathize and connect to the time period, not to “have fun.”

Included in this product:

- Directions for the simulation

-Signs to mark locations of events in classroom

-Event directions

-Short informational passages for each location

-Recording sheet

-Sample recording sheet

-Directions for narrative

-Sample narrative based on sample recording sheet

-Rubric for narrative

-List of recommended read alouds about the Dust Bowl and Great Depression

This simulation is a set of posters that you hang around the room and place a die by. Students are assigned a poster to start with and begin by rolling the die there. According to the number they roll they follow the directions on the poster, record their result, and travel to the next poster. This is done for as long as the teacher would like, or until students complete their recording sheet. Afterwards students write a narrative piece about their journey.

For more resources on the Early 20th Century, please check out the links below!

Great Depression TicTacToe Choice Board

Great Depression and Dustbowl Simulation

Early 20th Century I Have Who Has?

WWI and the Roaring 20s TicTacToe Choice Board

WWI Task Cards with Optional self-checking QR codes

WWII Task Cards with Optional self-checking QR codes

Early 20th Century Notebooking Kit

Early 20th Century Events Jigsaw

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Historical dice simulations from Teaching in the Fast Lane:

European Explorers

Cattle Drive

Oil Boom

Great Depression and the Dust Bowl

Science Dice Simulations:

Phases of Matter

Water Cycle

Forms of Energy

Oxygen Cycle

Seed Dispersal

Energy in an Ecosystem

Sediment: Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition

Nitrogen Cycle

Garbage

Pollution

Rock Cycle

Carbon Cycle

Oil Spill

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Just for FUN Dice Simulations:

Halloween Ghost Haunt

Turkey in Hiding

Reindeer Games

Circulation of a Dollar Bill

**Updated March 2019