Curated OER
Wise Spenders and Savvy Savers
Second graders investigate the business community in their own town. They design interview questions before interviewing business people. They look at what type of good and services are offered in their area. They design a multimedia...
Curated OER
The 1950s:
Teens will get a kick out of this presentation, which provides a glimpse of the consumerism and rising pop culture of 1950's America. They will especially appreciate the discussion of "Teen culture" including the music of Elvis, the...
Curated OER
Kinds of Communities: Write On Grade 3
This PowerPoint includes text describing the key elements of a community, as well as the unique features of a suburb, a city, and a town. Illustrations and clip art are included depicting each type of community. Instructions for writing...
Curated OER
Suburbs Quiz
In this online interactive geography quiz worksheet, students examine the chart that includes details about 18 major world suburbs. Students identify the names of the suburbs in 3 minutes.
Curated OER
Cockney English
Ninth graders examine a form of English called Cockney. In this English lesson, 9th graders read an article and answer reading comprehension questions. Students participate in an online quiz.
Curated OER
Post-War Suburbanization: Causes and Interpretations
In this teaching American history worksheet, students examine a primary source document regarding post-World War II suburbanization. Students discuss their impressions of the document.
Curated OER
Development Issues in the Northern Suburbs
Students demonstrate the ability to obtain geographic information from a variety of print and electronic sources. They use a variety of maps and data to identify and locate geographical features of Minnesota and Anoka County. in...
Curated OER
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
Students identify thinking about the various groups and communities to which they belong and understand that families and friends should care for each other. Students discuss what the included quotation means; take part in a sing-along;...
Digital History
Digital History: Levittown
On the morning of March 7, 1949, builder William J. Levitt opened a sales office for a new development of inexpensive single-family homes in a potato field in the center of Long Island's Nassau County. In bitter-cold weather, more than a...
Digital History
Digital History: The Interstate Highway System
In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower authorized the largest public works project in the history of the world. The president had been impressed by Hitler's autobahns and believed that a national system of highways was necessary to move...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: A Streetcar City: Washington, d.c. 1900
American cities in the 19th century were walking cities-most residents worked and shopped close to where they lived. But as electric streetcar (trolley) systems were built in the 1880s, 1890s, and early 1900s, cities expanded. Many white...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: City and Suburb: Chicago and Park Forest, Illinois 1950s
Exhibition highlights the differences between city and suburbia living. Visit Park Forest, Illinois, a new suburb of Chicago, where every day is moving day. A station wagon and moving boxes sit in front of a new house and the new kids on...
National Geographic
National Geographic: Encyclopedic Entry: Urban
Learn the definition of an urban community and how it differs from a rural area.
SparkNotes
Spark Notes: Social Trends of the 1950s
Spark Notes gives a brief overview of the 1950s from consumerism and conformity to poverty to youthful rebellion. A good review of this important decade in American history.
Other
The Seattle Times: On a Roll, City Spreads Out
This page presents an article from 'The Seattle Times' about the suburbanization of Seattle during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Growth of Suburbia
The GI Bill made it possible for World War II veterans to finance the purchase of a house. This, combined with mass production of houses, led to the growth of suburban communities, including three Levittown suburbs.
Read Works
Read Works: Excerpt From "The Fifties": The Affluent Society
[Free Registration/Login Required] Abridged from the full text located at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, this passage provides information about economic wealth of Americans living during the 1950's. Paired texts are...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: The Growth of Suburbia
Learn about Levittown and housing benefits for veterans.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Suburban Growth
Find out how many veterans returning from World War II were able to realize the American Dream of home ownership, and see how this resulted in the growth of suburban areas across the nation.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The 1950s: Happy Days
A brief look at American life and politics in the 1950s with an increase in consumerism and fear of the Soviet Union.