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5th grade · Social Studies · Unit 8 of 9

Modern Alabama

From the G.I. Bill to cars, rockets and rights

What your child practices

Life after World War II and Alabamians who shaped American culture, conflicts since 1990, Alabama's changing economy and world trade, the benefits and drawbacks of new technology, and civil rights milestones since 1970.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 5.11; 5.15; 5.16; 5.17; 5.18 · postwar America and Alabama, US conflicts since 1980, Alabama's role in global markets, technology, and civil rights achievements since 1970

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. After the war, the G.I. Bill helped veterans go to school.
  2. Lurleen Wallace became the first woman governor (1967). The Poarch Band of Creek Indians was recognized as a sovereign nation in 1984.
  3. Textile mills closed when cloth was cheaper elsewhere; car and rocket jobs grew.

Example: Why did many textile mills in Alabama close? Companies look for the lowest costs. Cloth could be made more cheaply in other countries. Answer: Cloth could be made more cheaply in other countries.

Modern Alabama in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 8 of 9 in 5th grade Social Studies, after The Cold War & the Rocket City and before Twentieth Century Timeline.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    After World War II, fewer Alabamians farmed because…

    • everyone became astronauts
    • machines like cotton pickers did the work of many people
    • farming was banned
    • farmland disappeared

  2. Question 2

    A benefit of the internet is that people can…

    • stop reading
    • live without electricity
    • find information and talk with others far away quickly
    • never make mistakes

  3. Question 3

    Jesse Owens, born in Oakville, Alabama, won four gold medals in…

    • track and field at the 1936 Olympics
    • baseball
    • boxing
    • swimming in 1980

  4. Question 4

    Many textile mills in Alabama closed because…

    • it was against the law
    • people stopped wearing clothes
    • cotton disappeared
    • cloth could be made more cheaply in other countries

  5. Question 5

    Nat King Cole, born in Montgomery, was a famous…

    • astronaut
    • singer and pianist
    • general
    • boxer

  6. Question 6

    Robots in Alabama car factories can…

    • drive on the Moon
    • do nothing
    • do repeated, heavy or precise jobs, but may replace some workers
    • only make coffee

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