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5th grade · Social Studies · Unit 5 of 9

World War II

Pearl Harbor, the Tuskegee Airmen and the home front

What your child practices

Why the United States entered World War II, democracy and totalitarianism, major events from Pearl Harbor to VJ Day (including the Holocaust and the internment of Japanese Americans), the Tuskegee Airmen and other units, and Alabama's bases, factories and workers.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 5.9; 5.10 · US entry into World War II and major events of the war, Americans' military contributions, and Alabama's contributions at home

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) brought the US into World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen were Black pilots who trained in Alabama.
  2. At home, about 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced into camps; the 442nd, mostly Japanese Americans, was highly decorated.
  3. Germany surrendered in May 1945; Japan surrendered after the atomic bombs.

Example: When did Germany surrender, on VE Day? VE means Victory in Europe. It came in the spring of the last year of the war. Answer: May 1945

World War II in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 5 of 9 in 5th grade Social Studies, after Boom, Bust & the New Deal and before The Civil Rights Movement.

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

    Many Tuskegee Airmen painted the tails of their planes red and were called the…

    • Red Sticks
    • Rough Riders
    • Blue Angels
    • Red Tails

  2. Question 2

    The war in the Pacific ended after the US dropped atomic bombs on…

    • Pearl Harbor and Guam
    • Rome and Paris
    • Hiroshima and Nagasaki
    • Tokyo and Berlin

  3. Question 3

    During the war, many women took jobs as…

    • welders, riveters and pilots
    • nothing new
    • only nurses
    • only teachers

  4. Question 4

    The United States, Britain and the Soviet Union were the main…

    • Allies
    • Confederacy
    • Central Powers
    • Axis powers

  5. Question 5

    Executive Order 8802 (1941) banned discrimination in…

    • defense industry jobs
    • schools
    • voting
    • sports

  6. Question 6

    Commander Howard Gilmore of Selma won the Medal of Honor for…

    • saving his submarine and crew though he was wounded
    • flying the first jet
    • landing on the Moon
    • leading the Rainbow Division

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