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7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 6 of 10

Depression & New Deal

The crash, the Dust Bowl and the New Deal

What your child practices

The causes of the crash and the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, how families and farmers coped, and Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and its lasting programs.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 7.4.20.2; 7.2.8.1 · questions about the Great Depression from historical sources, and how scarce goods were shared

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The 1929 stock market crash began the Great Depression. Crop prices fell so low many farmers lost their farms.
  2. The Dust Bowl added drought and dust storms on the Plains.
  3. Roosevelt’s New Deal created jobs, like the Civilian Conservation Corps in parks and forests, and lasting programs like Social Security.

Example: Which New Deal program still exists today? Many New Deal job programs ended. Social Security still pays retirees today. Answer: Social Security

Depression & New Deal in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 6 of 10 in 7th grade Social Studies, after World War I and before World War II.

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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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

    Frances Perkins, the first woman in a president's cabinet, helped create…

    • the Marshall Plan
    • Social Security
    • the Erie Canal
    • the League of Nations

  2. Question 2

    The FDIC was created to…

    • build dams
    • insure people's bank deposits
    • run the army
    • print stamps

  3. Question 3

    During the Great Depression, crop prices fell so low that many Minnesota farmers…

    • moved to the moon
    • had too much money
    • became rich
    • lost their farms

  4. Question 4

    Causes of the Great Depression included…

    • a war with Mexico
    • the Erie Canal closing
    • risky investing, overproduction, uneven wealth and bank failures
    • too little production

  5. Question 5

    The Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930…

    • raised tariffs, other countries struck back and world trade shrank
    • built new banks
    • ended all taxes
    • opened free trade

  6. Question 6

    Roosevelt's "fireside chats" were…

    • radio talks explaining his plans to the public
    • secret meetings
    • newspaper columns
    • campfire parties

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