Many aspects of life in the United States are the same as it was in Harry Truman's time. Life is still centered around families, school, and work.
However, much has changed. Nightly family dinners are now much more likely to be in the car on the way to practice or activities. Homes look very different than they did the 1940s. Leisure time is spent very differently than it used to be. Technology is now integrated into many parts of our lives.
In this classroom activity students will learn about President Truman's home (which originally belonged to his mother-in-law). Students will study pictures of the interior and exterior of Present Truman' s house in 1945 and compare and contrast them with homes today.
Students will then research different aspects of daily life in the 1940s, comparing and contrasting them with our lives today. This can be a short activity with students sharing simple facts, such as the cost of a postage stamp in the 1940s, or it can be expanded to a 2-4 paragraph report including visuals to show how life has changed (cars, styles, technologies, importance in daily life). Students will determine what they choose to research.
Possible topics include:
- Headlines Fashion Toys
- Transportation/Car s Techno logy
- Homes
- Cost of Living Sports
- Fads Entertainment/Movies Music
- Work Home Inventions Cooking
Family life has changed a great deal since the 1940s. Many students are unaware of just exactly what life was like in "the good old days." Students will learn valuable information about inventions and innovations that have made life easier, including technologies we depend on today.
In this lesson, students will compare and contrast different aspects of everyday life.
Goal 1- Acquire the knowledge and skills to gather, analyze and apply information and ideas. Objective #4 - Use technological tools and other resource to locate, select and organize information.
Objective # 9 - Identify, analyze and compare the institutions, traditions and art forms past and present societies.
Goal 2 - Acquire the knowledge and skills to communicate effectively within and beyond the classroom.
Objective #1 - Plan and make written, oral and visual presentations for a variety of purposes and audiences.
Communication Arts -
Objective #1 - Speaking and writing standard English (including grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling and
capitalization)
Objective #3 - Reading and evaluating nonfiction works and material (such as biographies, newspapers and technical manuals)
Social Studies -
Objective #6 - Relationships of the individual and groups to institutions and cultural traditions Kansas Standards
Benchmark 2: The student writes expository text using the writing process.
2. Clearly defines the main idea by selecting relevant, logical details that meet the reader's informational needs.
3. Selects and uses (1) personal experience (2) personal observations (3) prior knowledge (4) research to meet the reader's needs and to create appropriate point of view.
4. Expresses information in own words using appropriate organization, grammar, word choice, and tone sufficient to the audience .
Pictures of Truman Home, interior and exterior
https://www.nps.gov/hstr/learn/photosmultimedia/virtualtour.htm