Classroom Activites
Fifth Grade Curriculum – Post Visit Activities
1. Sequencing and Summarizing Using Time Line Cards
Students will research significant facts and dates in American History, 1939-1950. Consider events or achievements in science, technology, government, religion, education and the arts. Assign pairs or groups of 3 or 4 one topic or year. Give each pair or group the following supplies: some blank note cards, markers, and poster tack. Students will report one fact and perhaps a drawing on separate cards. Affix a line made from painter’s tape to a wall in the classroom and tack the cards to it according to chronological order. Students should verbally summarize their findings to the class. Continue to add to your classroom time line all year long.
2. Creating Poems, Songs, and Posters that Describe Wartime Feelings
Read some war-era songs and poems aloud. Look up advertising from the mid 40s. Invite the students to create songs, poems or posters that express their feelings about wars or the current conflicts.
3. Planning Veterans’ Day, Memorial Day, or Aviation Day Events
The National WASP WWII Museum hosts public events on Veterans’ Day – November, Memorial Day – May, and now in March for Women in Aviation Day. This last event commemorates the first day the women arrived at Avenger Field. It falls during Women’s History Month.
Brainstorm as a class ways you could celebrate one of these events. Plan the music, food, games or other activities like speeches and theatrical performance that would take place. Consider the types of advertising that would be needed and add up the possible cost of your event.
4. Learn to Communicate Your School Mascot’s Name in Morse Code
Find a copy of Morse code and learn to spell your school’s mascot with it. Write it on the board and practice sending it by tapping the dots and dashes on your desk.
Eighth Grade Curriculum – Post Visit Activities
1. What it Took to Get an Eight Grade Education in 1895
Students will divide into pairs or groups of 3 or 4. Each pair or group will receive a copy of “What it Took to Get an Eighth Grade Education in 1895.” Each group will research the answers to three assigned questions and report the answers to the entire class. Bonus: What basic knowledge did the women pilots need to become WASP?
2. Patriotism: What Does That Mean?
Brainstorm as a class what patriotism means. Look up the word. Then define in your own words and with personal experiences to demonstrate it. If your students are not very diverse, ask a student from another culture, perhaps a recent immigrant, to share his or her view of patriotism. How did WASP demonstrate patriotism?
3. The Golden Rule in My School
The Women Airforce Service Pilots lived six in a room and twelve shared a bathroom. They had to work to get along well. There is no doubt that good manners and acceptance of personal responsibility went a long way to helping them be successful pilots. Most of them would have known “the Golden Rule.” The Golden Rule can be found in at least 21 world religions. It is the basic underlying principle for proper business ethics. What is it?
Here are some questions to help students discuss and practice the Golden Rule.
- How can I demonstrate this rule in the classroom to my teacher and other students?
- How can I be friendlier, more courteous, and more helpful to others?
- What kinds of prejudice are keeping me from learning from someone who is different from me?
- If I am a critical person, how might I learn to be less so?
- How do I feel when I DO practice this special rule?
High School Curriculum – Post Visit Activities
1. My WASP Exhibit
Students will create a new exhibit design for the WASP museum. Students should research the WASP using the museum, www.waspmuseum.org, and TWU, http://www.twu.edu/wasp/, websites plus other sites and books. Many books are available at the Sweetwater County-City Library, http://www.sweetwaterlibrary.org/.
Sketches and a short oral presentation will round out this activity. (Please let us know if students have designs they would like to share.)
2. America at War: 1941-45
The Women Airforce Service Pilots provided a vital service during the years 1943 to 1944. Describe their role. Then think about the broader scope of WWII. Who were the participants? What caused the US to enter it, and what settled this war?
3. One View: A Student’s Look at WWII from the Point of View of a WASP, the Parent of a WASP or another Soldier
Brainstorm as a class these points of view and others you might imagine. Let students take on the role of a WASP, a sibling or other relative, a schoolteacher, best friend, pastor and another soldier. What might each of these people say to the WASP or write in a letter? What might the WASP say in a letter home or just after returning about the war in general and a specific experience?
4. America at War Today
Discuss the war today by asking students where soldiers serve and what they believe to be the mission of these soldiers. How is it different from WWII? Think about types of transportation and types of communication. Use a Venn diagram if that is helpful
5. American Aviation Today: Visit an Airport or Invite Airport Personnel to Your School
Invite a fixed base operator, a local pilot, a mechanic or a frequent flier to visit your school. Or visit an airport as a class. Learn about flight plans, aviation fuel costs, instruments and ratings. Prepare for you visit by reading aviation books, magazines and articles online.
6. Science Projects: Collaborate with the School Science Department to
- Demonstrate an air engine. (Assemble the following: a string attached to a fixed object like a chair running through a straw attached to a balloon filled with air and released.)
- Show wind direction. (Create a windsock.)
- Prove that an aircraft does not have to use an engine for thrust. (Build a glider.)
