WWII+Fifth+Lesson+Plan

-1.) Students will be reminded that the U.S. president serves as the commander and chief of the military. I will ask what kind of impact on citizens and soldiers the death of a president might have, especially during a time of war. Students will raise their hands to answer the questions with their own opinions.

-2.) I will remind the students that it is not just soldiers who are involved in wars. Who else is involved in wars? If the students do not guess, then the hint given to them will be “Who comes up with weapons, vehicles, submarines, and bombs?” The answer is scientists and inventors. I will restate what I said in the anticipatory set. Scientists, inventors, and military personnel told President Truman a secret that only a few people knew of. The development of the first atomic bomb.

-3.) The war in Europe was coming to an end and the war in the Pacific was desired to come to end just as quickly. In spite of many U.S. victories, the Japanese did not wish to surrender. What choices are available for bringing a war to an end? Students will state their opinions.

-4.) Students will be told President Truman decided to use the atomic bombs to bomb Japan in order for Japan to surrender in August of 1945. On August 6, 1945, the plane known as the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb, codenamed “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the second bomb codenamed “Fat Man” was dropped by the plane Bockscar on Nagasaki. Japan agreed to surrender on August 14th. The victory over Japan is known as V-J Day and it is on September 2, because Japanese representatives came on the USS Missouri to sign surrender documents to officially claim surrender. I will write the information on the board and the students will copy down in their notes.

-5.) Students will be shown images of the atomic bombs’ explosion. They will be told described I will read to them the paper titled “What Ended the War”. In it, one of the first photographers describes what Hiroshima looked like after the bomb was dropped. The article also describes some of the side effects of the bomb.

-6.) After the students are told about the effects of the atomic bombs, I will tell students what President Truman what he wrote to himself later in life, “I knew what I was doing when I stopped the war…I have no regrets and, under the same circumstances, I would do it again.” I will tell the students there will be a debate between two teams. One group will support what President Truman did and the other will oppose his decision. There are four groups in the classroom and two groups will combine to make one. Students will be given ten minutes to come up with ideas before individual students come up to front of the classroom to debate. While they are in their groups, I will ask them if they think if Roosevelt was still alive, do you think he would have used the atomic bombs.

-7.) After the debate the students will be given three separate articles (three pages) and one paper with questions on it. The articles are titled “Children’s Peace Statue”, “Cranes for Peace”, and “The LCU Field House”. The paper with the questions on it goes with the “Children’s Peace Statue”. Students will take turns either reading a paragraph or a page of “Children’s Peace Statue”. Students will be given ten minutes to answer the questions for this article. We will go over the answers and students will explain their answers to the last four questions.

-8.) Students will be given ten minutes to read the article “The LCU Field House”. The students will not write their answers down, but verbally tell the class their opinions.