December 2015
In This Issue
World War II and Georgia
New Virtual Field Trip
Standards Spotlight
Teacher's Edition Update
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World War II Comes To Georgia
Investigate How the War Affected  Georgia
Above: Bell's B-29 Superfortress
Among Georgia's many contributions to World War II were men, material, and labor. Centered in Marietta, GA the Bell Aircraft Corporation built the B-29 Superfortress bombers in a $73 million facility funded by the War Department. In December of 1943 Bell delivered the first two Boeing-designed bombers ready to fight the Nazis. Kennesaw State University's Museum of History and Holocaust Education helps students go behind the scenes. 

Of the near 28,000 employees at the factory, over a third were women. Students might benefit from an extension activity covering women's roles and propaganda during the war.  The Geor gia  Historical Society offers a  series of primary documents  including photographs and documents to illuminate how the war impacted Georgia. They also offer a teacher's guide .

New Virtual Field Trip: Kolomoki
Take Students to Kolomoki Historic Site
Our newest virtual field trip is now available through the GPB app on iPad and on the web at gpb.org/virtualfieldtrip. You will need to request a login to get started. If you have a login for the Georgia Studies digital textbook, that login will work for the virtual field trip series.

The second of three Mississippian-period Indian sites, students can take a 360 degree tour from atop the mounds, watch videos and hear interviews with rangers at the site, and view historical artifacts of Indian life and culture. Soon to come are a Teacher's Reference Guide with an overview, standards, and class discussion questions, as well as an assessment that is standards-based and includes elected response questions (multiple choice) and constructed response. An assessment answer key is also included.

For more in-depth ideas for the classroom, the Society for Georgia Archeology offers lesson plans  In their series "Learning through Archeology," on Indian Mounds , the  contact of Native American indians with Europeans, and  skills and techniques of Georgia's earliest inhabitants.

Spotlight On The Standards
Georgia and WWII: SS8H9
The  events leading up to World War II  are covered in chapter 18 of the  Georgia Studies digital textbook . A great graphic map of German expansionism shows territorial claims during the war (p. 501). By the time Hitler held Fortress Europe, FDR authorized the Lend-Lease Act for Britain and the Soviet Union (504). After Japan's pre-emptive strike at Pearl Harbor, America quickly debated a declaration of war in December of 1941 (504-04). An imbedded video from the Oral History Project helps students understand the surprise Americans felt after the attack and how prisoners were treated in Japanese camps (504). The National Council for the Social Studies, UNC School of Education, Library of Congress, and  Contemporary Jewish Museum  all have great resources for using oral histories as student projects. GPB's own Georgia WWII Oral History Project offers countless videos, interviews and other documents as support. 

Georgia's Carl Vinson  chaired the House Naval Affairs Committee and together with Richard Russell  sponsored legislation building America's Air Corps, Pacific Fleet and funding Georgia's many military bases. Two short videos, a map of Georgia's bases, and a political cartoon can aid students in understanding their contributions (505-07). A teacher's guide to using political cartoons in the classroom is available from the Library of Congress.  In other areas of Georgia's homefront industry was helping America win the war. Marrietta was home to Bell Aircraft Corporation which built the B-29 bomber while Savannah and Brunswick's shipyards sent off over 200 Liberty ships! Milledgeville and Macon housed weapons plants as well (507). A photo of women welders at the Brunswick Shipyard connects Georgia to "Rosie the Riveter" (509).

As the war drug on, word of the atrocities being committed in German concentration camps leaked out. The impact of the Holocaust had a profound effect on Georgians. Major Robert Stephens Jr. of Athens sat on the Nuremburg war crimes Trial prosecuting Nazi leaders after the war. An imbedded video interview with a Holocaust survivor can drive home the reality of the tragedy for students (502). The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust offers educational resources for teachers.

Teacher's Edition Coming Soon!
Set to launch in early 2016
Above: Sneak Peak at a  typical Page of the text 
Our teacher's edition is close to completion with printables and tasks for students, links to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, notes and talking points, as well as lesson ideas. This special edition will be available for both iPad and web.

Teachers will have access to background content links to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, a glossary, aggregated lists of videos, maps and charts, and a pacing guide. The  format of the student edition will remain the same. On iPad, students will explore the textbook in landscape layout. 

The teacher's edition will continue to display the student version in landscape layout. However, when teachers turn the device to portrait layout, they will see all the resources that go along with a specific page of content. All of this is available just by flipping to a different view! 


We want to hear from you! 

Send us feedback or suggestions for the digital textbook or request an 
on-site demonstration by emailing one of our Education Outreach Specialists:

Michael Kuenlen, South Region
mkuenlen@gpb.org

Tracey Wiley, North Region
twiley@gpb.org