The time of the year is finally here!

My class still has a little bit to go until we reach our World War II unit, but another teacher will be starting his WWII unit shortly (he has to first finish his unit on totalitarianism). The other day at track practice (we coach together), he asked me to team teach with him either this coming Monday or Tuesday and share some pieces of my collection with his students.

Last year, I brought in mostly helmets and a few medals. I spoke about the tough times and sacrifice that "The Greatest Generation" faced. I also spoke about total war in general and how very few consumer goods and pleasure items were being produced while the population was mobalized to either fight or contribute to the war effort…

SO! I am looking for more suggestions for the hands-on lesson I will conducting in the next few days.

I really want to touch on the fact that most of these kids would probably be in the service if we were back in the 1940s.

Also, I have a few war ration books I will bring in… I really want to touch on how difficult every day life could be back then… The kids I work with on a daily basis are VERY materialistic… I think it will blow their minds that if we had the same rationing system in place today. They couldn’t go to the mall on a daily basis to buy their Hollister, Banana Republic, Ipods, XBoxes, snapback hats, etc…