THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC
-READING LESSON
Goals & Objectives
Students will understand how and why battles of the Pacific occurred in WW2.
Students will understand consequences of the battle of the Pacific on Japan, the United States, and island nations involved.
Students will be able to describe significant battles such as Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Okinawa.
Students will be able to identify major turning points of the battle of the Pacific.
Students will be able to make a claim either supporting or condemning the use of an atomic bomb.
Driving Historical Question
What made the Japanese and/or American military forces successful in each battle?
California State Content Standards
- 10.8 Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II.
- 10.8.1. Compare the German, Italian, and Japanese drives for empire in the 1930s, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking, other atrocities in China, and the Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939
- 10.8.3. Identify and locate the Allied and Axis powers on a map and discuss the major turning points of the war, the principal theaters of conflict, key strategic decisions, and the resulting war conferences and political resolutions, with emphasis on the importance of geographic factors
- CCSS, ELA 9-10, RH 2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
- CCSS, ELA 9-10, RH 3 Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
- CCSS, ELA 9-10, W1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence
Lesson Introduction: Map Activity
In groups the students will complete the map identifying the following places:
Japan
China
Manchuria
Pearl Harbor
Guadalcanal
Midway Island
Guam
New Guinea
Philippines
Iwo Jima
Okinawa
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
Once the groups have finished the teacher will ask group members to label the map with Whiteboard markers on board in the front of the classroom.
Vocabulary (Content Language Development)
- Pearl Harbor
- Coral Sea
- Midway
- Guadalcanal
- Iwo Jima
- Okinawa
- Hiroshima
- Nagasaki
- Rendezvous
- Admiral Yamamoto
- Schematic
- Haphazard
- Deciphered
- Maneuver
- Kamikazi
- Shuri Line
- Manhattan Project
- Atomic Bomb
Content Delivery (Method of Instruction): JIGSAW
Students will be placed in groups of 6 and assigned a section of the text to read. Students will then answer 3 main idea questions about their section and share out with their group members. All group member should be taking notes in order to understand the main idea of all of the battles.
Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities)
Students will create a flip book foldable in which they will record their answers to the questions.
Students will create a flip book foldable in which they will record their answers to the questions.
Lesson Closure: Postcard
Each student will receive an index card in which they have to write a postcard to their parents as if they are either a soldier fighting during the war in the Pacific, or a civilian watching destruction occur. The students must also design a stamp with an image using their knowledge of the time period.
Assessments (Formative & Summative)
Formative- Teacher will sit in on group discussion to check for understanding. If groups are off task teacher will ask guiding questions to lead the discussion.
Formative Assessment:
Teacher will listen in on conversations when groups are analyzing major battles.
Summative Assessment:
Students will turn in their foldables to be checked for completion and correctness.
Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
Foldable organizer
Scaffolding text
Group discussion
Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)
Textbook
War in The Pacific Article
US Holocaust Memorial Museum- War in the Pacific