Lesson Plans

Educational Resources

Arthurdale was the nation's first New Deal Homestead Community, and its legacy remains an example of how important investment in people and communities is.  We know, however, that Arthurdale and other New Deal Communities are rarely covered in standard curricula, so we have provided some information and possible lesson plans below.

We were also very fortunate to be selected recently for two grants from the Smithsonian: Crossroads: Change in Rural America and Coming Home: Stories from Main Street.  Because Coming Home focuses on children's voices and asking them to think about the history and future of their communities, we compiled our lesson plans into a PDF for homeschool families or teachers to download and use.

If you live locally and would like to get involved or participate in our children's education programs, please see our information page on what we offer, and feel free to contact us about any ideas you have or things you would like to see!

elmer-johnson

Arthurdale: A New Deal Community Experiment (Teaching with Historic Places)

A lesson plan created by the National Park Service as part of their series on Teaching with Historic Places.  The lesson focuses on the role of government in community planning and how New Deal programs impacted the lives of people in the Great Depression who were lifted out of poverty.

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Coming Home Lesson Plans

An extensive PDF including our lesson plans for the Smithsonian Coming Home grant, assignment instructions and examples, and a suggested reading list.  This is mainly designed for upper elementary and middle school but could be adapted for younger or older students as well.