Teacher Lesson Plan

TOPIC
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

LEVEL
Middle School and High School

OBJECTIVES

While viewing the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Web site, students will:

• learn about the events leading up to December 7, 1941.
• learn about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
• learn about the effects of the Pearl Harbor attack and the U.S. involvement in World War II on the Pacific front.
• complete an interactive time line about December 7, 1941, and the events surrounding that day.
• unscramble words related to Pearl Harbor and explain the significance of these words.

TEACHING STRATEGIES

1. Have students read the background information on Pearl Harbor, browse through the National Geographic: Remembering Pearl Harbor Web site, and read about the events that followed December 7, 1941. Ask students to take notes as they do this.
   
2. Have students complete the three-part interactive time line online. If you choose, you can print out the time line and have your students complete it manually.
   
3. Ask students to print out the Word Scramble activity and complete it. If some of the words are too difficult, you may offer students hints about the words. The hints are listed with the answers to the word scramble.

ANSWERS TO WORD SCRAMBLE

Part 1:

1. Roosevelt—hint: U.S. president at the beginning of World War II
2. Oahu—hint: island where Pearl Harbor is located
3. U.S.S. Arizona—hint: American ship destroyed at Pearl Harbor
4. Hiroshima—hint: place where first atomic bomb was dropped
5. Hornet—hint: one of the U.S. carriers that was part of the Doolittle Raid and the Battle of Midway
6. midget submarines—hint: Japanese vessels
7. emperor—hint: ruler of Japan
8. Wheeler Field—hint: airfield that Japanese attacked on Oahu
9. Doolittle Raid—hint: first bombing of Japan
10. Manhattan Project—hint: code name for atomic bomb program

Part 2:

1. Roosevelt was the president of the United States at the beginning of World War II.
2. Pearl Harbor is located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
3. U.S.S. Arizona was one of the ships that the Japanese sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor. A Memorial was built above the sunken ship for those soldiers who died in the attack.
4. Hiroshima is a city in Japan on which the first atomic bomb was dropped.
5. Hornet was the U.S. carrier that was used in the Doolittle Raid and one of the carriers used in the Battle of Midway.
6. The Japanese used midget submarines to attack U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor and other World War II battles.
7. The Japanese ruler during World War II was called an emperor.
8. Wheeler Field was one of the airfields on Oahu that the Japanese bombed in the Pearl Harbor attack.
9. Doolittle Raid was the name of the mission in which U.S. planes were able to bomb Japan for the first time in the war.
10. Manhattan Project was the code name of the atomic bomb program.