Mr. M's Social Studies Blog

Watch the following video on the June 6th, 1944 D-Day Invasion & the eventual defeat of Hitler:  D-Day & Defeating Hitler

*Review the unit notes (Mr. M’s WWII Notes) slides 72-99:  Mr. M’s WWII Notes

Use the following excellent power points, the Internet, your book, and notes to complete the handout as completely as possible (do your best, do NOT freak out if you cannot find something) about the D-Day invasion below.

D-Day Power point #1 (good one, but you may have trouble with opening this one).

D-Day Power point #2 (best one, this will work)

Assignment Below:  Put your answers directly into summit or create your own google doc for your answers.  

D-Day Terms & Names (handout to be filled in)

The short video below is an excellent overview of the D-Day invasion…

*Here are some excellent additional videos on the D-Day Invasion:

World War II in Color: D-Day Invasion

D-Day Omaha Beach – First Hand Accounts

This powerpoint provides a brief description of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Pearl Harbor powerpoint

Follow the link below to view a detailed timeline of the sequence of events for the attack on Pearl Harbor:

Pearl Harbor Sequence of events

“A date which will live in infamy” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

*Use the resources provided to answer the following questions covering the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Also review Mr. M’s WWII unit notes slides 35-49.  I have also posted some really good additional information in the “additional resources” section for this unit in Summit.

Start this assignment by watching the following videos from “GibbTV”:

GibbTV – Pearl Harbor Part 1

GibbTV – Pearl Harbor Part 2

Website showing photos before, during, and after the attack: Photos of the Attack on Pearl Harbor

1. Select one photo that stands out to you. What is the photo of? Why did you select this photo?

FDR’s “A date which will live in infamy speech”: FDR Speech

Use the following links to answer the question below:

Timeline of events leading up to Pearl Harbor

Why did Japan attack?

2. In your own words, what were the main factors for why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, 1941?

Sequence of Events – Attack on Pearl Harbor

3.  What “warning signs” were there that a Japanese attack was coming?

4.  What were the American casualties at the conclusion of the attack?

Rare footage of the destruction of the USS Arizona

The Attack on Pearl Harbor in color (some Japanese viewpoints here)

5. Explain in your own words, how the attack was viewed from an American standpoint. 

6.  How do you think you would have responded to the attack & declaration of war after had you lived in the US in 1941?  

7.  In your opinion, do you think the Japanese were “justified” in their attack on Pearl Harbor (remember that although some civilians were killed, this was a military target)?  Think about whether or not it was the right move for them to make in December of 1941 and how the Japanese might have viewed the attack. 

Tour of the Pearl Harbor National Memorial

The Battle of Britain begins with the EVACUATION AT DUNKIRK in 1940.
300,000 British and French soldiers have been surrounded by the German Biltzkrieg
at a small French town on the English Channel named DUNKIRK.
These men had to be saved and hundreds of British ships crossed the
English Channel to save them.

Images of Dunkirk

Churchill’s reaction to the German victory over France and the rest of Europe.
His famous speech that Britain will always fight on.

Winston Churchill – We Shall Fight them on the Beaches Speech

This is an overview of the Battle of Britain that is very good – 10 minutes.

The Battle of Britain and Blitz over London

Hitler orders the bombing of London to break the spirit of the British people.
For 68 consecutive nights London is firebombed but the people endure.

Bombing of London

A grateful Churchill honors the RAF pilots with one of his most famous speeches.
This speech made the RAF pilots famous and coined their nickname THE FEW

Churchill’s SO FEW Speech

Many feel that Great Britain’s victory over Germany in The Battle of Britain completely changed the course of World War II.

Take a few minutes and watch the following short videos describing the early years of World War II then complete the following assignment.  These will really help!

The following powerpoint briefly describes Hitler’s WWII conquest of Western Europe:

Hitlers Campaign in Western Europe (Notes) – hint: pay attention to highlighted key terms.

Hitler’s Campaign in Western Europe (google presentation)

*Slides 1-34 in Mr. M’s WWII Unit Notes will help with this as well.  You can access those here Mr. M’s WWII Notes 

Assignment:  Hitler’s Campaign in Western Europe 

1.  After watching the videos and reviewing the powerpoint above you now have some knowledge of the early years of WWII in Europe.  Your task is to show me what you have learned by highlighting and discussing the major aspects of the early years of WWII in Europe.  You will do this by creating some form of digital presentation on the important information.

You have creative freedom on which digital format you will use (google presentation, a digital timeline or outline/poster would be great for this).  Here are some resources you could use:

• https://www.visme.co/timeline-maker/
• https://spark.adobe.com/make/timeline-maker/
• https://time.graphics/
• https://venngage.com/features/timeline-infographics
• https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/examples/timeline-maker

You should cover a minimum of 8 separate major topics in your presentation.  Topics you should consider covering are as follows:

Germany’s aggressive actions (territorial gains), political policies, treaties, allied responses, conflicts/battles, military tactics/strategy, etc.  (hint: notice highlighted terms in the powerpoint above & major topics of the videos).

*Highlight each of the main topics, then give some BRIEF related information on each topic.  Be sure to make this visually attractive by adding related visuals…images, photos, pictures, maps, etc.  MAPS showing locations of important events would be very beneficial.  There should 1 visual for each topic minimum.

This will be kept in digital format and the link to your assignment will be turned in on Summit.  It should be titled Hitler’s Campaign in Western Europe.