World War 2–Don’t Miss this Social Studies Opportunity

Have you noticed the strong correlations between World War 2 and the Covid-19 pandemic. The connections are so ironic that you can’t help but draw connections to them through teaching. Your former students, children, and upcoming students are LIVING history. No book can teach what we have and are living through. In case you haven’t drawn the correlations yourself. Here are some

1. Government turmoil in the U.S. and confusion around the world. This is similar to the time of Hitler’s reign in much of Europe.
2. A shortage of items in the grocery store, especially toilet paper, initially beans, rice, pasta, and then meat choices. Thank God that we do have food in the grocery stores! Our lives could be much worse.
3. During World War 2 people became connected through the radio. Today we are becoming ever more connected with social media. Even people who are elderly are learning to use social media and other technology.
4. Quarantine because of COVID-19 is a lot like Jews hiding in homes. In fact during this time I had two different children pick up the book the Hiding Place without my prompting. Here is a great link for seeing Corrie Ten Boom’s old house.

Here is a resource I made that uses World War 2 as a platform to teach cryptograms. My students really enjoyed it! I hope yours do too!