🌾
Grade 5 Social Studies · World 4: Hard Times · Level 39
The TVA
Explain dams and electricity in the Tennessee Valley.
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 39
- The Tennessee Valley spreads across seven southern states, including a corner of north Georgia. In 1933, it was one of the poorest places in the country.
- Floods washed away the soil. Most farm homes had no electricity. So Congress created the Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA.
- The TVA built dams on the Tennessee River and its streams. Dams hold back floods. Water rushing through them turns machines that make electricity.
- Lights came on in homes for the first time. Factories moved in, using the cheap power. The TVA also taught farmers how to care for their soil.
- There was a cost. The lakes behind the dams covered farms and towns, and thousands of families had to move away.
Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:
- SS5H3.b — Analyze the main features of the New Deal; include the significance of the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
- SS5G2.b — Locate primary agricultural and industrial locations since the turn of the 20th century and explain how factors such as population, transportation, and resources have influenced these areas (e.g., Chicago's rapid growth at the turn of the century).