The Wednesday Wars Background Information

The novel The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt is about a 7th grader in the 1960s who decides the first week of school that his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him because he is the only  one left on Wednesday afternoons when everyone goes either to Catholic school or Hebrew school while he remains in class.

Students will use this WebQuest to research the 1960's and gain a better understanding of the time period before reading Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars.

Students will work with a partner to research assigned topic and answer questions found on guided notes page. Before beginning, partners need to decide who will work on the computer and who will take notes. 

The Vietnam War

http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index.html

http://history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/a/vietnamwar.htm (watch video)

http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/exhibition/flash.html (watch video)

Music/Fashion

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/60smusic.html

http://www.rockmusictimeline.com/1960s.html

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/sixties/resources/what%E2%80%99s-sound-teaching-1960s-through-popular-music

http://www.retrowaste.com/1960s/fashion-in-the-1960s/

http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/547967/1960s-fashion-icons-designers-trends.html

Walter Cronkite/Martin Luther King, Jr.

http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html

http://www.biography.com/people/walter-cronkite-9262057

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3eFl9pcxsM

Shakespeare

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/tempest/summary.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/tempest/characters.html

http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323/videos/william-shakespeare-mini-biography-12060739685

Hippies

https://www.britannica.com/topic/hippie

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hippie

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1967/09/the-flowering-of-the-hippies/306619/

The Yankees

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/timeline1.jsp

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/sports/baseball/end-of-the-world-as-the-yankees-knew-it.html

http://mlb1960s.blogspot.com/2010/04/yankees-all-1960s-team-pitchers.html

http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/new-york-yankees-1960s/

1960s Random Facts

http://www.tctc.edu/50th_Anniversary/Fun_Facts_from_the_60s.xml

https://prezi.com/phlbnusfasn3/fun-facts-of-the-1960s/

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1960s.html

Gary Schmidt

http://www.novelrocket.com/2008/05/ya-author-interview-gary-schmidt.html

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/11072-children-s-bookshelf-talks-with-gary-schmidt.html

https://csufyabookreviews.com/2012/11/07/a-biography-of-gary-schmidt/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wednesday_Wars

Hopefully you are able to put together some ideas about what the 1960s were like. 

On a sheet of paper, make at least three predictions as to what parts of the 1960s will play a significant role in the book and bring it back next class period!

(I think the book will have _______________________ part in it because.......)