Dust Bowl Vocabulary

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Across
  1. 2. an informal term used in the diary for a dust storm; a sudden blast of dust and wind that sweeps across a region.
  2. 5. an underground room beneath a house used for storage or shelter; families considered going down to the cellar to ride out severe dust storms.
  3. 9. the movement of people from one region to another; during the Dust Bowl many families migrated westward (often to California) in search of work and better living conditions.
  4. 12. made extremely poor; describes families who lost crops, livestock, or livelihoods during the Dust Bowl.
  5. 13. the process by which soil is worn away and removed by wind, water, or other natural forces; a key cause of the Dust Bowl when topsoil blew off plowed fields.
  6. 14. (not in text but related) a widespread affliction; in this context, a severe widespread problem like the Dust Bowl that harms people, animals, and crops.
  7. 15. storm — a strong wind event that carries large amounts of dust and sand through the air, reducing visibility and causing breathing and health problems.
Down
  1. 1. made to feel less hopeful or confident; discouraged; how many farmers felt after repeated storms and crop failures.
  2. 3. conservation techniques — methods that farmers use to protect soil from erosion and keep it fertile (for example, crop rotation, contour plowing, planting cover crops).
  3. 4. blizzard — a nickname for the massive, coal-black dust storms (like “Black Sunday”) that swept the Great Plains and darkened skies.
  4. 6. destroyed or badly damaged; used to describe how drought and poor farming practices harmed the land.
  5. 7. language — words and phrases that describe sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch (for example, “coal black,” “howling wind,” “tasted like dust”); authors use this to help readers feel what characters experienced.
  6. 8. small particles of sand or dirt that mixed into water and food during dust storms; students should connect “grit” with tiny grains that make filtering necessary.
  7. 10. a serious, difficult, or unfortunate situation; the desperate circumstances faced by Dust Bowl families.
  8. 11. (The Great Depression) — a severe, long-lasting economic downturn in the 1930s that increased poverty and made the Dust Bowl’s effects worse for families.