Background Information

The New Deal Agencies were sometimes referred to as the Alphabet Agencies, or alphabet soup, due to their two- or three-letter acronyms. These recovery, relief, and reform programs were met with both support and criticism. Many of these projects were intended for short-term aid, however, a few of them have remained a part of our government almost a century later. In fact, the following is a list of New Deal Agencies that were created between 1933 and 1939 and are still in use today:

For this assignment, you have two options. You can either create an ABC book about some of the agencies, or you can create a presentation ranking the agencies in order of effectiveness. Following the instructions for each option below.

Option 1: ABC Book

You will be creating a children’s Alphabet book about at least 8 of FDR’s “Alphabet Agencies” in which explain the New Deal Agencies in simple terms that a child might understand. Two (2) of your agencies must be agencies that are still in use today (refer to the list above for help), and the others can be historical examples of agencies that have since been dissolved or are no longer in use.

You can use this Google Slides template, find another, or create your own.

Your children’s book should include the following components:

• A Title Page- visually appealing, includes a title, and your name.
• About the Author (FDR)- a page that tells the readers about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and why he implemented the “Alphabet Agencies”
• At least 8 Individual Agency Pages – summarize the agency and its purpose in addition to evaluating its effectiveness. You can be creative in how you convey this information. Note that you can include some of the summary details about each agency inside of the notes section below the slide if you don’t want it to appear as part of your actual book.
• Author’s Note: Write a paragraph about which of the agencies you found to be most impactful, effective, or productive.
• Works Cited/Bibliography – list Chicago citations for your research as the concluding page of your children’s book.

Option 2: Ranking the Alphabet Agencies

In this activity, you will make a slidedeck presenting 8 of the alphabet agencies in the order of what you believe to be their impact or effectiveness (with 8 being the least effective/impactful and 1 being the most effective/impactful). Imagine that you are preparing this pitch to share with state legislators to show them examples of types of government programs that were implemented in the past and which were most effective.

You can use this Google Slides template, find another, or create your own using any similar sort of presentation program.

First, pick your agencies and decide how you will rank them. Next, create a few slides (no more than 3) for each of the alphabet agencies you chose. The slides should minimally include:

• Summary of the program:
  • The year it was founded
  • The goal/mission
• Indicate whether the program would fall under the category of relief, recovery, or reform
• Evaluate the program’s relevance today: explain its impact, or if the program is still in place today, how it continues to help Americans.
• Explain why the agency was or was not successful or impactful.

Be sure to include a Works Cited page at the end of your slidedeck.

Assignment Rubric