Searching for great resources to help students understand the Cold War Space Race and what a huge challenge it was to make it all the way to the moon in just a decade? Look no further than this From the Earth to the Moon worksheet covering a key episode from the acclaimed HBO series! The series has 12 episodes, but finding time to show them all would be nearly impossible in a class setting. For that reason, I've broken out my worksheet set on the series into individual episodes so you can buy only what you need. ABOUT THIS EPISODE 5 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON WORKSHEET "Spider" dives really deep into the technology challenges faced by the engineers responsible for building the equipment astronauts relied on to accomplish their missions. In this episode, engineers have to figure out how to make a lunar lander that can get by on very little fuel. This means making it very lightweight -- but how do you guarantee the astronaut's safety when you are thinning down their vehicle in every way you can? "Spider" also does a great job of illustrating for students just how *many* people worked on the Apollo missions. Most people tend to think no further than the astronauts and perhaps mission control, but there were hundreds of thousands of support personnel, without whom the moon landings would never have happened. The moon program really was a nationwide effort. After seeing "Spider," students will understand and appreciate that a lot more. EPISODE 5 SUMMARY: "Returns to 1961, and NASA engineer John Houbolt's lonely fight to convince management that the easiest way to land men on the Moon will be to use a separate landing craft. It then traces the design and development of the Lunar Module by a team led by Grumman engineer Tom Kelly. Covers the selection and training of the first crew to fly it, Jim McDivitt and Rusty Schweickart (along with Command Module pilot David Scott), and culminates with their first flight of Spider in Earth orbit on Apollo 9. The Apollo 10 lunar "dress rehearsal" is briefly mentioned." HOLD STUDENTS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR VIEWING This worksheet provides students with 25 questions to answer and includes both true/false and multiple choice items. Since the question types are not mixed together, teachers who want some flexibility can use the true/false during viewing and the multiple choice afterwards as a discussion springboard or a quiz (or vice-versa). To assist the teacher, an annotated answer key is provided. This answer key consists of not just answers, but also helpful commentary and additional information that will help to enrich review and discussion of the episode and the Apollo program. Video Questions by Elise Parker

60 Multiple Choice Questions on Episode 12 of America: The Story of US America: The Story of US is a History Channel series that uses engaging imagery, powerful special effects, and a lively script to convey the story of the United States in 12 concise yet comprehensive episodes. This teaching packet covers Episode 12: “Millennium," focusing on events in the United States at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Using any of the series’ episodes in class opens up several useful possibilities. They are so well presented that they are easily understood by students. This in turn means that episodes can actually be used as an introduction to a topic or a unit. On the other hand, they also make excellent reinforcers, so some teachers will want to show the episodes after the end of a chapter or unit for use as a review or recap. ABOUT THIS TEACHING PACKET I’ve kept this episode versatility in mind when making these materials. This teaching resource contains both a worksheet and a test on the episode it covers. These two components are based on different approaches to the video: • The student viewing worksheet has 50 multiple choice questions, all presented in video order. These questions are fairly detailed. Certainly, many students will have good enough recall to be able to complete the worksheet after the episode has been shown, but because of the detailed nature of the questions, some teachers may want to use the worksheet as a “during-viewing” activity that will help students track information and stay on task . • The 10-question test, on the other hand, is designed to help students synthesize the episode’s information and see larger patterns that span different sections of it. My intent when writing the test was to focus solely on the “big issues” that arise from the targeted time span of American history. Students who have paid attention to the video should definitely have mastered these basic, fundamental issues from the targeted time period. All test questions are also multiple choice. • Two answer keys are provided for all questions. One is designed for fast grading. The other one provides the full context of question and answer to help teachers review material out loud or facilitate class discussions of the material. DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION POSSIBILITIES Because the worksheet and test take these different approaches, teachers can also use them to differentiate instruction. keywords: Cold War, Space Race, moon landing, Soviet Union, Vietnam War, televised war, Woodstock, feminism, Nixon, Watergate, impeachment, 1980s, 1990s, credit cards, computers, internet, World Wide Web, email, Space Shuttle, Challenger, PCs, Silicon Valley, terrorism, 9/11 attacks, immigration, American Dream