Oklahoma Social Studies TOT.C.8.2.I
The Standard
- TOT.C.8.2
- Describe the domestic policies of interwar Soviet Russia, including the
mass murder of peasants (“dekulakization”), genocidal starvation of Ukrainians (Holodomor).
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · TOT.C.8.2
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students describe how Soviet officials took property from peasants labeled kulaks, deported them, and killed many. They explain how grain seizures and travel restrictions worsened starvation in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933. They use evidence to explain why the Holodomor is considered genocide.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can connect forced collectivization to violence against peasants labeled kulaks. They can identify grain seizures and travel bans as government actions that worsened the famine in Ukraine, then support that explanation with a source detail.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think kulak was a precise measure of wealth, though officials applied the label broadly. Some blame the Holodomor only on a poor harvest and miss the role of government policy. Others treat the attacks on peasants and the famine as the same event.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Name one Soviet action against peasants labeled kulaks and one action that worsened hunger in Ukraine. Explain why the famine cannot be understood as a bad harvest alone.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups dated cards for forced collectivization, deportations, grain seizures, and travel restrictions; have them arrange a timeline and label each consequence.
Read a short Ukrainian survivor account and ask, 'Which government action made hunger worse, and what detail supports your answer?'
Run a card sort: match deportation, grain seizure, and travel ban to affected people, then explain one match to a partner.
Show a photo of Kyiv's Bitter Memory of Childhood memorial; ask what the girl's grain stalks tell visitors about the famine.
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