While these students are in fourth grade, it is important for them to study the basics of communism and capitalism, as well as understand the key issues. Divide the class in two. One side will represent Americans supporting capitalism. The other side will represent Russians supporting communism. Allow the sides to present the facts of both, discuss the pros and cons and debate differences of opinion. Challenge the students to think outside the box and think about why some leaders valued communism. Understand that the debate may not be prolonged or deep, but its purpose is to challenge your students to understand the issues.
Assign each student a figure from this era such as Joseph McCarthy, John Kennedy. Ronald Reagan, Josef Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev and Mikhail Gorbachev. Students will study their figure, somehow depict a characteristic of their figure and present this person to the class. In this way, every student will benefit from learning about each historical figure.
Instruct each student to put together a timeline of the events of the Cold War. It should include events, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the testing of nuclear weapons and political events. This will challenge each student to understand a comprehensive view of the Cold War and events, threats and stand offs between both countries.
The Cold War was a time of fear for many who worried communists were infiltrating the government and culture of the United States. Give each child in your class a card with a given profession or social standing. Instruct them to keep their profession secret. Secretly assign a couple of kids the role of communist spies. Each child will do basic research on the profession they have been assigned and then play a game in class similar to Clue. Instead of figuring out who the murderer is, the children will work to uncover who the communist infiltrator is. The point of the game will be to help children understand the fear of those during this time, the culture and the unfair witch hunts and wrongful accusations.