In the first article in this issue, “Why are People Marching? Discussing Justice- Oriented Citizenship using Picture Books,” Jessica Ferreras-Stone and Sara B. Demoiny outline how teachers, in accordance with NCSS guidelines, can use picture books to spur discussions about justice-oriented citizenship, including protest marches, as a means to understand the past and present. William Toledo and Jody Hollins present key concepts related to civic perspective- taking in their piece, “Localizing Civics: A Collaboratively Designed, Second Grade Unit of Study.” The authors’ hope is that their work…

This article describes the month-long social studies unit on mindfulness that the kindergarten teacher co-taught in her classroom with Sarah, an elementary social studies professor, and Maya, then a teacher candidate. After exploring the intersections between mindfulness and social studies education, examples of activities and resources from the unit will be provided, including breathing techniques and children’s literature.

Teaching about the civil rights movement in the elementary grades has, in many schools, focused exclusively on the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Many students are well versed in the content of King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and they know well that Rosa did not give up her seat on the bus. While these moments and heroes of the movement are essential in the study of this era in history, the study of more obscure and lesser known people and events is a great way to deepen our students’ understanding of the sacrifices that so many thousands of ordinary people made in the…

We live in a world that is becoming increasingly divided, particularly in the United States. In fact, people tend to interact almost exclusively with individuals who hold their shared world views and beliefs. Because of these trends, teaching students from a young age how to engage with others on issues that they may disagree about is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, this type of social studies learning rarely happens in public schools, particularly in lower elementary school classrooms. To address this challenge, we formed a collaboration to develop a curricular intervention with…

This article highlights a range of opportunities for involving students in C3 Framework inquiries using sports as a guiding theme.

The selected websites provide lesson plans and student activities for teaching about this year’s 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I. The Surfing the Net column also appears as a blog at connected.socialstudies.org/blogs

Babe Didrikson pushed gender limits, fought social stigma, and broke records. Suggested teaching activities will engage students in research and critical thinking about Didrikson and why her vast achievements are largely unknown.

Integrating sports into the classroom offers an engaging opportunity to explore issues of culture, race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation with K-12 students.

An examination of inherent racial and social inequities in professional sports may give students deeper insight into the systemic inequities that plague our society as a whole.

Studying skateboarders and skate teams can trigger an interesting classroom inquiry about socialization and group identity.