World War II

--Lindsey B. Downey
Third graders research the memorials in the cemetery in the town of Otterbein, Ohio, and write tributes in response.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/yl/2102/210225.pdf

--Angela Hines
Students in third and fourth grade use historical fiction and primary source materials to create their own classroom newspaper about a historical era.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/yl/2102/21024.pdf

--Donna Nesbitt
After reading the children's book "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes," students can visit the website of Peace Park in Hiroshima and fold a paper crane as an introduction to "discussing issues of war and peace in today's world."

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/yl/1003/100304.html

--Brenda Betts
A brief survey of four major U.S. migrations of homeless children: the Cherokee Trail of Tears; the Underground Railroad; the Orphan Train Riders; and the One Thousand Children program (during the Holocaust). Includes brief accounts from four children.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/yl/1803/180309.pdf

--Michael J. Berson and Bárbara C. Cruz
The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Buck v. Bell case is an appropriate time for students to explore the ethical questions underlying eugenics principles, policies, and practices—from Nazi Germany’s sterilization laws to the Human Genome Project.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6505/650507.html

--James A. Percoco
The correspondence between a baseball commissioner and President Franklin Roosevelt offers a creative approach to teaching World War II during baseball season.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6707/6707401.pdf

--Lee Ann Potter
History becomes much more than past events and important dates, when students investigate the subtle clues buried in primary sources: Battle of Gettysburg map (1863); Yeager's letter about his flight of the XS-1 (1947); Manhattan Project letter (1945).

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6707/6707372.pdf

--Jolene Chu and Donna P. Couper
In 1935, two Jehovah’s Witness school children refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, a battle they took all the way to the Supreme Court. Sixty years later, the role of the Pledge of Allegiance in our nation’s schools remains a hotly debated issue.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6706/6706327.pdf

--Rachel Yarnell Thompson
This retrospective on the Marshall Plan for post-World War II Europe offers an assessment of a successful U.S. reconstruction program that benefited both the donor and the recipients.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6706/6706316.pdf

--Michael Hussey and Lee Ann Potter
During World War II, the Library of Congress went to extraordinary lengths to protect the nation’s founding documents in case of an attack on the capital.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6705/6705248.pdf