On a blustery day in March 2021, a line of bundled-up, masked first graders walked from school to a house on the National Register of Historic Places in their south Minneapolis neighborhood. For these 23 young learners, it wasn’t just a walk. This Covid-era field trip was a culminating activity in a series of lessons, “Unearthing Histories,” that empowered the students to be historians, dig into their complex local history, and then take action to help create a more just future.

In this article, the authors discuss the possibilities and benefits of inquiry-based learning at NPS parks, historic sites, and their companion websites. They also stress that you can extend the guidance and resources that may be provided by any historic monument or park close to your school, whether it’s a part of the NPS system or not. Next, they provide steps to help you locate a monument or site that you want to study in your classroom, as well as a selection of NPS parks and monuments that they feel provide excellent, inquiry-based K-6 social studies curricula, including virtual tours…

This article and accompanying pullout describes a process for developing inquiry projects, based on the Inquiry Design Model (IDM), for students in grades K-2. In this article, he provides examples from preservice teachers that show that the process can lead to high-quality social studies teaching in primary grades. 

Despite some drawbacks, such as overuse in classrooms, lack of student engagement, and historical inaccuracies, research has suggested that Hollywood movies can be an effective tool in the teaching and learning of social studies. This article describes a strategy for using film in the upper elementary classroom. The authors outline their strategy and delineate how the strategy incorporates each dimension of the NCSS C3 Framework.

In this article, the authors suggest that prop boxes can make more time in the school day for social studies learning and play. The authors share suggestions for designing and implementing prop boxes with young children. Several examples of social studies prop boxes for kindergarten and first grade are investigated.  

The article focuses on making and makerspaces in the elementary classroom. The authors argue that making in the elementary classroom offers a creative opportunity to capitalize on students’ natural sense of wondering and curiosity. They provide a brief background on making and makerspaces and share rich classroom examples of making. Finally, the authors share additional resources and suggestions to get started with making.

This article was inspired by the first article in the March/April 2021 issue of Social Studies and the Young Learner. NCSS editor Steve Lapham collaborated with teachers Amanda Wilburn and Lori Dodson to obtain a small collection of student-created artwork. The results are presented in “Sharing Myself through Self-Portraits.” One of those pictures is featured on the cover of this issue.

“The Fresh Market: Connecting Content, Children, Families, and the Community,” outlines the “fresh market project” and lays out an argument for a cross-curricular approach to teach social studies in a preschool classroom. The authors outline a process in which teachers met weekly to think of ways to embed content in science, technology, reading, engineering, art, math, and social studies in an effective and engaging manner. Their narrative highlights the power of interdisciplinary work with young children, with an emphasis on social studies as the connecting thread.

An earlier article (by W. Toledo and others) in Social Studies and the Young Learner examined how young students engaged with locally-relevant civics curriculum focused on civic perspective-taking, a process wherein students examine multiple perspectives on public issues and form their own stances on these issues using fact-based reasons with a consideration for the public good. Here, the authors present additional key skills in civic thinking and important strategies for teachers hoping to engage young students in civic perspective-taking.