Three Lines in a Circle: The Exciting Life of the Peace Symbol by Michael G. Long; illustrated by Carlos Vélez (Louisville, KY: Flyaway Books, 2021) This picture book history of the peace symbol can help expand elementary students’ understanding of peace and introduce them to historical peace movements.  

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…

Even before the first U.S. death from the mysterious, new coronavirus, Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett and Dr. Barney Graham were in a race against the clock. In 2020, they were research team members at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Vaccine Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

For nearly 50 years, the National Council for the Social Studies has presented the Carter G. Woodson Book Award to texts that accurately and sensitively depict the experience of one or more historically marginalized racial/ethnic groups in the United States. The award originated in 1974, named to honor distinguished scholar Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, the Harvard-trained historian whose scholarship and dedication to making Black History known and visible led to the eventual creation of Black History Month. Texts must be non-fiction, published and set in the United States, written for…

Elementary teachers understand the importance of building a strong literacy foundation at the early grades and may feel tempted to reduce or eliminate social studies instruction in favor of additional instruction in reading and writing. As we are building skills for literacy, we recognize that background knowledge is one of the strongest indicators for success with reading comprehension. A strong social studies curriculum at the elementary level not only provides opportunities for students to apply their literacy skills to a variety of texts but is critical for building a knowledge base that…

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.