Learning about world religions (as opposed to teaching religious beliefs) as part of social studies can provide a space for students and teachers to have conversations about religious diversity in a respectful, balanced manner. In this article, the authors discuss reading stories and discussing religious diversity as a vehicle to open conversations about religion and diversity, and use the book Lailah’s Lunchbox to provide an example of content and questions teachers can use in their classroom. 

Even without in-person field trips, photographs stored online can stimulate enriching investigations of historic places.

While enslavement is a topic present in elementary social studies standards for all fifty states, it also remains one of the most difficult topics to teach. In this article, the authors offer lessons from their study of recently published children's books that depict enslavement. They also offer recommendations for an inquiry-based strategy aligned with the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards that will support students' learning about enslavement from any of the books in our study, or other books that may be available in a particular…

While guest teaching in a third-grade classroom as part of her doctoral studies, the author became interested in how students think about female pioneers and what it means to be first in a historical sense. This article explores the potential of interactive read-aloud books to teach women’s history with young students.

This article focuses on 13 picturebooks by South Asian authors which the author categorizes as culturally conscious picturebooks. These books show the beauty of the lived experiences of South Asian American families. The author argues that in response to the sociopolitical realities, social studies educators can expand their curricula to weave in voices from South Asian communities.

The College, Career, and Civil Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards guides teachers to initiate complex inquiries by sparking students' disciplinary literacy and critical analysis of rich sources. With effective scaffolding and engaging content, elementary students can explore and contextualize complex historical topics. In this article, the authors present the findings of a fourth grade study in which students examined primary sources and trade books about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, and issues that affected the African American community. They…

Strategically designed word walls can help students build the vocabulary needed to ask and explore important questions in the social studies.