After a white supremacists' rally which fomented terror and death in Charlottesville, VA, a group of local educators came together to reflect on what happened and determine what they could do to push for racial justice in their community. "Reframing the Narrative" (RtN) was created, a years-long grant-funded project to produce and…

At the intersection of social studies and world language curricula are opportunities to explore students' prior learning with vocabulary-rich content designed to support language acquisition goals. "Funds of knowledge" is defined as socio-cultural, economic, and historical knowledge from home and community settings. The instructional…

What does it mean to teach meaningful and powerful social studies? What curricular frameworks might be useful to this end? What does vibrant social studies look like in the classroom? The purpose of this article is twofold--to propose a curricular and pedagogical framework for teaching powerful social studies and to illustrate outstanding…

According to the authors, five years ago their school district embraced Understanding by Design as the organizing framework for curriculum. The emphasis on enduring understandings and essential questions led the sixth grade social studies teachers to reevaluate what they were teaching in their World History Curriculum. Together the authors worked…

Integrating the visual and performing arts is one clear and concrete strategy to engage students in learning social studies content and concepts while making them interactive and relevant to their daily lives. In this article, the authors offer a rationale for teaching integrated arts with social studies, provide a framework for planning, and…

Everybody knows how easy it is for students to react negatively to people who act or think differently from themselves. To counterbalance students' often egocentric and ethnocentric views (which are normal for this age), teaching team collaborates to integrate voices from the world across the curriculum. They want their students to be learning…

Focuses on the experiences of some New Jersey teachers and reviews John Goodland's five types of curriculum in an effort to describe the nature of Holocaust education in the United States. Provides suggestions of how Holocaust education can be taught in an age-appropriate manner for K-4 classrooms. (CMK)

The population of American schools has continually become more diverse over time and so too have the needs of the students as well as the responsibilities of teachers. One must include in this multicultural amalgam those who have learning disabilities (LD). Arguably, nowhere else in society are disabilities so openly recognized and acknowledged as…

It is no secret that language arts and math are the dominant features of the elementary curriculum. This is especially the case in Kindergarten through third grades. In many states, the thrust of the curriculum in the primary grades is on learning to read. After that, it is thought that students will then be able to read to learn. With that…

Describes the social studies curriculum at Oceanside School District in Long Island (New York) that focuses on the concept of essential questions. Explains that the teachers wanted the questions to reflect an awareness of current world problems that students could identify, discuss, and debate in a creative and age appropriate manner. (CMK)

Describes how collaborative efforts between the Florida Department of Education and a private company led to a K-8 technology-based social studies curriculum. Describes the social studies content included in the primary, intermediate, and middle school years. Provides examples of how teachers might use the curriculum. (CFR)

Reviews criticism of elementary social studies textbooks, focusing on how the written text, the pictures, and graphics often seem unrelated. Asserts that the inclusion and use of literature selections in K-3 social studies textbooks is a newly emerging strategy. (CFR)

Reviews the national social studies standards developed and disseminated by the National Council for the Social Studies. Discusses 3 purposes and 10 operating assumptions of the standards. Responds to six questions that examine the standards within the classroom context. (CFR)

Asserts that the thematic approach used in the National Council for the Social Studies national standards marks a fresh era of thought in social studies instruction. Maintains that the strands can serve as a framework for social studies curriculum development and effective classroom learning experiences. (CFR)

Asserts that a primary goal of social studies is fostering attitudes and behaviors that reflect effective citizenship for a global, multicultural world. Discusses Robert Hanvey's "Five Dimensions of a Global Perspective" and how they relate to social studies course content. (CFR)