Because of a long tradition of children's literature depicting enslavement, elementary teachers have an expansive assortment of books from which to choose. These books, however, can be filled with inaccuracies, troubling illustrations, and dubious interpretations of the "peculiar institution." The recent controversy over "A Birthday…

What it means to be a citizen for groups such as children and African Americans remains a contested, abstract, and evasive concept. This article seeks to gain a greater understanding of citizenship education by injecting the voices of young Black male students who are talked to and talked about but rarely asked to contribute to citizenship…

Children in the United States live in a land of many nations, with nearly 600 federally recognized Native American and Alaska Native sovereign tribal nations and hundreds more not recognized by the federal government. Although children often study U.S. colonial history in elementary school, many non-Indigenous children may grow up unaware of…

The National Assessment Governing Board (the Board) contracted with Pearson to design and implement a review of the achievement level descriptions (ALDs) for National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Grade 8 assessments in Science, U.S. History, and Civics. This document describes the procedural and technical aspects and outcomes of the…

At the turn of the 20th century, Pink Teas (alternately known as "suffrage teas") were held by women who championed women's right to vote. In this article, the author provides historical background on Pink Teas and ideas of how to teach about them in the elementary classroom.

It is difficult to overstate the power of visual images, particularly historical primary source photos, to provide a window into the past. Here, the authors outline how educators can utilize historic photos to provide students with a deeper understanding of the past. When students do not see their heritage and culture represented in images, the…

Our 4th grade year has become known as "the field trip year", with over 10 trips carefully aligned with learning units across the year. This article describes the first trip of the year, which in many ways sets the stage for students' effective use of field trips as engaging extensions and applications of classroom learning. The Pike's…

Social studies teachers have to design classroom instruction to prepare students to be future democratic citizens. This means that middle school students need learning opportunities to grapple with issues of racism in our country's past and present. In this article, I discuss a six-day research project implemented in a sixth-grade U.S. history…

Over the past year, sweeping local and state-wide policies framed as bans against "CRT" are being propagated to restrict how race and racism can be taught in K-12 schools across the nation. As a result, schools are increasingly becoming a place where teachers face interpersonal and professional risk for teaching about US racial…

A teacher describes how a team of educators from two elementary schools in Massachusetts used the Next Generation Science Standards to create a social history curriculum focused on depth--and story--instead of isolated facts.

What should U.S. schools teach about U.S. actions abroad when students in the classroom have varied or conflicting memories, ideas, and experiences? Should schools teach the dominant narrative of U.S. benevolence and innocence in world affairs so as to instill patriotism in children? What kind of patriotism are we concerned with here? Or should…

Traditional narratives of U.S. history largely exclude Asian American histories, particularly at the elementary level. This qualitative case study examines how three Asian American elementary school teachers included Asian American histories in their social studies curriculum and scaffolded student understanding by sharing their own hybrid…

Teachers value students' close reading of and text-based writing about diverse texts while eliciting their awareness of the world, privilege, and power. Carefully selected literature coupled with primary sources can bridge the classroom and society. To engage modern students in America's racialized past and present, this article guides teachers to…

In this study, we examine evidence of transfer from reading instruction to students' learning of language arts and historical content as demonstrated by their independent writing and growth in background knowledge. We taught a unit in a sixth-grade language arts classroom in which students learned about design elements of graphic novels (e.g.,…

Despite its rich heritage and enduring popularity, country music has historically been marginalized in American music education, usually in favor of more "high-brow" musical practices. This article explores potential explanations for this imbalance within the context of a general overview of cultural and social considerations and…