This supplement to "Social Education" and "Social Studies & the Young Learner" seeks to support creative and rigorous social studies teaching in middle schools. The articles show how students can revisit the Oregon Trail through the diaries of children, learn about the five themes of geography (location, place, human/environment interaction, movement, and region) from a historic building, understand a world culture better through its ceremonies, and ponder the problem of child labor past and present in children's literature. There are also tips for teachers interested in applying for small grants for social studies projects. Contents include: (1) "Using Children's Diaries to Teach the Oregon Trail" (Richard M. Wyman, Jr.); (2) "Living the Geography of Joseph and Temperance Bown" (Katherine A. Young); (3) "The ABC's of Small Grant Acquisition for Social Studies Teachers" (Bruce Sliger); (4) "Isomo Loruko: The Yoruba Naming Ceremony" (Patricia Kafi; Alan Singer); and (5) "Child Laborers in Children's Literature" (Linda Leonard Lamme). (DJ)