December 7, 2022 · current events
Saturday is Human Rights Day! From Human Rights Day 2022 | OHCHR , “Every year on 10 December, the world celebrates Human Rights Day , the very day when, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). ” While you won’t be at school on Saturday, you can still have your students learn about Human Rights Day. I would start by asking my students what they know about human rights. Let students reflect and share out, and then share this definition (or modify it to make it work best for your students): Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death. I’ve paraphrased for students that human rights are the things that every human being is entitled to have. Next, I would ask students what rights they think are the most important. They can make lists in small groups and compile
human rightsHuman Rights Dayrightssocial justice educationSocial Studies
January 30, 2022 · book review
We wrote about this last spring, but wanted to share that Anti-Oppressive Education in Elite Schools: Promising Practices and Cautionary Tales From the Field is out (Nina received her copy!). We co-authored a chapter and it’s very exciting to see our words in print. You can read more about the book and enjoy some excerpts (including our chapter and an interview with us) here . We’ve been lucky enough to work with Katy Swalwell in the past and Gabby knows Ayo Magwood who we hope to collaborate with in the future. They are both doing really important work and are definitely worth following, but really the whole book has so much to offer. Please let us know what you
bookspublished piecesSocial Studiessimulations
November 30, 2021 · curriculum
My 3rd graders and I have been learning all about maps! We learned about different features of maps, different kinds of maps, made our own maps (which were so creative) and more. This week, my co-teacher and I asked students to bring in a map from home. We told students it was their “homework” so they took the assignment very seriously, reporting talking to their parents to get permission and reporting back to us that they looked at different maps they found at home and decided not to bring in some that were too large or fragile etc. Once we all had maps at school (and we of course had some extra ones for students who forgot), we started our map exploration. First, as a class, we watched a Brainpop (not Brainpop Jr.) video about map skills and reviewed features of maps we might look for and reminded ourselves to use the map key or legend to help us understand the information the map was
mapsgeographyracehousingDC
September 28, 2021 · curriculum
From https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/06/beauty-and-color-scenes-from-ethiopia/530166/ In my third grade class, we usually end our year with an integrated Social Studies, Reading, and Writing unit where we learn about the different regions of and research different countries in Africa, but this past year we ran out of time and weren’t able to do a lot of the creative grouping or sharing of materials that characterize this unit. So instead we focused on learning more about Ethiopia as a class. We chose Ethiopia as Washington D.C. is home to the largest population of Ethiopian born people in the United States. There are also many Ethiopian Americans in and around D.C. In past years, we’ve ordered food from a local Eritrean restaurant as part of our end of year celebration, but this year we were sadly unable to do that. We started our study of Ethiopia by looking at maps, watching
Social StudiesgeographyinquiryEthiopia
August 17, 2021 · curriculum
From WorldAtlas.com As we watched the tragic scenes in Kabul unfold this past week, we thought about how to broach the topic with students in the classroom. Many students might have questions or a vague idea that something is happening based on overhearing adult conversations or catching snippets of the news. Where to start? One place to start that usually works well for us is with a read aloud . Sadly, we don’t have a lot of books set in Afghanistan, and the ones we could find ( list of picture books here ) are all about war, refugees, or women and girls being denied rights and education. These are unquestionably important stories, but we want to avoid presenting a single narrative about Afghanistan. It’s also hard to find picture books written by Afghan or Afghan-American authors, but we will keep looking now that we are aware of the deficit in our libraries! One book that many of my
current eventsSocial Studiessocial justice educationforeign policyAfghanistan
August 3, 2021 · curriculum
Photo credit: http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/slideshow/the-civil-rights-movement/# This past February, we spent most of the month taking time to learn about, talk through, and create our own statement for Black Lives Matter at School Week . However, we wanted to address Black History Month and explicitly connect American history to our lives today. There are, of course, many ways to do this, but one way I’ve always loved teaching history to elementary school students (or really any students) is using primary sources and read-alouds. They can make the past tangible and far more real for students, as well as feeling “grown up” and authentic. I took inspiration from PBS History Detectives and modified one of the lessons they created for high schoolers or middle schoolers. We started by watching the 2nd video titled Integration Report. (It’s the one that is 2 minutes long. The 6
Black History MonthBlack lives matter at schoolBlack Lives MatterSocial Studiessocial justice education
February 3, 2020 · curriculum
The Black Lives Matter class statement our third graders came up with a few years ago. Seeing all of the activity around Black History Month on various social media platforms inspired me to write a blog post again (I know it has been a long time - I (Nina) was busy having a baby!). I am on maternity leave, so won’t be teaching in a classroom this February, but will link to some of our past posts with our ideas and reflections. My memories of Black History Month when I was in elementary school are pretty vague, but I remember learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and maybe even singing some songs about how he helped our country. As an elementary school teacher myself, I definitely have had to teach into the idea that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “fixed” racism in our country or that racism was something bad from our past. You can read more about one way we approached MLK Day in the
Black History MonthBlack Lives MatterSocial Studiessocial justice educationFebruary
July 12, 2019 · curriculum
I’ve always loved teaching Social Studies through inquiry. Start with questions students have, and then let them explore, research, and learn from there! This approach has led to biographical essays about inspirational historical and contemporary figures , case studies about different countries, companies, and Virginia Indian tribes , investigations into various holidays , and so much more. My hope is that teaching Social Studies through inquiry supports my students in continually learning about the world in a curious and open way. Some essential parts of inquiry in Social Studies (for me) are: Keep the final product open or at least open ended! There are so many ways to share what you learned - let students figure out the best way to do so and personalize it. Encourage creativity! We asked our students for annotated illustrations of the Virginia Indian tribe they studied, and every
Social Studiesinquirycase
March 21, 2018 · curriculum
It's Womyn's Herstory Month ! Every day is women's day etc etc.. and yet, we are also loved celebrating women and putting women (besides ourselves!) even more at the forefront this month. Full disclosure we are both huge book people so the list of books could go on for a while. Below are a few fantastic anthologies that we turn to often in our classroom and have used for many different projects throughout the year. We put these in the front of our room and hype them up extra for this month (along with books from March Book Madness especially Ada Twist, Scientist, The Most Magnificent Thing, I Dissent, The Water Princess , and Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist ). Through these read alouds (which the student's have been loving and asking for more of!), we've enjoyed the way we can tie this into conversations about maps in Social
Women's History Monthgenderwomensocial justice educationSocial Studies
November 14, 2017 · simulations
In the process of teaching (and learning) geography in our third grade classroom, we found that our students were very North America and Europe centric. While eight year olds are naturally egocentric, we wanted an activity to shift their perspectives and push them to realize that there are “real, important people” ALL OVER the world. So we redesigned our beloved activity where we draw people to realize our internalized biases (that we wrote for 5th graders, but have used with adults as well) to make it more geography focused and 3rd grade appropriate. While we were focused on introducing inspiring (and unexpected) people from different continents, we also thought we might uncover some gender and racial biases along the way. We have been learning about world geography starting with the seven continents and five oceans since the first week of school. We started with the continents and
simulationgeographySocial Studiessocial justice educationcurriculum
October 24, 2017 · Uncategorized
We are back in DC and reunited with our 3rd graders, a little wiped, but feeling very grateful. We just returned from the NWTSJ Conference (Northwest Teaching for Social Justice) in Seattle! We were graciously asked to return and do another presentation, and we couldn't pass it up. As we met participants along the way, we frequently got the question, "Wow, DC!? Why did you come all the way here?" The answer is simple. We love this conference. The energy is infectious, and we love checking out the hard work of largely West Coast public school educators. The conversations are dynamic and the passion seems neverending. A few highlights beyond the Seattle fresh air and rain were: A workshop about how to teach about the not so distant, painful history of Japanese-American Incarceration. We have been looking for resources for how to make this history more visible and this definitely fueled
conferencesSocial Studiessocial justice education
October 15, 2017 · curriculum
Last week, we reconsidered Columbus Day. While our school does not recognize the holiday and remained in session on Monday, it is still a federal holiday and many of our students’ parents had the day off. To lead up to our inquiry work, we asked students to respond to the question, “If you could create a holiday, what holiday would you create and why?” for their Morning Work. They had predictably fun and silly ideas - Kids’ Day when you get unlimited candy, Pets’ Day when pets can go everywhere, etc. However, the idea emerged that a holiday is about celebrating someone or something POSITIVE. Later that week, we did a read aloud of Encounter by Jane Yolen and David Shannon, which tells the story of Columbus arriving in San Salvador in 1492 from the perspective of a Taino child. After reading the story, we had students complete an I think/I wonder chart about the the events described in
holidaysColSocial Studiessocial justice educationhistory
March 5, 2017 · simulations
Excerpt from a student's reflection homework (after the simulation). Our pom pom simulation is a personal favorite. It simulates privilege, the cyclical effects of poverty, oppression, and more. Students always make new connections and take their reflections to a level we never could have anticipated. This year was no exception! There are 3 rounds to the pom pom simulation. Round One consists of collecting pom poms. You have one minute to get as many pom poms as you can. Pom poms, of course, simulate wealth (and power). There is a catch. Students receive slips of paper with “assignments” on them. These instructions make it harder for some people to gather pom poms than others. Some examples: You can use both of your hands, but you may not move your feet at all. You may not bend your knees. You must wear an oven mitt on your non-dominant hand and use that hand to pick up pom poms. You
simulationsocial classSocial Studiessocial justice education
February 16, 2017 · curriculum
Image from the Women's March on 1/21/17. Sunday, February 19th is the 75th anniversary of the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 (in 1945) which led to the removal and internment of approximately 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry. Many of them were US citizens. Many of them lost property or were forced to sell at a loss when they were removed and relocated. I personally find “relocation” and “internment” misleading as people were incarcerated and given no choice about their removal from their homes. Image credit: http://hdjapaneseinternment.weebly.com/uploads/6/8/7/3/6873644/9418554_orig.jpg While this shameful occurrence in American history is and always will be relevant, it feels especially relevant today with the recent Muslim ban, fears of a Muslim registry, and frequent executive orders. You know your students and school best, so I compiled some
historySocial Studiessocial justice educationMuslim bandiscrimination
February 13, 2017 · curriculum
The cards we used for "life twists" that different students received throughout the simulation. “I don't understand why other companies treat their factory workers inhumanely if you can still be successful if you treat people like people.” Economics 101 is in full swing in 5th grade! We tried out a BRAND new simulation today and were reminded how difficult it is to check all of the details for experiential learning activities. Whew! That being said-- we are pleased with what our students experienced and how they are now thinking about different types of work, wages, and the many levels and layers of circumstances that can alter people's financial stability. SET UP: This one is complicated to set up. We have three groups, and each group had different tasks and varying working environments: Office workers (5 students) Task: read news articles and created a presentation Could takes breaks
simulationsEconomicsSocial Studiessocial justice educationsocial class
January 30, 2017 · curriculum
Protesters at Dulles Airport on Saturday night. We were demanding entrance to the United States for people affected by the ban. Coming off a weekend of protesting, I find myself thinking hard about what to say to my students tomorrow when they ask me about the news. We saw some of our students at the rally at the White House today. They will want to share observations from their experience tomorrow. Students will also have questions about checks and balances since we recently concluded a unit on US Government. They will have overheard conversations between adults and understood only snippets of what was going on in the media. Where do we start? Our planned read aloud for tomorrow! Start with a read aloud. Ask students what connections they can make to the story. Can they make text to self connections? Model by thinking of a time you yourself were homesick or scared or missed someone.
protestresistcurrent eventsread aloudSocial Studies
January 27, 2017 · simulations
"Well in the real world not everyone can get everything and this kind of showed me that not all our decision making processes are fair." Notes on our whiteboard from the students' brainstorming and decision making process. How it Works: Yesterday in Social Studies, we did our Sinking Ship simulation (idea credit: we first read about this here ). We had the students in half groups (when half the class is with us and half the class is with a different teacher) so we only had 13 students at a time. For each group, we started by handing out “assignments” on folded slips of paper. The different roles were: migrant worker senator someone who is currently unemployed child firefighter teacher nurse doctor babysitter college student taxi driver lawyer scientist We then asked our students to get in a circle and told them that they were on a sinking ship, and there were only FIVE spots in the
simulationsocial justice educationproblem solvingcollaborationSocial Studies
October 10, 2016 · curriculum
Map of the four voyages of Christopher Columbus from Britannica Kids . We love debating as a way of developing critical thinking, practicing analytical skills, and thinking through persuasive arguments before we start writing them down as essays. Today, on Columbus Day (still a federal holiday), we had our students debate whether or not Columbus Day should be a holiday. To set up this lesson, we have the students in two groups and give each group a different text. One is framed to be pro Columbus and one is framed to be anti Columbus. We have them read and learn more about Christopher Columbus and then we offer them the opportunity to choose a side for the debate. This series of lesson serves to introduce debating and giving them an opportunity to be try it out themselves, help students recognize the problematic nature of history from one perspective, and demonstrate that author’s
ColumbusSocial Studiessocial justice educationIndigenous American Studies
October 5, 2016 · Uncategorized
We found an awesome "Women's Rights Advocate Monster" on someone's homework today! Cool! Is it only Wednesday? There's so much happening this week! The world keeps spinning! In our classroom especially there is a buzz about the upcoming election (especially the debates) and protests on protests on protests. One realm of protests our students have some background on in different capacities are the Black Lives Matter protests, largely the sports related ones. Another area of protest news that we have had energy around is water protectors against the DAPL (largely from us, because that protest has had a severe LACK of coverage). All of this is to say, while we have been working hard in 5th grade to tackle routines and settle in for the school year-- the world continues on! Finding the time and space to be informed about these news stories and issues can seem daunting and frustrating. Meet…
Social Studiessocial justice educationcurriculumcurrent events
May 8, 2016 · Uncategorized
Background: Following the Responsive Classroom model, the norms and expectations in our classroom are called our 'covenant'. In our classroom, we spend the first month and a half (!) trying to sort out what we value individually and as a class, so that we can create a covenant that feels true to us. We have three dynamic simulations in which students 'experience' Anarchy, Totalitarianism, and Republicanism. After each class period, we reflect on each government model to decide what we like best about it. We take these positive aspects and try to figure out how we want our classroom to run and which pieces we would like to incorporate into our community. The covenant is a labor of love and becomes all their own. This year, our class created a written covenant, a song (they are an incredibly musical bunch), and a logo which was "reproduced" (AKA copied and laminated) for everyone to put
simulationsexperiential learningIndigenous American StudiesSocial Studiescurriculum