Social Studies Standards Support
Inspired by the National Council for the Social Studies1, the reference points that are bolded below can enhance your social studies instruction.
Reflect on culture and cultural diversity.
Infuse diverse, inclusive, and culturally relevant materials into fiction and nonfiction reading using the Diverse Books Toolkit, which helps to analyze collections, identify and bring diverse texts to life, and encourage reflection on cultural representation.
Support a broader understanding of an inclusive society through the characters, setting, and events in books using Cultural Representation Reflections.
Use the Booklist & Collection Analysis Tools to think deeply about diversity within collections of titles used in units, lessons, and displays.
Examine the controversy of America's concentration camps in this Meet-the-Author Recording with Matt Faulkner, who shares his inspiration for writing Gaijin.
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Study the past and its impact on ideas, values, and how people live today.
Browse the Activism, Organizing and Creating Change for Secondary Students list for resources that incorporate biographies of social justice activists into instruction.
Read Andrea Davis Pinkney's In-depth Written Interview, where she discusses how life experiences “breathe heart and soul” into stories like Sit-In.
Discover primary source author interviews such as this one with Separate Is Never Equal author Duncan Tonatiuh, who shares how art and words take root to explain events in history.
Access this Meet-the-Author Recording for The Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle to prompt conversation around gender roles within society from a historic lens.
Experience the relationships between people, places, and environments with thought-provoking points for discussion.
Explore conversation starters from this collection of resources in Teaching Ideas for the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Contemplate the complexity of language by imagining our world as a village of just 100 people in If the World Were a Village with David J. Smith's Meet-the-Author Recording.
Consider cultural differences and what it feels like to compare ourselves to others in a new place using the complete book reading for The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson.
Spark discussion around refugee experiences using the Invitation to Imagine and the Meet-the-Author Recording for Boy, Everywhere by A.M. Dassu.
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Reflect on the development of personal identity.
Honor activist literature that encourages young readers to be activists and to engage their rights with titles recognized by the Horace Mann Upstanders Children’s Book Award.
Find resources to highlight in displays, instruction, and newsletters with lists like Early Childhood: Learning About and Affirming Racial Identity.
Listen to Guadalupe Garcia McCall share the experience of defining herself across dual cultures with this Meet-the-Author Recording for Under the Mesquite.
Hear Randy Ribay talk about how Patron Saints of Nothing was born from his own questions as a biracial Filipino American in this Meet-the-Author Recording.
1. Referenced from "National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: Chapter 2 - The Themes of Social Studies." National Council for the Social Studies, http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands.