Education Commons^™

Teaching Juan Rodriguez: Enacting Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy In Elementary Social Studies, Natalie Kuhl

Graduate Student Independent Studies

A fourth grade social studies curriculum and corresponding rationale are presented on the topic of Dominican historical figure Juan Rodriguez, his appearance in the Hudson harbor in 1613, and his legacy as captured by the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute in upper Manhattan. Curricularized racism in education and the responsibility of teachers to correct entrenched curricularized racism is addressed in undertaking the writing of an original curriculum centered on the known scholarship of Juan Rodriguez. As a relatively unknown historical actor and a free man of color from colonial La Española (modern-day Dominican Republic), his story is leveraged to help Dominican …

Integrating English And Social Studies Through The Lens Of Tokugawa Japan: An 8 Week Curriculum For Sixth Grade, Mollie Sandberg

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The following curriculum is intended for sixth grade students in a general education, integrated English and social studies classroom. This curriculum is based on the foundational ideas of child-development, concept-based, constructivist learning, and the integration of the language arts and social studies curricula as a way to deepen students’ engagement with the curricular material. Through these central pillars the curriculum immerses students in a historical era while allowing them to develop their own understanding of the past and create connections to the world in which they live. The aim of this curriculum is for students to explore the world of …

Jobs In Our School, Jobs In Community : An Emergent Second Grade Study Of Work, Justice And Interdependence, Chris Black

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This project documents a twelve-week study of jobs that the author undertook with his class of twenty second graders at an independent school in Brooklyn in the spring of 2015.

Exploring Undocumented Immigration From Central America Through Art And Activism: A Fourth Grade Social Studies Curriculum, Carmen Romero

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This social studies curriculum strives to teach fourth grade students about undocumented immigration from Central America through the lens of art and activism.

Learning In Green Spaces : A 1st And 2nd Grade Curriculum On The High Line, Alyssa Anker

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This social studies curriculum provides educators with the framework for teaching 1st and 2nd graders about the High Line and other New York City parks. It provides the lens for students to explore how parks are used, observe the commonalities among different parks, and investigate the uniqueness of the High Line.

Explorers Of The Caribbean : The TaíNo People And Their History - An Original Resource For Social Studies In Upper Elementary Grades, Razi Abdur-Rahman

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Presents a study of taíno history and society in the Caribbean for upper elementary grade levels.

A 4th-5th Grade Social Studies Curriculum Unit On Compromise And The Declaration Of Independence, Elizabeth O'Ferrall

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This independent study is a ten lesson curriculum on the study of compromise and the Declaration of Independence. It was designed for a fourth and fifth grade class in a progressive public school in New York City. The goal of this curriculum is to promote critical thinking and discussion about the role of compromise in American history and present day politics through the examination of historical and contemporary contentious issues.

Connecting The Strands Of Wampum, Marissa Corwin

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Documents the development of the author's philosophies and strategies as she formed a methodology for teaching social studies content about Native Americans in New York State.

An Evaluative Study Of Family Guides And Subsequent Design Of A Multi-Museum Third Grade Explorer's Guide, Katherine Hillman

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The idea for this project began with the evaluative study of a cultural organization's family guide. The results of that study, garnered from interviews with and observations of families, serves as the inspiration for a newly designed family guide intended for third graders and their families. The guide incorporates several museum visits with NY State Social Studies Scope and Sequence criteria and is based on personal teaching experience, age-relevant developmental guidelines, theoretical influences, a literature review of family learning and current family guides, as well as the results of the evaluative study.

Immigration At The Core : A Curriculum For Fourth Grade, Ma'ayan Eckstein

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This curriculum provides educators with a framework for teaching fourth grade students about immigration in the United States between 1880 and 1924. It is designed to align with state-issued curricular guidelines for social studies as of 2012.

Understanding Our Families : A Curriculum For Six-Year-Olds, Sarah Boltz

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Presents a social studies curriculum on families designed for six-year-olds in a New York City charter school. The author designed this curriculum using the "Modified Understanding by Design" format. This format requires the curriculum designer to structure the entire curriculum around a few carefully chosen learning standards. The two standards serving as the basis of this curriculum were selected from the New York State social studies standards for first grade.

Immigration Through A Child's Eyes: A Study Of Italian And Eastern European Russian Immigrants At The Turn Of The 20th Century, Rachel Gelles, Ellie Klausner

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The activity guide, Turn of the 20th Century Immigrant Experience, which is designed for a social studies immigration unit, uses an interdisciplinary approach to teach students about immigrating to a new country. It connects to the lives and interests of our students as almost everyone originally immigrated to America from somewhere. In essence, some students immigrated themselves, while others have parents or grandparents who immigrated to the United States. This activity guide is also specifically designed to teach fourth grade students about immigration at the turn of the 20th century. The New York State Standards for fourth grade require that …

A First Grade Social Studies Curriculum: Bread, Dafni Manalis

Graduate Student Independent Studies

I implemented a social studies unit on bread with twenty first graders in a public school setting in the Fall of 2002. The unit incorporated a four month inquiry based study which provided the students with hands on activities, trips, and research based opportunities. Throughout the unit I observed and documented the students work and experiences in a variety of settings. I am presenting the bread curriculum as it was designed this fall with the 6-7 year olds because I believe it is a deeply enriching program that can be molded to fit and be successful with most classroom settings. …

"We're Studying You": Dilemmas In, And Approaches To Social Studies Curriculum About "Other" Cultures, Joseph Bacal

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Studies of "other" cultures are a major part of many elementary school programs. This paper applies some of the recent thinking in anthropology to my own praxis as a teacher. From this standpoint, I ask a number of questions about the theory and practice of "studying" groups of people. How are representations of people created and framed for children? How do children read and interpret these representations? What are different ways that social studies materials construct versions of people? What kind of representations do I want to use in my teaching and how do I want to use them?

I …

Learning Through Meaningful Work: The Post Office Job At City & Country School, Scott Moran

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This independent study is a description of the Post Office job at City & Country School. The school runs a jobs program for children ages eight to thirteen years old (third - eight grades). The eight year old group runs the school Post Office. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to City & Country School. Chapter 2 discusses the Post Office job and its development through the course of a school year. Chapter 3 discusses the developmental orientation of the jobs program. Finally, chapter 4 raises other topics for discussion, including the possible sociopolitical implications and subject integration issues involved in …

Reflections On A Third Grade Social Studies Curriculum, Laura E. Gerrity

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This curriculum study is a narrative account of a teacher and the social studies curriculum she uses with her third grade class. The curriculum is divided into two main parts. One is a study of the students' culture and family history which involves interviews with the children's parents, an examination of maps and literature from those cultures, and a description of the way the students experience the study through their writings, drawings, and conversation.

The second part of the study is an investigation of the students' neighborhood and community. Through interviews with community members, neighborhood walks, and their own observations, …

A Study Of The River : Social Studies As The Core Of The Curriculum For Five And Six Year Olds, Carol Yahr Tucker

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Using social studies as the core of the curriculum is an effective educational framework for five and six year olds. When this curriculum starts with the children's life experiences and goes on to study some aspect of their community or environment, children can begin to understand the interconnectedness of the adult world. Young children feel the excitement of learning when they immerse themselves in a study; they find that learning can be a vital process related to their needs and experiences, rather than a dry transfer of skills and pre-existing bodies of knowledge.