All Voices, All Stories
Grade: 1st Grade
Topics: diversity, inclusion, representation
Social Justice Skills: advocacy, equality, critical thinking, investigating school-wide issues
Created by: Students of South Orange and Maplewood School District
The school is looking to expand their classroom and school libraries so that they reflect the rich diversity and backgrounds of the students within their schools and community. The school would like to create diverse classroom library that share stories with a wide array of viewpoints, and can be a mirror into each student’s own experiences and a window into the lives of people who may seem different, whether they live next door or across the world.
Check out their webpage and video!
http://www.somsd.k12.nj.us/cms/lib7/NJ01001050/Centricity/Domain/1/SJ%20Project%20Pitch.pdf
Accessibility of Fresh Foods
Grade: 3rd Grade
Topics: fresh foods, healthy eating, making choices
Social Justice Skills: Critical thinking
Created by: Rouxana Pellcier
The students explored different healthy food options by looking at the food pyramid and recommended serving sizes based on the US Department of Agriculture. In addition to this they learned about vitamins and minerals The students had the opportunity to track what they ate and graph the results to see how their eating habits compared to that of their peers.
Visit this blog: http://socialactionprojectbfes.blogspot.com/
Defining Unfair
Grade: 1st Grade
Topics: Fairness, bullying
Social Justice Skills: Critical thinking, advocacy, equality
Created by: Katherine Kaczka
In this the unit, the students unravel the meaning of “unfair” and use the video The Sneetches to decipher what events seem unequal and make people upset. The students apply real life situations and decide why a particular situation was fair or unfair. The focus shifts to bullying and how it affects those within their community
Visit this blog: http://kksocialaction.blogspot.com/
Fight Against Food Deserts
Grade: 1st Grade
Topics: Healthy eating, growing food
Social Justice Skills: Critical thinking, letter writing, self-determination, fairness
Created by: Sarah Stewart
In this unit, the students will investigate the growth process of plants and different healthy foods that can be grown from plants. The students will also explore the food chain and discuss healthy food options. They will have the opportunity to grow their own plants, visit local farmers markets and seek out the healthy and “not so healthy” choices within their community. Through their investigations, they find that their community is a “food desert” which means finding healthy. fresh food is extremely difficult to do where they live.
Visit this blog: http://1stgradesocialactionproject.blogspot.com/
All Work and No Play
Grade: 4th grade math unit
Topics: time, local action, math
Social Justice Skills: Critical thinking, advocacy, self-determination, fairness
Created by Lin Hong
Students were not given enough time for lunch and recess at their school. During the lunch periods, each class follows a 16 minute rotation for advisory (time with the teacher), lunch (occurring in the cafeteria) and recess (outdoors or in the auditorium). They did not have enough time to eat and they tried to grab a few last bites before the teachers would come to pick them up for advisory. This unit supported students to investigate this challenge, apply mathematical strategies such as data collection and analysis, and to advocate for change.
Visit this blog: http://allworkandnoplayatsussex.blogspot.com/
Video Games and Violence
Grade: 3rd-4th grade unit
Topics: Violence, popular culture
Social Justice Skills: Critical thinking
Created by Christine Tipton
Students determined a topic of interest, violence in video games. We explored the topic, graphing our classes video game data, reading non-fiction texts about the good and bad effects of video games, and finally speaking to an expert from the gaming industry. The unit was driven by student choice and student created questions. Students also decided on a final action step and learned to critically analyze the video games they play.
Visit this blog: http://franklinbrainblasters.blogspot.com/
4th Graders Investigate Food Waste
Grade: 4th grade unit
Topics: Food Waste, Resources
Social Justice Skills: Critical thinking, analysis, investigation into community issue
Teacher: Kristin Goldsworthy
Students began to investigate food waste within their own classrooms, specifically breakfast. After investigating students noticed that the real food that was being thrown away (based on their data collection each morning for two months) was milk. Students then learned about the benefits of milk for teens and created an ad campaign to promote students within their school to start drinking milk instead of wasting it.
Visit this blog: http://4thgradesocialactionnewark.blogspot.com/?zx=ff69afafb81ff7c1
Student Empowerment: Making Good Choices
Grade: 3rd and 4th gade self-contained autism class
Topics: bullying, personal empowerment, differentiating/identifying good and bad choices
Social Justice Skills: Peer Education, identifying choices
Teacher: Sarah Davie
In my social action project, I use literacy to help my students with autism identify the actions of what a bully does. We conclude that a bully makes bad choices, which include hitting, punching, and taking other people’s food. After identifying bad choices, we provided alternative choices the bully could have made instead that were seen as good choices. In working with a general ed classroom, I was also able to read all of the students the story and get the peers’ feedback about bullies as well. We incorporated the peers using role play and recreating/rewriting their own versions of the book used for the unit.
Visit this blog: https://sites.google.com/site/makingachangesap2012/
Making Our Community Better
Grade: 4th grade unit
Topics: Bullying, Violence, Civil Rights
Social Justice Skills: Creating signs, Producing PSAs, Letter Writing
Teacher: Jim Fabros
During the Winter of 2011-2012, the 4th grade students of Room 113 at Abington Avenue School participated in a community walk in which they visited their favorite community restaurants and stores. This began their journey to investigate their community. This blog is dedicated to chronicle the activities and experiences of the students as they attempt to make their neighborhood a better place to live.
Ultimately, they decided that the most prevalent challenge to their direct community was violence, specifically bullying. After weeks of investigating and learning, the students produced signs and commercials meant to help raise awareness and motivate others to stop bullying. We hope to also be a part of creating a school wide conflict resolution group. Visit the link to view more details and process of our project.
Visit this blog: http://socialjusticeabington.blogspot.com/?zx=194741faefdce86e
The CACAO Project: Children Against Chocolate Aided Oppression
Grade: 5th grade unit
Topics: Child labor, fair trade
Social Justice Skills: Letter writing, petitions, protest, PSA’s
Created by Dan Hildreth and Neil Rathan
This unit taught students about the use of child labor and the benefits of fair trade in the coca industry. Students wrote letters to chocolate CEO’s, created a petition to get fair trade chocolate in their local store, created PSA’s to educate the community and protested in front of M&Ms/Mars in Times Square.
Find out more: cacoaproject.wordpress.com
Understanding the Past: Changing the Future
Grade: 5th grade, general ed and Integrated Team Teaching
Topics: Racism, Discrimination, Civil Rights
Social Justice Skills: Letter Writing, Peer Education, Critical Thinking
Created by Emily Munzer, Daniel Hildreth and Neil Rathan, 5th grade teachers, Lower East Side, NYC
An in-depth unit on the American Civil Rights movement that spans from the 1940’s to the 1960’s. Students used historical fiction, non fiction resources, and documentary films to develop an understanding of the racial divide in the United States during this time period, identifying the differences between Individual vs. Institutional Racism, learning about key catalysts and leaders of the movement, and creating a content-specific glossary of related terms. The 5th grade ultimately wrote, directed, and acted in a “Living Museum” performance to showcase their understandings.
Find out more: http://noracisminthisclassroom.wordpress.com
5th Graders say: Stop Unfair Child Labor Now!
Grade: 5th Grade
Topics: Unfair labor, worker’s rights, fair trade, sustainability, fairness, slavery, unions
Created by Liav Shapiro, P.S. 230 Brooklyn, NY
This unit was created to teach students about unfair labor of the past and today, linking issues of children’s rights and labor rights. Students participated a “Fair Trade Boot Camp,” various simulations, created artwork, wrote letters to major U.S. companies, and became more critical of the foods that are sold in their local supermarkets.
Find out more: www.unfairchildlabor.wordpress.com
Amanda’s Tale of Two Cities
Grade: 3rd- 6th
Topics: Moving, diversity, critical consciousness, white privilege
Created by Jennifer Spitz, Alumni- NYU Undergraduate Teacher Education Program
Written by Jennifer Spitz, Amanda’s Tale of Two Cities is a children’s story meant to help children come to terms with their developing sense of themselves in the world. This story is particularly helpful to read with children of more privileged backgrounds, particularly White children who have little exposure to diversity, to support them in developing empathy, solidarity and critical awareness.
Find out more: http://amandastale.wordpress.com/
Eat Smart! Be Smart!
Grade: 5th grade unit
Topics: Nutrition, Fitness, Healthy Choices, School Lunches
Social Justice Skills: Letter writing, petitions, protest, PSA’s
Created by Emily Munzer, Dan Hildreth and Neil Rathan
This unit guides students on a journey of taking control of their nutritional habits by educating them on the choices that are available and the benefits of making those choices. Students will take social action by working to change the school lunch menu as well as educating other students in the school about the problems of the school lunches and to advocate to change them.
Find out more: eatsmartbesmart.wordpress.com
Questioning Columbus
Grade: 2nd grade unit
Topics: Colonization, Native Americans, Columbus
Social Justice Skills: Critical thinking, peer education
Created by Mike Nappi
This unit was created when students inquired about why they had a day
off from school. The result was a student created bulletin board that
aimed to educate other students and teachers about the truth behind
the Columbus Day Holiday.
Find out more: questioningcolumbus.wordpress.com
Beat it! Defeat it! Racist Cookies, We Won’t Eat it!
Grade: 2nd-5th
Topics: Current and historical racism, current events, civil rights
Social Justice Skills: protests, letter writing, questioning
Created by Undergraduate Childhood Teacher Education Program at NYU
This unit was created in response to a NYC bakery that sold racist cookies. The lessons links this incident to historical racism using children’s literature, teach about antiracism and provide opportunities
for social action.
Find out more: bree-beatitdefeatit.blogspot.com