Grade:

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/

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

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/

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

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

Grade

This unit was created in response to a simple question that one of Mike’s students posed about Iraq. Mike used this teachable moment to create an interdisciplinary unit that resulted in a student created museum about Iraq in which they taught others at their school about what they had learned.

Find out more: http://insightsintoiraq.wordpress.com/

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

Created by Mike Nappi

This unit was created to make students think critically about their world. Students learned about the use of slave and child labor in the chocolate industry and the benefits of the Fair Trade system. Students took their knowledge and educated their families and peers about the subject, wrote letters to chocolate company CEOs and took personal steps towards making more just decisions when purchasing chocolate.

Find out more: http://2ndgradersgofairtrade.wordpress.com/

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

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/