Are you looking for ways to help your students learn about civics and citizenship?
Check out our latest episode of the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast, where we discuss two great websites that can help you do just that. Kid Citizen and Learning for Justice are both packed with resources that will engage your students and help them learn about their community and the world around them.
These sites are perfect for any classroom, not just social studies. They cover a range of topics, from current events to American history, so your students can learn about anything they’re interested in. Plus, they’re updated regularly with new content so your lessons never get stale, and each of the sites count as primary sources for your students’ projects.
KidCitizen
Kid Citizen specifically teaches about using primary sources with K-5 students.
Each “episode” of KidCitizen walks through an interactive video. The students are then prompted to collect their “wonderings” in a journal. The primary sources that are found on the site are gathered from a large collection of lessons found in the Library of Congress. The lessons are easy for younger students to digest but the content is authentic and you will find it very helpful in your classroom.
Learning for Justice
You may remember Learning for Justice as its previous name, Teaching Tolerance. The program changed names relatively recently. The site supports teachers and supports teaching challenging discussion topics like race, equality, gender, and other social-emotional learning topics.
There are all kinds of resources such as lesson plans, student tasks, literacy connections, documentaries, student performance tasks and so much more.
One of the sections I use often is the “Film Kits” resource. Not only do they share video resources, they also explain the vocabulary used, additional lessons and resources to help teachers have authentic discussion on the topic.
Learning for Justice is well organized and broken down based on grade level and topic. In addition to the lesson support, there is also a large collection of PD for teachers from webinars to podcasts and even cool classroom posters.
Connecting our students to primary sources and events in history is really important at every age. Check out the resources this week and see if you can find one to help out your lessons.
Take care and thanks for listening!
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