Social Studies Titles

What do all these people have in common: the first man to die in the American Revolution, a onetime chief of the Crow Nation, the inventors of peanut butter and the portable X-ray machine, and the first person to make a wooden clock in this country? They were all great African Americans. For parents and teachers interested in fostering cultural awareness among children of all races, this book includes more than 70 hands-on activities, songs, and games that teach kids about the people, experiences, and events that shaped African American history. This expanded edition contains new material throughout, including additional information and biographies. Children will have fun designing an African mask, making a medallion like those worn by early abolitionists, playing the rhyming game "Juba," inventing Brer Rabbit riddles, and creating a unity cup for Kwanzaa. Along the way they will learn about inspiring African American artists, inventors, and heroes like Harriet Tubman, Benjamin Banneker, Rosa Parks, Langston Hughes, and Louis Armstrong, to name a few.

Dispelling common stereotypes—such as the belief that all Arabs share the same culture, religion, and language, and have only recently begun immigrating to the United States—this exploration provides a contemporary as well as historical look at the people and experiences that have shaped Arab American culture. Each chapter focuses on a different group of Arab Americans, including those of Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi, and Yemeni descent, and features activities that highlight their distinct arts, games, clothing, and food. Kids will love dancing the dabke, constructing a derbekke drum, playing a game of senet, making hummus, creating an arabesque design, and crafting an Egyptian-style cuff bracelet. Along the way they will learn to count in Kurdish, pick up a few Syrian words for family members, learn a Yemeni saying, and learn to speak some Iraqi. Short biographies of notable Arab Americans demonstrate a wide variety of careers and contributions, including actor and philanthropist Danny Thomas, singer Paula Abdul, quarterback Doug Flutie, and activist Ralph Nader. Kids will come away with a better understanding of how Arab Americans have helped build and protect this country and have been part of our fabric as a nation for well over 100 years.

<DIV><DIV>Hands-on activities, games, and crafts introduce children to the diversity of Asian American cultures and teach them about the people, experiences, and events that have shaped Asian American history. This book is broken down into sections covering American descendents from various Asian countries, including China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, India, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Topics include the history of immigration from Asian countries, important events in U.S. history, sidebars on famous Asian Americans, language lessons, and activities that highlight arts, games, food, clothing, unique celebrations, and folklore. Kids can paint a calligraphy banner, practice Tai Chi, fold an origami dog or cat, build a Japanese rock garden, construct a Korean kite, cook bibingka, and create a chalk rangoli. A time line, glossary, and recommendations for Web sites, books, movies, and museums round out this multicultural guide.</DIV></DIV>

Featuring hands-on activities, games, and crafts that introduce children to the diversity of Latino culture, this guide teaches them about the people, experiences, and events that have shaped Hispanic American history. Broken down into sections covering descendants from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Central and South America, topics include Spanish colonial history; the missions and early settlements in Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Texas; the Santa Fe Trail and the United States-Mexican War of 1848; immigration; and the plight of migrant farm workers. Sidebars focus on famous Latinos and language lessons, while projects highlight arts, games, food, clothing, unique celebrations, and folklore. Kids can fill Mexican cascarones for Easter, learn to dance the merengue from the Dominican Republic, write a short story using magical realism to learn about the literature of Colombia, make a Cuban sandwich, and create Guatemalan worry dolls. A time line, glossary, teacher's guide, and recommendations for Latino books, movies, museums, and websites round out this multicultural excursion.

Hands-on activities, games, and crafts introduce children to the diversity of Native American cultures and teach them about the people, experiences, and events that have helped shape America, past and present. Nine geographical areas cover a variety of communities such as the Mohawk in the Northeast, Ojibway in the Midwest, Shoshone in the Great Basin, Apache in the Southwest, Yup'ik in Alaska, and Native Hawaiians. Featuring a look at the lives of notable historical and contemporary individuals, including Chief Joseph and Maria Tallchief, this guide also covers a variety of topics, such as first encounters with Europeans, Indian removal, Mohawk skywalkers, and Navajo code talkers. With activities that highlight the arts, games, food, clothing, unique celebrations, language and lifeways of various nations, kids can make Iroquois corn husk dolls, play Washoe stone jacks, design Inupiat sun goggles, or create a Hawaiian Ma'o-hau-hele Bag. A time line, glossary, and recommendations for websites, books, movies, and museums for further study round out this multicultural guide.

<DIV>Celebrating the lesser known but significant lives and contributions of our nation’s early African American leaders, this multicultural complement to most children’s books on the American Revolution covers a wide spectrum of subjects, including military, art, religion, and science. Weaving the histories of dozens of men and women—soldiers, sailors, ministers, poets, merchants, doctors, and other community leaders—to properly recognize them among the founders of the United States of America, this text gives a better sense of what these individuals accomplished and the times in which they lived. Activities include celebrating Constitution Day, cooking colonial foods, publishing a newspaper, petitioning their government, and more. This valuable resource also includes a time line of significant events, a list of historic sites to visit or explore online, and Web resources for further study.</DIV>

<DIV>Children can try their hand at re-creating ancient Israelite culture—along with the cultures of their neighbors, the Philistines and Phoenicians—in a way that will provide perspective on current events. The book covers a key period from the Israelites’ settlement in Canaan in 1200 B.C.E. to their return from exile in Babylonia in 538 B.C.E. This part of the Middle East—no larger than modern-day Michigan—was the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. More than 35 projects include stomping grapes into juice, building a model Phoenician trading ship, making a Philistine headdress, and writing on a broken clay pot. Israelites', Phoenicians', and Philistines' writing and languages, the way they built their homes, the food they ate, the clothes they wore, and the work they did, and of course, their many interesting stories, are all explored.<BR></DIV>

<div>The ancient Romans lived thousands of years before our time, but they left an indelible influence on our language, buildings, laws, ideas of liberty and citizenship, and much more. <em>Ancient Romans and Their Neighbors</em> will teach children to recognize these enduring marks and to appreciate the rich culture of ancient Rome. But the Romans didn’t do it all alone. They learned a lot from their neighbors—fascinating cultures that are more relevant than many imagine. The Etruscans, inhabitants of modern-day Tuscany, created a unique, colorful and highly refined culture, pioneering many elements of architecture, art and fashion that have been attributed to the Romans. The Celts, who have long captured popular imagination with fascinating stories of druids and magic potions, were a complex and resourceful population that left an important mark in much of Europe. The Carthaginians are normally remembered because of Hannibal’s daring crossing of the Alps on African elephants, but there is much more to their history and culture, which made them for a time the most powerful force along the Mediterranean Sea. Well-researched and based on the latest findings, this unique comparison of ancient civilizations is also full of engaging activities that will give children a taste of daily life in ancient times.</div>

From the Native Americans who lived in the Chicago area for thousands of years, to the first European explorers Marquette and Jolliet, to the 2005 Chicago White Sox World Series win, parents, teachers, and kids will love this comprehensive and exciting history of how Chicago became the third largest city in the U.S. Chicago’s spectacular and impressive history comes alive through activities such as building a model of the original Ferris Wheel, taking architectural walking tours of the first skyscrapers and Chicago’s oldest landmarks, and making a Chicago-style hotdog. Serving as both a guide to kids and their parents and an engaging tool for teachers, this book details the first Chicagoan Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the Fort Dearborn Massacre, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the building of the world’s first skyscraper, and the hosting of two World’s Fairs. In addition to uncovering Windy City treasures such as the birth of the vibrant jazz era of Louis Armstrong and the work of Chicago poets, novelists, and songwriters, kids will also learn about Chicago’s triumphant and tortured sports history.

Taking a comprehensive, nuanced, and inclusive approach to Christopher Columbus, this illuminating biography with activities for young readers places him in the context of the explorations that came before, during, and after his lifetime. It portrays the “Admiral of the Ocean Seas” neither as hero nor heel, but as a flawed and complex man whose significance is undeniably monumental. Providing kids, parents, and teachers with a fuller picture of the seafaring life and the dangers and thrills of exploration, author Ronald Reis details all four of Columbus’s voyages to the New World, not just his first, and describes the year that Columbus spent stranded on the island of Jamaica without hope of rescue. A full chapter is devoted to painting a more complete and complex portrait of the indigenous peoples of the New World and another to the consequences of Columbus’s voyages—the exchange of diseases, ideas, crops, and populations between the New World and the Old. Engaging cross-curricular activities, such as taking nautical measurements, simulating a hurricane, making an ancient globe, and conducting silent trade, elucidate nautical concepts introduced and the times in which Columbus lived.

<div>This fascinating biography captures the excitement of Cleopatra’s story and leads readers to draw their own conclusions. Photos, maps, charts, sidebars, and a time line enrich the book, while 21 hands-on, interdisciplinary activities allow kids to step back in time and try their hand at Egyptian art and poetry and to experience how Egyptians freshened their breath, transported heavy obelisks, and much more.</div>

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s enduring legacy upon the history, culture, politics, and economics of the United States is introduced to children in this engaging activity book. Kids will learn how FDR, a member of one of the founding families of the New World, led the nation through the darkest days of the Great Depression and World War II as 32nd U.S. President. This book examines the Roosevelt family—including famous cousin Teddy Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt—as well as FDR’s early political career and subsequent 12 years in office during some of the most fascinating and turbulent times in American history. Interspersed throughout are first-hand accounts from the people who knew FDR and remember him well. Children will also learn how his personal struggles with polio and his physical disability strengthened FDR's compassion and resolve. In addition, kids will explore Roosevelt's entire era through such hands-on activities as staging a fireside chat, designing a WPA-style mural, sending a double encoded message, hosting a swing dance party, and participating in a political debate.

Few Americans have had as much impact on the United States as Frederick Douglass, and this guide follows his footsteps, from his birth into slavery to his becoming a friend and confidant of presidents and the leading African American of his day. This American hero became a bestselling author, an outspoken newspaper editor, a brilliant orator, a tireless abolitionist, and a brave civil rights leader. To better appreciate Frederick Douglass and his times, young readers will form a debate club, cook a meal similar to the one Douglass shared with John Brown, make a Civil War haversack, participate in a microlending program, and more. This valuable resource also includes a time line of significant events, a list of historic sites to visit or explore online, and web resources for further study.

Connecting Gandhi's ideas and his life's work to contemporary issues this useful resource for parents and teachers makes Gandhi relevant for kids today. Packed with historic images, the book includes informative sidebars; a time line, glossary, and resource section, along with 21 activities that illuminate Gandhi's life, environment, and ideas.

<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"><DIV><DIV>George Washington comes alive in this fascinating activity book that introduces the leader to whom citizens turned again and again—to lead them through eight long years of war, to guide them as they wrote a new Constitution, and to act as the new nation’s first executive leader. Children will learn how, shortly after his death in 1799, people began transforming George Washington from a man into a myth. But Washington was a complex individual who, like everyone, had hopes and fears, successes and failures. In his early 20s, for instance,Washington’s actions helped plunge Great Britain and France into war. He later fought for liberty and independence, yet owned slaves himself (eventually freeing them in his will). This book weaves a rich tapestry of Washington’s life, allowing kids to connect with his story in 21 hands-on projects based on his experiences and the times in which he lived. Children will learn how to tie a cravat, write with a quill pen, follow animal tracks, sew a lady’s cap, plant a garden, roll a beeswax candle, play a game of Quoits, and make a replica of Washington’s commander-in-chief flag. The text includes a time line, glossary, websites, travel resources, and a reading list for further study. </DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV>