Resource

Medium

Annotation

Limitations/Comme
nts

How Big is a Foot?, Rolf

Myller

Book

This book tells the tale of

a king who requests a
bed measured in feet,
and then the bed is not
the correct size since the
man who made it did not
have the same size feet
as the King.

A strong introduction
to discussing
measuring using feet;
is specific to teaching
feet and may be
confusing if taught
with other types of
measurement

National Standards for

Social Studies Teachers
by the National Council
for the Social Studies

Article
(accessed
online)

The National Standards

for the Social Studies
discuss some of the
critical Social Studies
topics that should be
approached in
classrooms. There are
also suggestions for
implementing the
standards throughout.

These standards are

large overarching
topics, and i can be
difficult to really go in
depth into each of
them

Common Core State

Standards

Website

The CCSS are adapted by

the state of Pennsylvania
and thus should be
referenced in each
lesson. For elementary,
they only have Literacy
and Math standards
available.

There are only

standards, not
suggestions of
implementation.

Measuring Penny, by
Loreen Leedy

Book

Measuring Penny tells the

story of a girl who
measures her dog and
then decides to measure
everything else as well.
She measures in different
units throughout.

This is a better story

in terms of introducing
measurement in
general.
Unfortunately,
however, it might be
confusing for the
students to
comprehend the many
units that she uses to
measure.

The Learning Network -

Online

The Learning Network

The database is quite

The New York Times

compiles many different

resources for teachers,
including lesson plans,
student opinions,
provoking questions, and
more. It includes many
different grade levels and
subject areas, and
contains views and
suggestions from
teachers.

large, so it takes some

time to sift through.
Much of it will need be
adjusted for the
specific group of
learners that I am
working with.

Philadelphia Museum of Place

Art

The PMA contains many

different types and styles
of art from different time
periods and cultures, and
their special exhibit right
now is on 200 years of
African-American art.

It is expensive and
requires receiving
permission to leave
the school, which
would be difficult to
get. I can pick-up
resources and bring
them back to the
students, however, so
they can still receive
some benefit even if
they cannot go in
person.

Show Way, by
Jacqueline Woodson

Picture
Book

Show Way discusses time

and family traditions,
related specifically to
African-American history.
It tells the story of Show
Ways, or quilt patterns
that families created to
keep their memories
close to them.

Though it is officially
for students from K-5,
the material in the
story is a bit heavy. It
would either need to
be taught over several
class periods, or we
may only do some
excerpts of it.

PBS/PBS Kids online

Website

Brimming with
educational videos and
texts for teachers and
students, PBS includes
many different possible
resources that can be
used for many different
topics and grade levels.

Some of the videos

are a bit too much for
the second grade
students, and it
requires some
searching to find
exactly what you
need.
The videos can be

used in between
lessons as ways to
introduce more topics
and ideas.
www.diversitycouncil.or
g

Website

Diversity Council contains

resources directly related
to teaching culture and
honoring diversity. There
is a wide variety of
resources provided, and
they account for different
grade levels and
educational settings.

The lesson plans are

not connected and all
cover different topics,
so they should mainly
be used to
supplement units and
plans that are already
established.

Free Library of
Philadelphia

Local
Organizati
on

The Central Branch in

particular has many
resources in addition to
the books one would
expect. They also have
archives of documents
and pictures that anyone
can look at.

The Library is not

close to Jackson
school, so it would not
be very feasible to
bring the students in.
Rather, I will likely go
on my own time and
collect resources to
bring back to my
students.

Philadelphia Student
Union

Local
Organizati
on

As the only Philadelphiaspecific youth activist

group,the Philadelphia
Student Union is a
fascinating organization
who is trying to tackle
issues within Philadelphia
itself. The students could
talk to my students about
why having Personal
Identity and fighting for
whats important to you
is something they so
strongly advocate.

Because the
organization is entirely
students, it may be
difficult to have
members speak to our
class during school
hours.

Little Blue and Little

Yellow, by Leo Lionni

Picture
Book

This story of two different

colors that want to be
friends is an unexpected

Understanding how
this can represent
people will require

Whoever You
Are/Quienquiera Que
Seas, by Mem Fox

Picture
Book

Around the World, Time Online

for Kids
Resource

representation of cultural
diversity. By looking at
two colors that are
entirely different and
watching them merge
together, students can
understand a message
that goes beyond simply
looking at two colored
dots.

abstract thinking that

may be difficult for
young students, at
first. It will require a
strong set-up as well
as appropriate
closure.

This picture book begins

discussing how children
who seem and look
different are actually
more similar than one
may originally think. It
provides a beginning
glance at cultural
diversity.

I do not know if my
students have been
exposed to many
bilingual books, and
this concept may be
distracting for them.

Around the World is a

compilation of kidfriendly resources about
different countries. It
provides details and
images for a variety of
different countries.

The interface itself is a

bit serious, and it may
be not entirely
engaging for young
learners.