Parents and the Schools

Parents and the Schools


Educators and education policymakers at the national and
state levels support an expanded history curriculum in our
schools. Parents and schools can be partners in this endeavor
as they work toward their common goal of educating children.
Following are some well-proven measures for supporting your
children's study of history at school, and for forming
productive relationships with those responsible for their
education away from home:

1. Become familiar with your school's history program. Ask
yourself:

* What do I see in my child's classroom that shows history
is valued there? For example, are maps, globes, atlases,
and original source documents visible?

* Are newspapers and current events media part of the
curriculum? Are biographies, myths, and legends used to
study history?

* Does my child regularly have history homework, and history
projects periodically, including debates and mock trials?

* Are there field trips relating to history?

* Is my child encouraged to ask questions and look for
answers from reliable sources?

* How is knowledge of history assessed in addition to tests
based on the textbook?

* Are my children learning history in elementary and middle
school, and are the history curriculums well coordinated?

* Does the history curriculum include world history as well
as American history?

* Does my school require teachers to have studied history?
Or does it assign history classes to teachers with little
or no background?


2. Talk often with your child's teachers.


* Attend parent-teacher conferences early in the school
year.

* Listen to what teachers say during these conferences, and
take notes.

* Let teachers know that you expect your child to gain a
knowledge of history, and that you appreciate their
efforts towards this goal.

* Ask the teachers what their expectations of the class and
your child are.

* Agree on a system of communication with the teachers for
the year, either by phone or in writing twice a semester,
and whenever you are concerned.

* Keep an open mind in discussing your child's education
with teachers; ask questions about anything you don't
understand; and be frank with them about your concerns.


3. Help to improve history education in your child's school.


* Volunteer in your children's history class, for example,
to organize visits from the mayor or local historians, and
to local historical sites.

* If you feel dissatisfied with the history program, talk to
your children's teachers first, and then to the principal,
history curriculum division, superintendent, and finally
the school board. Also talk to other parents for their
input.


Resources


Listed below are a few of the many excellent books about
people, events, and issues in American and world history that
are available for primary and middle school children. They are
available in most public and school libraries, as well as in
children's bookstores. Suggestions came from: The New York
Times Parents Guide to the Best Books for Children, by Eden
Ross Lipson; History--Social Science Curriculum: A Booklet for
Parents, by the California Department of Education; The Horn
Book Guide to Children's and Young Adult Books, by The Horn
Book, Incorporated; Children's Books in Print; and from the
1991 bibliography of the National Council for the Social
Studies-Children's Book Council. The listing includes author,
title, and publisher.


Primary Level Books


1. American History and Culture


Adler, David A. A Picture Book of Eleanor Roosevelt. See also
other titles in this series, and Thomas Jefferson: Father of
Our Democracy, and George Washington: Father of Our Country.
Holiday.

Barth, Edna. Turkeys, Pilgrims and Indian Corn: The Story of
the Thanksgiving Symbols. Clarion.

Cherry, Lynne. A River Ran Wild. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Cohen, Barbara. Molly's Pilgrim. Lothrop.

Faber, Doris. Amish. Doubleday.

Ferris, Jeri. Go Free or Die: A Story about Harriet Tubman. See
also Walking the Road to Freedom: A Story about Sojourner
Truth. Carolrhoda Books.

Fisher, Leonard E. The Statue of Liberty. Holiday.

Fritz, Jean. Can't You Make Them Behave, King George? See also
What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?, and Will You Sign Here,
John Hancock? Coward.

Gibbons, Gall. From Path to Highway: The Story of the Boston
Post Road. T.Y. Crowell/HarperCollins.

Harness, Cheryl. Three Young Pilgrims. Bradbury Press.

Jakes, John. Susanna of the Alamo: A True Story. Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich.

Lawson, Robert. Watchwords of Liberty: A Pageant of American
Quotations. Little, Brown.

McGovern, Ann. If You Lived in Colonial Times. Scholastic.

McGuffy, William Holmes. McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader. Van
Nostrand Reinhold.

Monjo, F. N. The One Bad Thing about Father (biography of
Theodore Roosevelt). See also The Drinking Gourd. Harper.

O'Kelley, Mattie Lou. From the Hills of Georgia: An
Autobiography in Paintings. Little, Brown.

Provensen, Alice. The Buck Stops Here: The Presidents of the
United States. HarperCollins.

Rynbach, Iris V. Everything from a Nail to a Coffin. Orchard.

Sewall, Marcia. The Pilgrims of Plimoth. See also People of the
Breaking Day (same period from Indian point of view). Atheneum.

Von Tscharner, Renata, and Ronald Fleming. New Providence: A
Changing Cityscape. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Waters, Kate. The Story of the White House. Scholastic.

Williams, Sherley Anne. Working Cotton. Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich.


2. World History and Culture


Adler, David A. Our Golda: The Story of Golda Meir. Viking.

Aliki. Mummies Made in Egypt. T.Y. Crowell/HarperCollins.

Fisher, Leonard E. The Great Wall of China. See also Pyramid of
the Sun--Pyramid of the Moon, and The Wailing Wall. Macmillan.

Musgrove, Margaret W. Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions.
Dial.

Provensen, Alice, and Martin Provensen. The Glorious Flight:
Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot. Puffin.

Sabin, Louis. Marie Curie. Troll.

Stanley, Diane. Peter the Great. Four Winds.

Wells, Ruth. A to Zen: A Book of Japanese Culture. Simon and
Schuster.


3. Historical Fiction and Poetry


Aliki. A Medieval Feast. T.Y. Crowell/HarperCollins.

Baylor, Byrd. The Best Town in the World. Scribner's.

Benchley, Nathaniel. Sam the Minuteman. HarperCollins.

Burton, Virginia Lee. Litle House. Houghton Mifflin.

Goble, Paul. Death of the Iron Horse. Macmillan.

Hall, Donald. Ox-Cart Man. Puffin.

Kurelek, William. A Prairie Boy's Winter. Houghton Mifflin.

Kuskin, Karla. Jerusalem, Shining Still. Harper Trophy.

Lee, Jeanne M. Ba-Nam. Henry Holt.

Le Sueur, Meridel. Little Brother of the Wilderness: The Story
of Johnny Appleseed. Holy Cow! Press.

Livingston, Myra. Celebrations. Holiday.

Lobel, Anita. Potatoes, Potatoes. HarperCollins.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Hiawatha. Dial.

Lyon, George-Ella. Who Came Down That Road? Franklin Watts.

Spier, Peter. We the People: The Constitution of the U. S.. See
also Tin Lizzie, New Amsterdam, and The Star-Spangled Banner.
Doubleday.

Swift, Hildegarde, and Lynd Ward. Little Red Lighthouse and the
Great Gray Bridge. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Turkle, Brinton. Thy Friend, Obadiah. Puffin.

Zolotow, Charlotte. The Sky Was Blue. Harper.


Upper Elementary Level Books


1. American History and Culture


a. Original sources and biographies


The Log of Christopher Columbus' First Voyage to America: in
the Year 1492, As Copied Out in Brief by Bartholomew Las Casas.
Linnett Books/Shoestring Press.

Brown, Margaret W. (editor). Homes in the Wilderness: A
Pilgrim's Journal of Plymouth Plantation in 1620, by William
Bradford and Others of the Mayflower Company. Linnett
Books/Shoestring Press.

Cousins, Margaret. Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia. Random.

Douglass, Frederick. The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.
Macmillan. See also The Narrative and Selected Writings. Modern
Library.

Freedman, Russell. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Clarion. See also
Indian Chiefs, The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the
Airplane (Holiday), and Lincoln: A Photobiography (Clarion).

Harrison, Barbara, and Daniel Terris. A Twilight Struggle: The
Life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Lothrop/Morrow.

Lester, Julius. To Be a Slave. Dial.

McKissack, Patricia, and Frederick McKissack. Mary McLeod
Bethune: A Great Teacher. Enslow.

Meltzer, Milton. The Black Americans: A History in Their Own
Words. See also others in this "In their own words" series, and
Voices from the Civil War. T.Y. Crowell/HarperCollins.

Ravitch, Diane (editor). American Reader: Words That Moved a
Nation. HarperCollins.


b. Period History and Historical Fiction


Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Little, Brown/Orchard House.
See also An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving. Holiday.

Benet, Rosemary, and Stephen Vincent Benet. The Ballad of
William Sycamore. Henry Holt.

Blumberg, Rhoda. The Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark.
Lothrop.

Brink, Carol R. Caddie Woodlawn. Macmillan.

Brown, Marion Marsh. Sacagawea: Indian Interpreter to Lewis and
Clark. Childrens.

Fisher, Leonard E. The Oregon Trail. See also Tracks Across
America: The Story of the American Railroad, 1825-1900.
Holiday.

Flournoy, Valerie. The Patchwork Quilt. Dial.

Forbes, Esther. Johnny Tremain. Houghton Mifflin.

Freedman, Russell. Cowboys of the Wild West. Clarion.

Fritz, Jean. Shh! We're Writing the Constitution. Putnam. See
also other books by the same author on Pocahantas, Paul Revere,
and others.

Hakim, Joy. The First Americans, the first volume of the series
A History of the United States. Oxford University Press.

Haskins, Jim. Outward Dreams: Black Inventors and Their
Inventions. Walker.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. True Stories from History and Biography.
Ohio State University Press.

Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils. Berkley.

Jacobs, William J. Ellis Island: New Hope in a New Land.
Scribner.

Maestro, Betsy. A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our
Constitution. Lothrop.

Nixon, Joan L. A Family Apart. Bantam.

O'Dell, Scott. King's Fifth. See also The Serpent Never Sleeps:
A Novel of Jamestown and Pocahontas. Houghton Mifflin.

Parker, Nancy W. The President's Cabinet and How It Grew.
HarperCollins.

Smith, Carter (editor). Daily Life: A Sourcebook on Colonial
America. Millbrook.

Stewart, George. The Pioneers Go West. Random.

Wilder, Laura I. Little House in the Big Woods. See also others
in the "Little House" series. Harper Trophy.


2. World History and Culture, and Historical Fiction


Blumberg, Rhoda. The Remarkable Voyages of Captain Cook.
Bradbury.

Corbishley, Mike. Ancient Rome. Facts on File.

Foreman, Michael. War Boy: A Country Childhood. Arcade.

Galbraith, Catherine A., and Rama Mehta. India Now and Through
Time. Houghton Mifflin.

Harkonen, Reijo. The Children of Egypt. Carolrhoda Books.

Macaulay, David. Pyramid. See also City: A Story of Roman
Planning and Construction; Cathedral: The Story of Its
Construction; and Castle. Houghton Mifflin. Also available on
video.

Marrin, Albert. Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars. Viking.

Muller, Jorg. The Changing City. McElderry.

Nhuong, Quang Nhuong. The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in
Vietnam. Harper Trophy.

Rogasky, Barbara. Smoke and Ashes: The Story of the Holocaust.
Holiday.

Stott, Ken (illustrator). Columbus and The Age of Exploration.
Bookwright.