Let the Children March

 

Title: Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson and Illustrated by Frank Morrison

Genre: Children's Literature, Historical Fiction

Grade Level: 3rd grade to 6th grade

Link to Purchase (Sparta Books)

Element 4: Social Movements and Social Change

Summary: Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson gives a look into the Children's Crusade of 1963 through the eyes of a young African American girl. Dr. Martin Luther King speaks at her church, empowering African Americans, and he motivates this young girl to stand up against segregation. When the parents can't risk losing their jobs,  the children decide to march for them and against social injustice. Day after day, firefighters would hose the children down and attempt to scare them with dogs. Many children were arrested and kept under terrible conditions in jail cells where they could barely move. They continued to march for 7 days, as their efforts became known around the world. Thanks to the children's bravery in marching and the violence they underwent, President Kennedy would advocate for desegregation. 

Element 4 Representation: This book, about the movement, the Children's Crusade of 1963, represents the fourth element: social movement and social change, because it shows the children working together for the greater good, to put an end to segregation and racism. Their peaceful efforts and bravery combined impacted the world and President Kennedy, resulting in social change. 

Using This Book inside the Classroom: I would use this book in a 3rd-grade classroom, and after reading it aloud to the children, I would make it accessible for them to look back on and read in our own classroom library. I would pair this book with a writing activity, as well as provide an open discussion about the unfair treatment the children experienced as well as fostering any thoughts or questions my class may have after reading the story. The writing activity will have them look back on key components of the story and tie them into how children can still create change today. 

Additional Thoughts: This book is a great representation of key historical events that are not often as widely known, such as The Underground Railroad, Dr.King's I Have A Dream speech, or Rosa Parks sitting on the bus. It shows the children that there were also children like them fighting for change and many other people contributing to movements that were underrepresented.

Teacher Review

Teacher Resource

Separate is Never Equal

 

Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and her Family's Fight for Desegregation

Author & Illustrator: Duncan Tonatiuh

Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers

Grade level: 2nd-5th Grade

Social Justice Element: #4 Social Movements and Social Change

Where to buy?

Summary

Separate is Never Equal tells the true story of Sylvia Mendez, a young Mexican American girl living in California in the 1940s. When Sylvia and her brothers try to enroll in a neighborhood school, they are denied because of their Mexican heritage. Instead, they are told to attend a "Mexican school," which had fewer resources and poor conditions. Sylvia's parents refused to accept this unfair treatment and worked tirelessly to fight for equal education. Their court case, Mendez v. Westminster successfully ended school segregation in California - seven years before Brown v. Board of Education.

This story shows how one family's bravery and persistence helped create real change for children across the country. 

Social Justice Element Connection

Element #4: Social Movements and Social Change

This book is strong representation of social justice and activism. It highlights how ordinary people can stand up against discrimination and change unfair systems. Sylvia and her family faced racism and inequality but did not stay silent. They organized community support, took legal action, and demanded that all children deserve the same education. 

The story helps students see:

• Prejudice was not just in the South during segregation - it happened everywhere.
• Kids and families can be part of movements for fairness.
• Social change often begins with one family or community saying "this is not right"

Teachers can use this book to help students understand that fighting injustice can be peaceful, persistent, and community-driven.

Classroom Lesson Idea

Tittle: Standing Up for Fairness: Learning from Sylvia Mendez

Book: Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh

Grade: 3rd Grade

Time: 45 - 60 minutes

Social Justice Focus: Social Movements and Social change

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Understand why Sylvia Mendez and her family fought for equal education.
• Identify fairness vs. unfairness in everyday situations.
• Practice speaking up respectfully when something is unfair.

Materials

• The book Separate is Never Equal
• Chart paper or whiteboard
• Marker
• "Fair/Unfair Sorting Cards" 
• Students' reflection sheet (optional: students can write in notebooks)

Lesson Procedure

1. Warm-Up Discussion

    Ask students:

• "Has there ever been a time when something felt unfair to you? What happened?"
• Let 3-4 students share

2. Read Aloud (15-20 minutes)

    Read Separate is Never Equal out loud.

    Pause at key moments to ask: 

• "How do you think Sylvia felt right now?"
• Was this fair or unfair? Why?"

3. Class Discussion

• Question: Why couldn't Sylvia go to the school near her house?

Purpose: Identifying discrimination

• What did her Parents do to help?

Purpose: Highlight activism

Write students responses on a chart titled: How the Mendez Family Helped Change the World.

4. Group Activity: Fair or Unfair? Sorting Cards

    Give each group of 3-4 students a set of cards such as:

Fair: 

• Everyone gets the same game turns
• Students can speak in class
• Everybody can join the art club

Unfair

• Only some students get new books 
• Only boys can use the playground
• Only one group gets access to the computer lab

5. Student reflection

    This piece can be used for assessment. Students answer one of the prompts:

• "If I saw something unfair at school, I could say or do...."
• Sylvis and her family were brave because..."

Why this lesson supports Social Justice Element #4

    This lesson helps students:

• Understand how people work together to change unfair systems.
• Connect the past to their own school experiences
• See themselves as capable of standing up for fairness. 

Teacher resources

Why This Book Matters 

This book addresses racism, segregation, and the fight for equal education-topics that are still relevant today. It also highlights Mexican American history, which is often not represented enough in schools. This makes the story important for helping students see diverse American experiences and voices. 

Super Manny Cleans Up

Super Manny Cleans Up
Written by: Kelly DiPucchio
Illustrated by: Stephanie Graegin

Element 4: Social Movements & Social Change
Link to purchase
Teacher Resource Link


Summary:

This book is about a young boy named Manny and his friend Gertie, taking on little problems that arise in their little world. They wear different colored capes for each issue; in this case, it was green for cleaning up the trash in the park. Manny and Gertie go to their local park and start cleaning up the trash scattered along the grass. They inspired other kids to join in and clean up with them. They were all taught the importance of recycling and the dangers of littering. 

Connection to Social Movement & Social Change:

This book relates to this element because it portrays the action of doing it yourself. This book teaches young students that if something is wrong and no one else is doing anything about it, you should take initiative yourself. A small effort of two turned into a bigger number, and a bigger number of helpers equaled a better outcome for the park. The book also teaches young students to be carefully aware of littering in their own communities to protect animals and the environment.

Classroom Idea (Grade Level: 4th Grade)

The students can create posters about recycling and littering to be hung all around the school. They can come up with a catchy catch phrase that can be featured on the poster that will help other students remember to recycle. The students can set up a little club where they go after school to pick up any trash along the school or the playground.

Revolution by Deborah Wiles

 

Revolution by Deborah Wiles 

Book design by Phil Falco 

Element 4: Social Movements and Social Change 

Link to teacher resource: https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/lesson-plans/19-20/anthem-discussion-guide.pdf

Book purchase link: https://bookshop.org/p/books/revolution-the-sixties-trilogy-2-deborah-wiles/0dca073810e54f5f?ean=9780545106085&next=t&c

Summary: It is 1964 in Missouri. Sunny a 12 year old white girl is the main narrator who is navigating the challenging and confusing time of the Freedom Summer. She has lived a sheltered life living in Greenwood her whole life. She knows and understands very little of the racial disparity and strife that is growing around the country. When she hears that there are invaders coming to her town she is astounded and assumes they are hostile. Sunny is unaware that these people coming to Greenwood are here to help fight to get voting rights for the black citizens of Greenwood. Her father had remarried and she has to adapt to having a new stepmother, a new brother, and a new sister. Sunny and her brother get caught by the police for sneaking into a local swimming pool when suddenly out of nowhere they notice a stranger whose life is going to get intertwined with theirs.

Connection to element 4: This novel connects to element 4, social movements and social change, because the novel highlights how everyday people, such as students, volunteers, and local black residents who live in Greenwood unite together challenging the systematic racism of Jim Crow laws while fighting for voting rights. It emphasizes the very important theme of coming together a community to work together to transform unjust systems. Wiles also incorporates a variety of different voices and historical figures like Lyndon B. Johnson, Bob Moses, and Cassius Clay. This signifies that social movements are made up of a myriad of individuals with different vital roles and backgrounds who gathered together to support a common cause. The novel showcases specific tactics used during the Civil Rights Movement such as voter registration drives, build freedom schools in the south, and nonviolent protests. These acts were met with suspicion, discrimination, and brutality from white segregationists. Deborah Wiles also wanted to show how individual choices made by characters helped spark and contribute to the larger picture of change in national history. It helps and supports the readers in understanding that history is shaped by individuals acting together to initiate change. The novel also includes real photographs, quotes, and news experts from the time period. It helps readers be reminded that this movement was real and the struggle for social change was dangerous and evident effort.

Classroom lesson idea: My lesson idea that incorporates Revolution by Deborah Wiles is having my students research more on specific events that were mentioned in the novel. For example, what specifically the Freedom Summer initiative is and how did that effect southern states in the time period. How did Freedom Summer help southern communities realize the injustices that were occurring in their state governments? This allows my students to develop more critical thinking and seeing the bigger picture of how Freedom Summer contributed to the larger Civil Rights Movement. After researching about the issue, I would ask the students to form groups and share what they learned about the Freedom Summer initiative. I would use this in 6th grade social studies class because it focuses on a part of history that has often been overlooked in the education system.

Rocket Says Speak Up!

Rocket Says Speak Up!

Written by: Nathan Bryon

Illustrated by: Dapo Adeola

Element 4: Social Movements and Change

Link to purchase: Penguin Random House    

Teacher Resource

Summary:

This book is about a young girl named Rocket protesting the closing of her town's library due to the lack of funding. With her friends and family, she leads a peaceful protest to protect the library and raises money to keep it open. She reaches out all over her town to spread awareness of the closing.

Connection to Social Movement & Change:

This book relates to this element because it portrays the right to protest and freedom of speech. Rocket made a change in her community by speaking out against the closure of the library; without her pride of movement, the book would have ended differently. This is a good start to teach young students to use their voice when they believe something should be done. Also, the book highlights the importance of working together and how it can cause an impact.

Classroom Idea: (Grade Levels: 3rd Grade)

The students can create a mini protest of their own about something in school. For example, the students can protest about wanting more recess or lunch time to eat. The students can create little posters to hang around the hallways. They can also make a petition to be signed by other classmates, along with asking the morning announcers to advocate in the morning announcements of their issue. 

Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation

Boycott Blue:How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation 

Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney 

Illustrator: Brian Pinkney 

Link to purchase: https://a.co/d/9i03Yep

Link to teacher resource: https://www.teachervision.com/civil-rights/teachers-guide-to-boycott-blues-how-rosa-parks-inspired-a-nation

https://teachsimple.com/product/boycott-blues-book-companion-rosa-parks 

Summary:

This book uses blue style language and some good metaphors. It tells a show about a powerful moment in U.S civil rights history that began in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus. This had a big impact on the Black citizens on Alabama who chose to walk instead of riding on the segregated buses for over a year no matter of the weather or pain they were facing. They had protest and found ways to resist segregation on a public transportation. 

This book talks about segregation on public buses where Black people had to give up their seats so a white person could sit and they were only allowed to sit on the back on the buses. It also showcases the idea of unfair law and discrimination treatment using metaphors like “dog of segregation”. It also shows the social change of people choosing boycott the buses by walking to work, church, and school everyday for over a year, this was the power of the community coming together as a whole. The book ends with the victory for Black people. 

Classroom use: 

K-5 creat a writing essay or ask a few questions about the book we just read:

What does fairness mean? 

What would it feel like if rules were unfair? How would you feel about it?

Also have them discussion about the metaphors that were used in the book.

Have them create a timeline about the events that went on throughout the book and compara then and now buses and signs and how transportation is used now.

Kamala and Maya's Big Idea

Kamala and Maya's Big Idea

Written by Meena Harris

Illustrated by Ana Ramírez González

Grades PreK-3rd

Ages 4-8

Link to Purchase!

Summary:

Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea is a story written by Meena Harris, based on a true story about Meena’s mother and aunt, Maya and Kamala. This book is about the girls' perseverance and the community coming together in order to help the girls accomplish their “big idea”, which is building a playground in the unused land in the apartment complex they are growing up in. At first, the girls go to the landlord and ask him if he can build them one but he quickly says no. Then, they write him a letter with other kids in the building asking him again but he still says no and asks them if their parents know they are there. Finally, he ends up agreeing that if the children speak to their parents and do all the work themselves that they are allowed to fix up the courtyard. The book then explores how people from the neighborhood come together by bringing different materials for the playground and work as a group in order to accomplish one common goal.

Element 4:

This book aligns directly with Element Four of the Six Elements of Social Justice Education because it emphasizes how community can come together to accomplish a shared goal. Maya and Kamala lived in an Urban neighborhood and didn’t have much access to green spaces to play. When they noticed a space in their courtyard they tried to gain access to it but the landlord said no claiming economic reasons. Instead of giving up they gathered members of their community and solved the issue themselves, proving that when people come together they can solve issues facing their community. 

Activity:

This would be a good book to use for a read aloud. While reading the book, teachers should pause at certain moments and ask their students questions like “why do you think the landlord said no to building the playground?” “If they don’t have any money for the playground what are some ideas on how they could raise some?” At the end of the book teachers should ask students if they have any big ideas. Then, they should further the conversation by asking who in their community would be able to help them with their big idea. For older grade levels this can be expanded on by having students write letters to their community members explaining their big ideas and what help they would need.

Click for another resource idea!

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