This lesson will help students understand just how the car came to occupy such a central position in American life. First, students will learn about Henry Ford, whose innovations transformed manufacturing and made automobiles affordable for virtually all Americans. Second, students will be asked to think about the different ways in which the automobile changed American society.

This professional development article describes approaches to using social media in harnessing the power of Web 2.0 technologies to reinforce the connection between multimedia literacy and powerful content-area learning in grades K-5. The emphasis is on collaboration with the school librarian. The article appears in the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which is structured around the seven essential principles of the climate sciences.

This resource website provides background content information and resources that are helpful to teachers when planning instruction about minerals, rocks, and the rock cycle.

This article provides a brief discussion of the importance of teaching students to analyze data and representations of data as well as two resources that can help teachers implement these strategies into their instruction.

This article provides an overview of how teachers can use bibliotherapy to help students deal with social, emotional, and behavioral issues.

This article continues an examination of each of the seven essential principles of the climate sciences on which the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is structured. Principle 3 states that life on Earth depends on, is shaped by, and affects climate. The climate dictates where and how species can survive. The author discusses the scientific concepts underlying the life forms' dependence on the climate and expands the discussion with diagrams, photos, and online resources.

Join us on a special trip up to Bathurst Island to record birdsongs, and learn about how you can use bird observations to create scientific inquiry in your classroom using ebird.org and birds.cornell.edu/birdsleuth.

This article profiles Paul Siple, a Boy Scout selected to accompany Admiral Byrd to Antarctica in 1928.

This presentation of a digital story (narration, images, and soundtrack in a short video) features the polar regions. The story was produced by the free, online magazine Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears.

A new instructional model, called Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI), is introduced to elementary teachers in this article. The author shows how school librarians and classroom teachers can collaborate to help students construct and communicate evidence, or arguments. Evidence buckets, a collaborative activity, and related online resources are presented. The article appears in the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which is structured around the seven essential principles of climate literacy.

In this lesson, students will analyze editorial cartoons that will enable them to explain the abuses of big business and determine the effects of their abuses. Students will identify the role of labor unions in
American society and better understand the role of government in the free enterprise system.

In this nonfiction story, young readers and listeners learn how scientists use cross sections from trees to reconstruct past climates. Versions are provided for readers at two levels, k-2 and 3-5, and in text-only and illustrated formats. The story is also available as an electronic book with recorded narration. An original story is a regular feature of each issue of the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The story can be used in science and literacy lessons and activities throughout the magazine.

In this lesson, students will examine political cartoons from 1979-1990 and analyze the events and issues leading up to the collapse of the USSR.

This article provides links to six web sites that provide an overview of cause/effect relationships, graphic organizers, and teaching strategies for elementary teachers.

In this lesson, students will use editorial cartons dealing with the American Civil Rights movement in order to determine some of the major aspects of this social movement. They will discuss a pair of cartoons in groups and present their findings to the class.

This article continues an examination of each of the seven essential principles of climate literacy on which the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is structured. Principle 2 covers the complex interactions among the components of the Earth system. The author discusses the scientific concepts underlying the interactions and expands the discussion with diagrams, photos, and online resources.

This article features children's literature about weather, climate, and climate change. What’s the difference between weather and climate? How do scientists observe, measure, and predict weather phenomena? How is Earth’s climate changing, and why? This month’s bookshelf will help students develop a solid grasp of weather-related concepts. It will also introduce students to global warming and climate change and inspire them to do what they can to combat the problem.

This issue of the free online magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, highlights resources that help elementary teachers learn about climate change and teach their students important foundational concepts.

This article assembles free resources from the Climate Change and the Polar Regions issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine into a unit outline based on the 5E learning cycle framework. Outlines are provided for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5.