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Rosa Parks (1913–2005) is best known for her refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a crowded bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the civil rights movement that ultimately led to the dismantling of Jim Crow segregation. Rosa Parks became an icon of the movement, celebrated for this single courageous act of civil disobedience, but she is often characterized by misconceptions. Contrary to popular belief, Parks was not a demure seamstress who chose not to stand because she was physically tired. Her calm demeanor hid a militant spirit forged over decades. Learn more about her and her life by exploring these primary sources.
Explore the sites and online exhibitions listed below. Ask students what they can learn from these primary sources about why Rosa Parks took her stand against segregation, and about the organizations and movements that participated in the struggle. They might compare that to what they learn from a textbook or other secondary source and then write a possible update for the secondary source.
It's important that students understand the difference between primary and secondary sources. Visit here for a solid definition and see some examples.
Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words showcases rarely seen materials that offer an intimate view of Rosa Parks and documents her life and activism—creating a rich opportunity for viewers to discover new dimensions to their understanding of this seminal figure.
This gallery showcases a selection of items from the Rosa Parks Papers at the Library of Congress, a gift from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. This collection contains thousands of items that document the life, work, and legacy of this civil-rights legend.
In honor of the birthday of civil rights legend Rosa Parks, this blog highlights the many cards and letters students wrote for Ms. Parks over the years.
The Rosa Parks Collection, which is on loan to the Library for 10 years from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, spans from 1866-2006 and contains 7,500 items and 2,500 photographs.
Join NEA’s Read Across America to celebrate a nation of diverse readers with these recommended books, authors, and teaching resources that represent an array of experiences and cultures.
Read Across America has celebrated books and reading since 1998. This year, there are even more opportunities:
• Encourage adults to spend more time reading to children
• Share stories that raise up the many voices that need to be amplified and heard
• Use books to help students discover their own voices and learn from the voices of others
• Encourage readers to believe in themselves and use their voices and stories for positive change
Use the Read Across America Day calendar, Build Your Stack® posts, and ReadWriteThink.org resources to support these efforts.
Join NEA to celebrate a nation of diverse readers with these recommended books, authors, and teaching resources that represent an array of experiences and cultures.
NEA is excited to bring Read Across America year-round to help motivate kids to read, bring the joys of reading to students of all ages, and make all children feel valued and welcome.
Review the recommended titles in this calendar and the Read Across America poster.
This NCTE initiative is focused exclusively on helping teachers build their book knowledge and their classroom libraries.
International Literacy Day (ILD), celebrated annually on September 8, shines a spotlight on global literacy needs. On ILD (and every day), advocate for a literate world, support literacy educators and leaders, and celebrate the power of literacy.
On every September 8 since 1967, International Literacy Day has been celebrated around the world “to remind policymakers, practitioners, and the public of the critical importance of literacy for creating more literate, just, peaceful, and sustainable society,” according to UNESCO.
The 2026 theme, ‘Literacy for people, the planet, and prosperity,’ invites educators and others to discuss progress and challenges facing global literacy in a rapidly changing world. The International Literacy Association estimates that at least 739 million young people and adults around the world lack basic literacy skills, and four in 10 children in low- and middle-income countries are not reaching minimum proficiency in reading.
However, literacy is increasing, with more than 88 percent of adults worldwide knowing how to read and write, UNESCO reports, compared to 65 percent in 1975. Celebrating International Literacy Day is one way that teachers and students can consider and spread awareness about the importance of increasing literacy around the world.
Learn more about ILD from UNESCO.
Learn about global ILD celebrations happening in 2026.
Since he did not have books growing up, Soto regards his own emergence as a poet as "sort of a fluke." After working as a laborer, Soto entered college intending to major in geography. While in school he realized that he wanted to express himself as a writer. Soto's books and poetry present vivid pictures of life in a Mexican-American neighborhood.
Soto's stories and poetry evoke memories and images of home, family, and community. Use one of his works, such as Too Many Tamales or Baseball in April as a basis for exploring these themes. Try one of these activities:
- Too Many Tamales is about a family preparing food for their Christmas celebration, and the children who share in the preparations. Invite students to share a story about their part in a special family event. Extend this idea using the lesson My Family Traditions: A Class Book and a Potluck Lunch, which asks students to share recipes and information about their own family traditions.
- The streets and neighborhoods of Fresno, California are an integral part of Soto's stories. Invite students to describe their street.
- Ask students to compose an acrostic poem that describes a person, place, or event they cherish using the Acrostic Poems interactive tool.
Visit Soto's official website for information about the author. Visitors can find a catalog of his works, biographical information, and frequently asked questions.
Houghton Mifflin provides this brief biography of Soto, along with a selected bibliography and a recipe for one of Soto's favorite foods-frijoles.
This essay, provided by Georgetown University, offers classroom strategies for working with Soto's poems, as well as information about the major themes and style elements found in his work.
In this Webcast from the Library of Congress, Soto discusses his writing and reads selections from his novel "Poetry Lover" at the 2001 National Book Festival.
Ernest Thayer, author of the famous poem "Casey at the Bat," was born in 1863. Thayer published the poem on June 3, 1888, as a staff writer for the San Francisco Examiner. The poem has become a traditional part of the baseball season ever since.
Let Ernest Thayer's famous poem inspire your students!
In small groups or individually, students can make baseball cards for the players in the poem. Read "Casey at the Bat" aloud to students and ask them to listen carefully for the details and characteristics about each of the players involved in the fictional baseball game. Ask students to choose one of the characters, and think about what should appear on the front and back of his baseball card. Have students look at some real baseball cards if possible to provide inspiration. Finally, students can use a word processor or the interactive Character Trading Cards to create their cards.
For more ideas on making trading cards, see the Character Trading Cards page.
"Casey at the Bat" is read by James Earl Jones.
Set up a small-group reading of "Casey at the Bat"using this Readers Theatre script. The script divides the text of the poem into parts for Casey, the umpire, and a series of fans.
If your students enjoyed "Casey at the Bat," they may enjoy the baseball-related books listed on this site. Brief descriptions of each title are given, as is a recommended age.
On August 6, 1926, 19-year-old Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the 21 miles across the English Channel in 14 hours and 31 minutes—nearly 2 hours less than any man had at that point. Ederle passed away in November 2003.
Take the anniversary of Ederle's famous swim as an opportunity to talk about today's famous athletes. Have students brainstorm a list of famous athletic competitors for both individual and team sports. There were, of course, thousands of athletes who competed in national and international events like those that Ederle competed in; however, only a few are still remembered today. Encourage students to establish criteria as a class that help make an athlete particularly memorable. Then ask your students to forecast which of today's athletes will still be remembered for their accomplishments in 75 to 100 years, as Ederle is remembered long after her famous swim across the English Channel. Students can use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press to create flyers that campaign for their choices.
Your students may know how to swim, but do they know the techniques used by the best swimmers? This video explains how Missy Franklin used fluid dynamics in her quest for Olympic gold in the 2012 Summer Games.
In this NPR-archived broadcast, Bob Dunkel, executive director of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, reviews Ederle's lifetime of accomplishments.
Students can learn more about the early history of swimming the English Channel by exploring the online exhibition of the Dover Museum in Kent.
The Women's Sports Foundation, a charitable educational organization dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity, offers new fitness tips and much more at their website.
Every fall, monarch butterflies in North America travel south for the winter. Unable to survive in cold temperatures, monarch butterflies west of the Rocky Mountains travel to forests in Calfornia and those east of the Rockies travel to Mexico.
After exploring the way that monarch butterflies react to the change of seasons, have students complete an inquiry study to examine other ways that animals (and humans) change because of the seasons. Remember that changes are not limited to moving from one geographic area to another. Some animals stay in the same area, but change physically.
Using the ReadWriteThink Printing Press, invite students to develop and publish a class anthology of animal changes or a "survival guide" to show how animals face the change of seasons.
This website developed by the University of Kansas Entomology Program tracks the migration of monarch butterflies and includes links to a variety of related educational resources.
This Science Museum of Minnesota site invites students and families to join in on an investigation of the migration of the butterflies.
This page from the University of Kentucky Entomology Department offers images and information about the monarch butterfly.
Part of the Journey North project, this page follows the spring migration of monarchs each year and allows students to report monarch sightings. Also offered are lessons, questions and answers, and additional information about monarchs.
Proposed on June 4, 1919, it took more than a year for the 48 states to ratify the 19th Amendment, which became law when the Secretary of State announced the completion of the ratification process on August 26, 1920, officially giving women in the U.S. the right to vote.
Six months before the 19th Amendment established women's right to vote in the United States, the League of Women Voters was founded to help women become responsible voters. Today, the League of Women Voters works toward helping American citizens be active, involved participants in the political system—from voting to campaigning to taking a position on current issues.
Invite a representative from the local chapter of the League to talk to your students about voting rights and what they can do to be active in politics, even if they are not old enough to vote yet. Use the ReadWriteThink lessons Vote For Me! Developing, Writing, and Evaluating Persuasive Speeches and Voting! What's It All About? to explore voting with younger students.
Compare voting rights in the United States to voting rights around the world. Students may be shocked to find that in some countries women are still not permitted to vote!
In addition to historical documents related to the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment, this Library of Congress site includes texts, photos, political cartoons, and lesson plans.
This PBS website on civil rights includes a special feature for kids on "Women and the Vote."
This website offers information about Women's Rights National Historical Park, which is located in Seneca Falls, the home of many important sites in the history of women's rights in the U.S.
A crowd of more than 200,000 people assembled at Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, for the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom"—though most of us think of it as the date that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. The speech was the culminating event of a day of singing, talking, and political activism.
One of the projects that Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech has inspired is the "I Have a Dream" Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides tutoring and mentoring to children from low-income areas.
Have your students explore the Foundation's website, and brainstorm ways that they can help others at your school-or even themselves-achieve their educational dreams. Have students create a list of three to five goals to work toward and keep track of their progress during the year. Goals might range from establishing school reading projects to organizing homework help for younger students. Students can use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press to create flyers or brochures that promote their projects and encourage others to meet their educational goals.
One of the "historical places of the Civil Rights movement," the Lincoln Memorial was the site of many civil rights demonstrations. This webpage includes details on Dr. King's speech and the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington, this NPR Morning Edition series provides numerous audio files and photographs that document the event.
No matter what you're looking for regarding Dr. King's life, you're bound to find it on this Stanford University site, which includes an interactive chronology of his life, an encyclopedia of related resources, lesson plans, and much more!
The New York Times Learning Network offers this historical article about the March on Washington in which King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
The United Nations has declared September 21 as the International Day of Peace. In a message commemorating the Day in 1995, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali stated that "the world, once more, cries out for peace. And for the economic and social development that peace alone can assure... Let us keep our goal clear and simple... Let us work for peace."
For middle and high school students:
- Have students brainstorm a list of conflicts that are happening around the world: Israel-Palestine, Iraq, etc.
- Ask students to generate a list of reasons why people fight: religion, economics, etc.
- Have students form groups and assign each group one reason from the list they generated above. In groups, students should discuss and be ready to present possible solutions that could address the causes. It is important to emphasize that students are not trying to solve a particular world crisis, but rather are trying to identify solutions that can work in general (education, tolerance, debt relief, etc.).
- The groups could then create posters that promote their particular solution. See the lesson plan Designing Effective Poster Presentations for tips and ideas on making posters. For elementary-age students, follow the same process as above, but instead of looking at the world, ask students to focus on conflicts, reasons, and solutions in their school.
This site contains a number of links to other websites dealing with ways to become active in promoting peace around the world and in the local communities.
This site, part of the United Nations Cyberschool Bus, contains five curricular units that focus on ecology, tolerance, critical thinking, social justice, and global citizenship.
Read about the outstanding people who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on the official site for the award. The site includes biographies, lectures, and additional information for all the award winners as well as educational material.