Free resources for progressive early childhood educators
Quick-action guides to teach kiddos about social issues and the power they have to change the world. Please credit Raising Luminaties when using these resources.
Critical lenses and tools to use when choosing curriculum resources. Please credit Raising Luminaries when using these resources.
The following lesson planning resources have been hand-picked, tested, and vetted by members of the Luminary Braintrust.
Art-based activities and social justice discussion prompts for pre-K & elementary-aged families.
Lesson plan, vocabulary, discussion prompts & activity guides to support radical disability justice for elementary-aged students. Created by the authors of We Move Together.
Project NIA — ‘nia’ meaning ‘with purpose’ in Swahili—is a grassroots organization that works to end the arrest, detention, and incarceration of children and young adults. Find educational resources to help grassroots activists teach transformative and reformative justice practices in their communities.
“Founded in 1986 by activist teachers, Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit, independent publisher of educational materials. We advocate the reform of elementary and secondary education, with a strong emphasis on issues of equity and social justice.”
“Black Lives Matter at School is a national coalition organizing for racial justice in education. We encourage all educators, students, parents, unions, and community organizations to join our annual week of action during the first week of February each year.”
“Geared toward universities and middle schools/highschools, social justice and community-based organizations, foundations, religious and cultural institutions”…”the ‘Curriculum on Antisemitism from a Framework of Collective Liberation’ is devoted to understanding and challenging antisemitism.“
“The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the country…Our website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and grade level.”
“We produce materials that support a strong sense of individuality along with a community model of real inclusion. Our materials teach social awareness, critical thinking skills, as well as provide much needed reflection and respect.”
“TIES (Time, Instructional, Engagement, Support) Center works with states, districts, and schools to support the movement of students with disabilities from less inclusive to more inclusive environments.”
“Our mission is to help K-16 educators enhance students’ critical thinking, metacognition, and civic engagement through media literacy materials and professional development.”
Curated teaching resources, toolkits, recommended children’s books, and discussion starters to support educators discussing the Palestine-Israel conflict for middle & high-schoolers.
Picture books to illustrate social justice issues and make hard conversations easier.
@2024 Ashia Ray of Raising Luminaries & The Student Ignition Society. All rights reserved. Text & images may not be re-posted in whole or in part, without written permission.
Images used by the following creators, with permission via Unsplash: Kristin Brown.
This page was last updated in December 2023 by Ashia R.