This update contains the latest announcements and current news impacting K-12 Social Studies in North Carolina public schools.  As always, we encourage those of you who receive the updates to please share this issue with others who are not currently subscribed to our listserv. To receive Social Studies Updates please sign up using the link Social Studies Listerv Update  or follow us on Twitter.

Celebrate Constitution Day  September 17    Constitution Day became an official holiday in 2004. To this day, the law requires all schools that receive federal funding to teach about the Constitution on that day.   Read more about Constitution Day and Constitution Week on the National Archives website and blog.   Check our the following websites for information, resources, and ideas for celebrating Constitution Day and Constitution Week 2022. National Archives: Constitution Day Commemorating Constitution Day and Citizen Day Library of Congress, Constitution of the United States: Primary Documents in American History US Courts: Constitution Day and Citizenship Day Video from NC Judicial Branch about Constitution Day

November is Veterans' History Awareness Month in North Carolina   On June 28, 2017, Governor Roy Cooper signed into law, An Act To Establish Veterans’ History Awareness Month In November. The intent of this law is to enable students to gain a better understanding of the meaning and importance of the contributions of American veterans and veterans from North Carolina. The North Carolina State Board of Education (NC SBE) is tasked with identifying recommended programs that schools can use during Veterans’ History Awareness Month.     Did you know that North Carolina is the 4th largest state in the nation in the number of school-aged military dependents of active-duty personnel? North Carolina is also home to over a quarter-million children of military retirees or veterans in every county in the state. Currently, there are more than 22 million Veterans who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Let us all thank and honor them in November.   For more information and to access additional resources, please view the Veterans' History Awareness Month flyer to help you and your students honor veterans. They can be used during this Veterans’ History Awareness Month or throughout the year.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month September 15 to October 15    A law (signed by President  Lyndon B. Johnson and then expanded by Ronald Reagan) designates September 15 to October 15 of each year as National Hispanic Heritage Month.   National Hispanic Heritage Month provides us the opportunity to recognize, celebrate, and honor the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.   To learn more, visit HispanicHeritageMonth.gov, which is a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

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