Dancing Panda Fun For All Ages: Celebrating Juneteenth!

Hej Panda Pal! Today we’ll be doing a social studies activity called, "Celebrating Juneteenth!” In this activity, you're going to learn about Juneteenth, a holiday celebrated by many people in the United States on June 19th of each year. Watch this video to find out more:

Instructions: Watch the following video. In this video, you learned about Juneteenth, a holiday that is also sometimes called Jubilee Day or Freedom Day.

For all ages, discuss:

What did you learn about this holiday? What is it honoring? How do people celebrate it?
Have you ever heard of Juneteenth before?
What holidays do you celebrate in your family? What are some of the traditions and ways your family celebrates?

For older kids (grades 3 and older), you may also want to ask:

Why do you think people advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday?
Why is it important to celebrate holidays like this?

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Need some help doing this activity?

Tips:

Why learn about holidays like Juneteenth? Learning about the history and experiences of different races and cultures within the United States, both good and bad, is an important part of social studies education. It is also essential for raising culturally sensitive children.
The video mentions slavery, which can be a difficult topic to discuss with your child. You may feel that your child is not developmentally ready for this activity. You know your family best and should skip this activity if it doesn't feel right to you.
If you do want to tackle this conversation, but feel that you need to provide your child with more information about slavery, author and scholar Beverly Daniel Tatum suggests this as a possible explanation for young kids:

"A long time ago, before there were companies, stores and buildings, there were some people who needed to work the land in the United States. There was a need for smart, strong workers—and they went to Africa and brought them to the United States against their will which wasn’t OK. They were people but they were called slaves. Those people made them work, but never paid them and they were never allowed to leave the plantations where they worked; it was very unfair. But there were also good people who were working to end slavery, Black and White people, and they were eventually successful."

Source: How to Talk to Children about Juneteenth

Want more help in how to speak to your kids about Juneteenth and slavery? Check out Dancing Panda’s blog post How to Talk to Your Bigger Kids About Juneteenth and Slavery by Dancing Panda founder, Deb Lee.

Learning Connections

In elementary school social studies, students learn to understand and participate in the world around them. They study government and other institutions, both past and present. They also examine the way people relate to one another and to their environment. To build their understanding of our world, students study the society of the past as well as the events that have shaped history. This activity helps students learn about the world in which they live by exploring a holiday that is related to an important event in United States history--the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved peoples. Learning about holidays like Juneteenth also helps to encourage civic engagement in children.

Additional Resources

Articles for Grownups:

If you'd like to learn more about Juneteenth, this blog post lists several great children's books about the holiday: https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2021/05/juneteenth-childrens-books/
This article includes more information about Juneteenth and a bunch of tips for talking to your child about race: https://babypalooza.com/juneteenth-children-and-race/
The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture has a web page about Juneteenth that is chock full of excellent resources, including photographs, music, African American folk tales and more. https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/historical-legacy-juneteenth
Here's a down-to-eartth resource for parents on how to start talking to your children about race and the complicated issues surrounding race in the United States: https://www.rebekahgienapp.com/talk-with-children-about-slavery/

Kid-Friendly Resources:

Check out this video, it’s a read-aloud of the children's book Juneteenth, written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and Drew Nelson. https://youtu.be/k5PDOQ4HyEY (12:14).
Today's greeting is in Swedish! Here's a video on how to say hello.

Education Standards

Education standards are learning goals that identify what students should know and be able to do at particular grade levels (e.g. second grade) or milestone points in their education (e.g. by the end of high school). Education standards lay out goals but do not provide specific curriculum for achieving those standards. How to achieve those goals is up to individual states, districts, schools, and teachers. There are national standards in each major subject area, and many states also have their own standards.

The national standards for Social Studies are known as the C3 Framework and Grade-Level Outcomes for Social Studies can be seen at this website. Schools throughout the United States use many different social studies standards that are specific to their location. Although learning targets differ, many states use the C3 Framework to develop their standards.

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