El Education: An a to Z Book of Homelessness

This ABC book about the lives of homeless people was created by 3rd and 4th grade students in Washington, D.C. The class took part in a Learning Expedition about homelessness in part because students walked by homeless individuals on their way to school, and they wanted to do something to help. Research teams of four or five students, led by an adult, did fieldwork research in the community by visiting and interviewing organizations that supported the homeless, such as shelters and soup kitchens; they also interviewed homeless people. Each student chose a letter and wrote a page of the book, and did a watercolor painting to match the text. To address the language needs of local students and the class's study of Spanish, the text is bilingual.