Be My Neighbor is a Global Fund for Children book that focuses on the characteristics of a neighborhood and how certain traits are shared in communities around the world. Because neighborhoods share many characteristics, the people who live in them are neighbors not just with those people in their own locale but in neighborhoods worldwide. The activities found in this learning cycle lesson engage the prior knowledge of children ages 4-8, help them develop the concepts of neighborhood and neighbor, and involve them in expanding those concepts beyond their local neighborhood.

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Cynthia Szymanski Sunal is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Alabama with a specialty in social studies education. She has worked with early childhood and elementary students in several countries and in several states within the U.S.A. Contact information: cvsunal@bamaed.ua.edu, The University of Alabama.

Dennis W. Sunal is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Alabama. Much of his work has focused on science related social issues and how societies develop strategies to address issues and make decisions about them. Contact information: dwsunal@bama.ua.edu, The University of Alabama.