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For current events of-the-moment, there are many resources popping up on the life and times of Nelson Mandela since his recent passing.
As another possible resource source, the Davidson database has compiled a collection of parent-recommended resources, including this page of Social Studies resources which may be of interest to the OP's child and others. (link-
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/browse_resources_149.aspx)
Thanks to everyone for your input - as fate would have it, Nelson Mandela's passing yesterday (in what seemed like minutes after I posted this question!) opened up a lot of great discussion at our house. I really appreciated indigo mentioning the biographies too... because I'd been thinking history textbook... but realized after reading the suggestion that ds has actually been really interested with the literature his class has read this year - language arts and social studies/history are integrated, so they have been reading fiction and non-fiction related to the area of the world they are studying. So perhaps I just need to keep feeding him more of these types of books... he is such a fast reader he finishes the books that the class is discussing long before the class is done discussing them.
I also want to thank indigo for pointing out the obvious - the resources listed here at the Davidson website. I tend to forget those!
polarbear
ps - I also wanted to share mention - when Malala appeared at the UN (earlier this year? I can't remember exactly when it was), there were interviews with her on tv, and they were great interviews to view with my children.
