Heritage Foundation
The Office of the Executive
An executive is not just a leader of a company; you can also use the term to describe the president of the United States. The ninth part of a 20-part unit teaches high schoolers about the importance of the executive branch and the...
Kentucky Educational Television
What Is Honesty?
This is an absolute must-have resource for exploring honesty with your learners! Youngsters role play four scenarios that involve honest and dishonest actions, and then engage in meaningful discussion and activities regarding those...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
How the First State Constitutions Helped Build the U.S. Constitution
Did you know that the United States Constitution was adopted after many state constitutions were already in place? Young scholars examine facts about the influence of states through an informative and interesting resource. Groups then...
Deliberating in a Democracy
Crime and Punishment
Should the United States ban the death penalty? Scholars use real-life examples of criminal activity to come to their own conclusions on the death penalty. Primary source documents, as well as video clips, open the issue of capital...
PBS
Constitution Day
September 17, Constitution Day so named because that was the day in 1787, that 39 men signed the Constitution, is the focus of a series of activities designed to simulate a Constitutional convention and open a study of the US Constitution.
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Planetary Distances on the Playground
There's no need to stay inside; get out of the classroom and create a scaled map of the solar system on your playground field! In collaborative groups, scholars identify the distance between the sun and other planets, place planet...
iCivics
I Can’t Wear What?
Can schools ban t-shirts picturing musical groups or bands? Your young citizens will find out with this resource, which includes a summary of a United States Supreme Court case from the 1960s about a similar dispute over students wearing...
Kenan Fellows
Unit 1: Introduction to Pharmacology
Learn about the study of medications, including those found in nature and those made synthetically. The first of four lessons in a series on pharmacology includes lectures, hands-on experiments, research, and more.
Center for Civic Education
Constitution Day Rap
Engage your class while learning about the US Constitution with this fun primary grade social studies lesson. After viewing a picture of the US Constitution, young learners piece together a US flag using stars and stripes with facts...
School Improvement in Maryland
Affirmative Action
Do the government's affirmative action policies promote equity in the United States? The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and affirmative action policies come under scrutiny in an activity that asks class members to...
Education Development Center
Creating a Polynomial Function to Fit a Table
Discover relationships between linear and nonlinear functions. Initially, a set of data seems linear, but upon further exploration, pupils realize the data can model an infinite number of functions. Scholars use multiple representations...
Prestwick House
The Grapes of Wrath
At over 450 pages, John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Grapes of Wrath can be a challenging choice for full-class, book circle, or independent reading. The activities in a 10-page sample The Grapes of Wrath activity pack...
Anti-Defamation League
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Civil Rights
How far have we come and how far do we still need to go to achieve equality and full civil rights in the United States? Include a packet of materials collected in your observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Education Development Center
Extending Patterns with Exponents
Don't think negatively about exponents. Young mathematicians dissect a fictional conversation between pupils trying to evaluate an expression with a negative exponent. This allows them to understand the meaning of negative exponents.
Curated OER
Martin Luther King and Malcom X on Violence and Integration
Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were contemporaries. Both were gifted orators, both were preachers, both were leaders during the Civil Rights era, both were assassinated. But the two had very different views on violence and...
State Bar of Texas
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Who decides someone is not a real person? Scholars investigate the Dred Scott v. Sandford court case which deals directly with slavery and citizenship. After viewing a short video clip, classmates work in pairs to assess and discuss the...
Curated OER
Role of the Government
Namely through discussion, get your opinionated scholars examining the roles of government- is it even necessary? They analyze the quote: "To be free, one must be chained," writing what it represents and then sharing. Consider...
Curated OER
The Branches of Government
After reviewing and reading about the three branches of US Government, complete this activity with your class. In groups, they will place their "cards" on the board under the correct branch. This lesson is weak and unclear. I'd make a...