Curated OER
Follow the Leader
Students examine the roles of national leaders and the three branches of government and their duties. They view and discuss the images on the South Dakota Quarter Reverse transparency, complete a worksheet, and create a mobile of the...
Curated OER
Going...going...gone? Tropical Rainforests-How They Work, What They Do for Us, What's Being Done to Them...
Sixth graders explore the Tropical Rainforest and come to understand what it is and how it affects the ecosystem. In this rainforests lesson plan, 6th graders write about the Tropical Rainforest, imagine they are in the Tropical...
Curated OER
What Can I Do To Help?
Second graders read Frederick by Leo Lionni and complete class activities to examine how everyone has a responsibility to contribute and that each person's contribution is important.
BBC
Local Democracy
Expanding our students' understanding of government at a local level is a great way to build an understanding of government at a global level. Start the understanding by using any of these fun teaching ideas. Learners engage in several...
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What Is Smart Growth?
Students practice planning for the development of an area using the goals of Smart Growth as a guide. They analyze how regions can affect government policies. They role-play citizens who recommend how an area should be developed.
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Is FEMA a Natural Disaster?
Students develop an understanding of FEMA and reflect about the consequences of a natural disaster. In this natural disaster activity, students are asked specific questions after reading several stories. After class discussion on the...
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Does Money Talk?
Students describe role that money plays in politics, and write an editorial that explains whether or not they think money gives some people too much influence in government.
Curated OER
Play House
Students explore U.S. government by participating in a role playing activity. In this House of Representatives activity, students discuss the first day of congress and the role the House plays in running the United States. Students...
National Park Service
Civil War to Civil Rights: From Pea Ridge to Central High
Explore how the Civil War impacted the Civil Rights Movement. Class members complete a series of projects for a unit that uses a layered curriculum approach to learning.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Red States/Blue States: Mapping the Presidential Election
Young historians investigate how voting patterns have changed by comparing the outcome of the 1960 election to the outcome of the recent election. A creative final assessment has participants making a news show wherein they provide...
Curated OER
Chief Justice Roberts Goes to Court
Students gain an introductory into the branches of government. Students research all parts of government and use Frames to create a public service announcement to teach others the parts of government and how they work.
Curated OER
From a Bill to a Law
Students explore government by participating in a role playing activity. In this legal system lesson, students discuss the tasks which needed to be competed in order to write a bill and have it turned into law by the President. Students...
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The Nile: A Gift to Egypt
Sixth graders discover the Egyptian culture. In this Nile River lesson plan, 6th graders examine why the river is so important to Egypt.Students study the religions, geography and the people of Egypt. Students create an exhibit where...
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Political Asylum Talk Show
Learners view videos, visit websites, and read about the nature and changes made to the idea of political asylum. Beginning with Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, they will explore policy change throughout the years. The lesson...
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Understanding Tiananmen Square
William Bell's Forbidden City is used as the basis of a study of China, Chinese culture and government, and especially of the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Class members select a topic for Internet research and then prepare a...
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Is Bureaucracy Bad?
Students examine the term bureaucracy and its role in state government. They study the purpose of regulations and explain the role of regulatory agencies in South Carolina. They describe how administrators act as law makers and analyze...
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Dialing into Government Knowledge
Students read about the services provided by the different levels of the government.
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3 Branches of Governement
Sixth graders use the "Making the Grade" books, citizenship packets, and the "Ben's Guide" website to create a poster and a report on their assigned government branch. They then present their poster and report to their classmates.
Curated OER
Turning the Century
Students examine the Gilded Age. In this Gilded Age lesson, students create a museum of their own showing what life was like in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Students investigate immigration, settlement and how these...
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Grandpa's Mountain
Fifth graders read the book Grandpa's Mountain and discuss how land was taken away for "the good of the country". In this social studies lesson plan, 5th graders then create a newspaper, poster, poetry, interviews, surveys, or other...
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Empire State-Building
Learners explore how empires around the globe have impacted the world in which they have existed. They analyze whether or not the United States is an imperialist nation and create their own empires based on their understanding of empires...
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Oh Canada!!
Fifth graders become familiar with the people, culture, government and geography of Canada. In this Canadian people and places lesson, 5th graders research and create a map of Canada reflecting their gathered information. Students...
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Modern Japan Unit Plan
Sixth graders research modern Japanese culture, society and traditions, examine relationship between Japanese culture and its environment,
compare and contrast Japanese Society with Canadian Society, compare lives of people in Japan with...
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Protecting the Past: Give a Hoot, Don't Loot!
Students, in small groups, simulate an ancient civilization and the art they created, another group represents vandals, and the final group represents archaeologists who try to figure out what life was like for the "ancient peoples". ...