Colonial Rule

Explore the importance of rules in a community with the engaging first lesson of this series on the US government. To begin, children play a paper clip game that requires them to make up their own rules as they go, after which the...

Establishing classroom rules within the first two weeks of school is important. But what do you do with the rules after they've been created, and how can you establish them so that they have a lasting effect all year long? Use an...

How many constitutional clauses does it take to create a bill? High schoolers find out with several activities and  selected clauses about the rule of law and the US Constitution. Various coinciding activities help to strengthen learning.

Students explore government. In this decision making lesson plan, students discover the importance of majority rule in the passing of bills. They all participate in a class debate and practice the different forms of decision making. This...

Newspaper in Education (NIE) Week honors the contributions of the newspaper and is celebrated in the resource within a civics, mathematics, and fine arts setting. The resource represents every grade from 3rd to 12th with questions and...

No rules...awesome! Or is it? It's tough for young learners to think about what would happen if a rule didn't exist, but understanding the rules and where they come from helps keep everyone safe. Youngsters write a rule on the front of...

Students are introduced to the Golden Rule of Reciprocity. Using the four major world religions, they compare and contrast quotes about the Golden Rule. In groups, they create their own version of the Rule and share it with the class.

Why should classes care about the First Amendment? An engaging lesson serves as a powerful tool for answering just that. As all four cases in the lesson relate directly to freedom of expression in schools, young scholars explore the...

Fourth graders create their classroom rules.  In this Mayflower Compact lesson, 4th graders listen to the Plymouth story and learn about the Mayflower Compact.  Students analyze the Mayflower Compact and create a class compact of...

Did you know elections only played a small role in Athenian democracy? Take a look at the fascinating origins of Athenian direct democracy in ancient Greece, and compare their political structures to our understanding of representative...