Living in a Democracy

This is a must-have resource for every social studies teacher covering the civil rights movement. Through an engaging video and detailed viewing guide, young historians learn about the Freedom Riders, and discover how everyday...

Get the youngest American citizens involved in the presidential election and inauguration with a set of social studies activities. Focusing on the history of presidential inauguration ceremonies, learners draft their own poems, design...

Students discuss the components of a representative democracy. In groups, they create a t-shirt that shows the components and why it is "cool" to live in a democracy. As a class, they examine the concept of the common good and how...

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...

Students explore core democratic values. In this citizenship activity, students discuss unitarian governments, confederation governments, the federal system, and representative democracy. Students then write about the experience of...

Prepare even our youngest citizens to participate in the democratic process with this powerful packet of materials. Kids consider what it means to be a good citizen, examine voter qualifications, investigate initiatives and referenda,...

In this International Day of Democracy learning exercise, students complete activities such as reading a passage, phrase matching, fill in the blanks, correct words, multiple choice, spelling, sequencing, scrambled sentences, writing...

Distinguish between primary and secondary source documents using the theme of philanthropy. Middle schoolers discuss Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl as a way to study the past using a primary source. Then they investigate how to...

Rousseau's ideas about natural and general rule, representative and direct democracy, and the role of government are the focus of this informational packet that also looks at how these ideas influenced the American form of government.

While many young historians would say the United States' form of democracy is the longest living, the confederacy established by Hiawatha and the Haudenosaunee is America's precursor. The activity set, complete with a beautifully...