What Does Local Government Do?

Young scholars explore their local govenment structure and the people who hold various positions of power.

What's it like to be mayor for a day? Elementary historians use their imaginations to describe what they would do as mayor and why. Academics create a list of ideas, share in small groups, and create a master list of suggestions with the...

Young historians discover the ways in which they can participate in democracy from an early age. The lesson discusses how government regulations affect daily life and offers ideas for young people to contribute to their local...

Ask not what the activity here can do for you, but what you can do with the activity. The answer is quite a lot! Young scholars revisit JFK's famous inaugural address with a focus on his plea for civic engagement. There's a letter to JFK...

What does freedom mean to me? is the driving question of a character education lesson focused on citizenship. Scholars study the story, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson, discuss in detail the positive realities of...

Young scholars work cooperatively in small groups to identify the purposes of local government. They review the five broad purposes of local government and match the services of government to the appropriate purpose.

Introduce young historians to the US Constitution with this upper-elementary social studies lesson plan. Beginning with a general discussion about the role of government in society, students go on to work in small groups identifying and...

Let peace begin with your class! After brainstorming definitions and interpretations of the word peace, class members draw their version of peace and pass it to a neighbor, who adds to the drawing. Several rounds later, students get...

Students attend a local assembly meeting of local government officials and keep a journal of what they saw. For this assembly lesson plan, students also discuss government and how they think government can influence society.

The American flag is the focus of this lesson. Students identify the various symbols on the American flag and what they represent. They brainstorm common values of the American people, compare their classroom community to the United...