Standard 1 : Foundations of Government, Law and the American Political System



This document was generated on CPALMS - www.cpalms.org


General Information

Number: SS.1.CG.1
Title: Foundations of Government, Law and the American Political System
Type: Standard
Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 1
Strand: Civics and Government

Related Benchmarks

This cluster includes the following benchmarks
Code Description
SS.1.CG.1.1: Explain the purpose of rules and laws in the home, school and community.
Clarifications:

Clarification 1: Students will explain the role that rules and laws play in their daily life.

Clarification 2: Students will explain the difference between rules and laws.

SS.1.CG.1.2: Describe how the absence of rules and laws impacts individuals and the community.
Clarifications:

Clarification 1: Students will provide examples of rules and laws in their lives and in the community.

Clarification 2: Students will recognize that disorder, injustice and harm to people can occur when there is an absence of rules and laws.



Related Access Points

This cluster includes the following access points.

Access Points

Access Point Number Access Point Title
SS.1.CG.1.AP.1: Identify a rule and a law.
SS.1.CG.1.AP.2: Recognize the effects of when rules or laws are not followed.


Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.

Original Student Tutorial

Name Description
Base Ten System - Why We Have Rules:

Explore the history of some counting systems and learn why rules are needed, even in math, with this video.

Lesson Plans

Name Description
Rules, Laws, and Timelines:

This lesson will allow the students to explain the difference between rules and laws, their purpose, and their role in the home, school, and community. Students will sequentially order events that occur at school using primary sources on a timeline while identifying rules or laws for each event. The students will complete a matching activity on the purpose of rules at school.

Be-Beep Algorithms! Applying Computation Thinking in Kindergarten:Part 2:

Help your students understand the importance of following sequences as well as following the law in this immersive lesson. Students will play a class game of “Bus Ride” to identify a set of defined steps for riding a bus safely as well as being introduced to the term “algorithm”. The teacher will then continue the lesson by helping students connect the idea of sequencing to rules and laws. Finally, students will play the Scratch game “Be-Beep!” using arrow keys to safely drive a virtual “bus” full of school children to their school without breaking any traffic laws.

Coding Community Rules Part 1:

Students will be introduced to Scratch and why rules are important. On Scratch, students will log in, choose a sprite, and select the community location they will focus on for their project in this integrated unit. This is part 1 of a 3 lesson unit.

Rules RULE! Applying Computational Thinking in Kindergarten: Part 1:

Why are rules important? Have your students ever wondered why we have rules at school? In this interactive computer science lesson, students will play a game of charades to distinguish between responsible behavior (rule-following) and irresponsible behavior (rule-breaking) by acting out classroom rules with picture cards and then play a Scratch game to apply computational thinking as they identify and sort appropriate behavior at home and school.

Rules and Laws in My Community: Coding Part 2:

Students will create a simple Scratch coding program to explain a rule within their school community. Students will upload a digital photo for the background, choose Sprites and write and voice their own narration.

Rules and Laws: Then and Now:

The purpose of this lesson is for students to explain the difference between rules and laws and the purpose of rules and laws in the home, school, and community while being able to explain how rules affect their daily lives. Students will compare rules and laws now with rules and laws from the past to be able to compare and contrast two texts on the same topic.

A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin: Lesson 6: Unfair Rules:

In lesson 6 of this unit, the teacher will continue reading A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin. Civics will be integrated throughout as students learn about the purpose of rules and laws in school, home, and community. Students will identify relevant details in order to make a connection with Benjamin Franklin, who stood up against a law that he felt was unfair, by writing their own opinion pieces about a fictitious rule.

This unit is focused on identifying Benjamin Franklin as the topic of the text. Civics is integrated through understanding that Benjamin Franklin represents the United States. Students will explore life in the 1700’s to gain background knowledge. Teacher will create an ongoing timeline to document the major events in Ben’s life as key details. Students will solve a real world problem through invention, create a newspaper article to spread news, write both an expository and opinion piece. The assessment for the unit will be a kite that is a graphic organizer for students to identify the topic and relevant details in a text.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Water Safety in the Community:

Students will explore how to be safe around water and the purpose of rules at home, school, and in the community in this integrated lesson plan. Students will learn about ways to be safe around different types of water by reading a passage and posted rules for different bodies of water. They will decide between examples and wrong examples of water safety and then write their own rule for water safety.

If/Then Responsible Citizens :

In this integrated lesson plan, students will work collaboratively in guided partner groups to identify responsible and irresponsible characteristics of students in a school community. Using computational thinking language of if/then conditional statements, the students will sort the information regarding responsible and irresponsible citizens in a useful order.

What If Everybody Broke the Rules? Part 2:

Students will analyze the main character’s actions, connect the character’s irresponsible character traits to responsible character traits, and create a scenario in which people can act responsibly by following the rules within the school community, in this integrated ELA and Civics lesson.

This is part 2 of a 3 part series based on the book What If Everybody Did That?

What If Everybody Broke the Rules? Part 1:

Students will describe the main character using adjectives, determine if his actions throughout the community are responsible or irresponsible, and generate a list of responsible citizenship traits, in this integrated ELA and Civics lesson plan.

This is part 1 of 3 in a series of lessons based on the book What If Everybody Did That?

What Would Happen Without Rules or Laws?:

In this lesson plan, students will explore the presence and function of rules and laws in their lives. They will provide examples of how rules and laws impact individuals and why we all have a responsibility to support the safety and happiness of the community.

Our Rules and Laws:

In this lesson plan, students explain the similarities and differences between rules and laws and explore the purpose for rules and laws in their daily life. 

No Rules:

Students will describe how not having rules and laws impacts both the community and number order when they compare numbers with and without place value rules.

Rules and Laws:

In this lesson plan, students will learn about rules and laws and the roles that they play in their daily life by creating a learning booklet.

My Rights and My Responsibilities:

In this lesson, students will learn the difference between rights and responsibilities. They will explore different rights and responsibilities that they have in the school community, as well as opportunity costs when they must fulfill their responsibilities as students.

Rules and Laws In My Community: Coding Part 1:

Students will explore the differences between rules and laws within their community. After participating in whole group discussions and sharing examples of rules and laws, students will be tasked with planning a Scratch program that exemplifies a rule being followed at school. Students will use available technology for appropriate images to be used in their Scratch coding project. This lesson is part one of a series. The series covers the planning and creation of a block code project using Scratch programming.

Teaching Idea

Name Description
Grade 1 Civics Family Guide: Standard 1:

This Grade 1 Civics Family Guide provides some ideas and activities to support civics education when at home, out and about, and in the community. The activities provided align to the civics learning benchmarks within Standard 1 at this grade level.

Video/Audio/Animation

Name Description
American Civics and Government Education in Florida: An Introduction for Families:

Florida students in kindergarten to twelfth grade study ‘American Civics and Government’ in all public schools across the state. This video informs families how they can support Florida’s K-12 civics and government education initiative at home.



Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this topic.

Original Student Tutorial

Title Description
Base Ten System - Why We Have Rules:

Explore the history of some counting systems and learn why rules are needed, even in math, with this video.



Parent Resources

Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this topic.

Teaching Idea

Title Description
Grade 1 Civics Family Guide: Standard 1:

This Grade 1 Civics Family Guide provides some ideas and activities to support civics education when at home, out and about, and in the community. The activities provided align to the civics learning benchmarks within Standard 1 at this grade level.

Video/Audio/Animation

Title Description
American Civics and Government Education in Florida: An Introduction for Families:

Florida students in kindergarten to twelfth grade study ‘American Civics and Government’ in all public schools across the state. This video informs families how they can support Florida’s K-12 civics and government education initiative at home.