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

In this integrated civics and coding lesson plan, students will discuss the purpose of rules and laws. Using collaboration and physical movement, students will complete a “rule relay maze” by breaking it into small steps.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this integrated civics lesson plan, students will discuss the purpose of rules and laws while also identifying people who have the authority and power to make and enforce them. Using collaboration and physical movement, students will create a simple algorithm dance.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this integrated civics and computer science lesson plan, students will work in groups to create an algorithm to help the authority figure through the story.

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Sudents learn the definition and purpose of laws. They will play a coding board game that is not on the computer. This is Lesson 2 in a three part series integrating civics and computer science.

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Students will learn about rules and how they relate to the steps and turns used in the Motion Blocks coding in Scratch. Students will complete an illustration depicting one rule they learned. This is lesson 1 of a 3-part integrated computer science and civics mini-unit.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will work to differentiate between a rule and a law and why both are important in our everyday lives. Students will also learn the definition of an algorithm and the discovery of the sequence of steps, then students will work to connect this information to rules and laws. Students will use sequencing sheets to determine the order of the rules. This is Lesson 1 of a three-part integrated computer science and civics mini-unit.

Type: Lesson Plan

Let’s take a bike ride! In this integrated lesson plan, students will work together as a class to generate a simple algorithm about the steps to safe bicycle riding. Next, students will watch the attached PowerPoint to identify bicycle riding laws and then discuss what might happen if the bike rider is not riding responsibly. Finally, using the Scratch game “Joy Rides a Bike”, students will demonstrate their knowledge of the parts of a bicycle, and how to dress sensibly for riding. This is lesson 3 of a 3-part unit on rules and laws integrated with computational thinking.

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In this integrated lesson plan, students will produce their own liquid siren to demonstrate how things that make sound vibrate.

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In this integrated lesson plan, students will identify people who have authority and power to make and enforce rules and laws in their school and community. Students will discover tools which produce sound that people of authority use to enforce rules.

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This lesson will allow the students to locate places in school, define rules and laws, and identify the purpose of rules and laws in the home and school. The students will also learn what happens without rules and laws.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will allow the students to locate places in school, define rules and laws, and identify the purpose of rules and laws in the home and school. The students will review a PowerPoint about rules and laws to help them engage in class discussions.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will identify different sound qualities that would happen in the classroom with the understanding of rules and laws in this integrated lesson plan.

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This is an introductory lesson to review or introduce the classroom rules with the students while making it more exciting by turning the rules into a chant. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to perform a rhythmic chant with a beat they can march to around the classroom, that contains all of their classroom rules, and they will be able to understand the importance of the rules in this integrated lesson plan.

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In this integrated lesson, students will work as a class to categorize and sort stuffed animals by physical attributes. They will then work in groups to categorize and sort shapes.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this integrated lesson plan, students will use stuffed animals and objects from lesson 1 to directly compare the measurable attributes of two objects.  They will work in groups and practice decision making by comparing various objects. 

Type: Lesson Plan

While working in groups and incorporating the importance of following rules, students will use stuffed animals to describe and compare attributes such as length, volume, or weight in this integrated lesson plan.

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The purpose of this lesson is for students to identify people who have the authority and power to make and enforce rules and laws, including parents, teachers, and police officers and describe the tools they use to do their jobs. The students will also analyze a primary source photograph of a 1925 police officer. The students will write about this topic using a scaffolded writing template.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will complete a journal entry describing the role of one school authority figure at school as someone who helps others and makes rules to keep students safe. Using notes from previous interviews to guide their writing, students will recall at least one piece of information about the school authority figure’s responsibilities at school to make rules. In this lesson, students will draw their entries and include written or dictated information about the school authority figure. 

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Students will interview their teacher as a school authority figure. In this lesson, students will practice asking relevant questions focused on their teacher’s responsibilities as a school authority figure. Students will then draw a picture and add a label, writing or dictation of information about their teacher’s responsibilities at school.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will interview several school authority figures. In this lesson, students will ask relevant questions focused on the individual’s responsibilities as a school authority figure. Students will then draw a picture and add a label, writing or dictation of information about the individual’s responsibilities at school.

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Students will explore how the five senses help us make careful observations of rules, behaviors, and consequences to produce learning in this integrated lesson plan.

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In this lesson plan, students will identify community authority figures that make and enforce rules and laws.

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In this lesson plan, students will gain an understanding of the difference between rules and laws. Students will also understand the importance of laws and how laws help to govern our nation and keep order.

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In this lesson plan, teachers will assist students in experiencing the function of rules. Students will then list and share ideas about the necessity of rules at home and school.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn what rules are, why we have rules, and who makes and enforces the rules at home, in the school, and in the community

Type: Lesson Plan

This Kindergarten 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.

Type: Teaching Idea