Fun Activities to Teach Different Types of Government
Teaching the different forms of government seems easy enough – go over some definitions and provide examples, then quiz your students. But that’s not creating any real meaning for them,…
5 Ways to Use Political Cartoons in Your Civics Class
Political cartoons are the perfect basis for so many civics activities and topics, regardless of ability level. I think it’s because they are inherently not boring—they’re visual (not reading!), cover content through…
Lesson Ideas for Using Political Cartoons to Teach Civics
I can’t imagine teaching civics and government without political cartoons—they are essential to the subject. They make the best entry point for introducing concepts and diving deeper into diverse viewpoints on political…
Make the Citizenship Test the Best Part of Your Civics Class
Once something because a requirement, it often loses its joy. It seems like that’s precisely what’s happened now that the Citizenship Test is a high school graduation requirement in many…
5 Effective Ideas for Teaching the Principles of the Constitution
The main principles of the US Constitution can be tricky to teach for a few reasons. First, you’re introducing them at the beginning of your Civics class before diving into…
19 Ideas for Setting Up Your Social Studies Classroom
This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission when you purchase them at no additional cost to you. This helps me keep this blog running. Setting a classroom…
5 Super Easy Ideas to Bring Election Day into Your Civics Class
Regardless of if it’s a presidential, a mid-term election year, or an “off” election year, it’s essential to incorporate voting and elections into your civics or government class every single year. It…
5 Off-Year Election Activities To Engage Your Civics Students
Teaching civics during a presidential election year is always exciting. Kids are more engaged, there are endless resources available, and, of course, there’s the much-anticipated finale of Election Day results. …
Three Branches of Government: Activity Ideas that Engage
No matter how you structure your Civics class, you’re doing a Three Branches of Government unit. There's no way around it. And it’s for sure your biggest unit, with endless…
Avoid these 3 mistakes when asking questions in your social studies classroom
Asking questions seems easy enough. But after spending any time at all teaching you know it’s not. Certainly, not asking great questions anyway. It’s one of those subtle yet fundamental skills I…
