Ready-to-Use Citizenship Activities for Grades 5-12: 200 Skillsheets for Real World Democratic Participation

Table of Contents

Contents
About This Resource v

PART I. EMPOWERMENT AND PARTICIPATION
1 Democracy and Citizenship 3
1.1 Citizenship 5
1.2 Forms of Government 6
1.3 "We hold these truths . . . " 7
1.4 Reading the Declaration of Independence 8
1.5 Jefferson's Inaugural-Key Concepts 9
1.6 Allegiance-Taking the Oath 10
1.7 Spelling Democracy 11
1.8 Patriotic Songs 12
1.9 Powerful Political Writing 13
2 Participating in Democracy 15
2.1 An "Exceptional" Government 17
2.2 Voter Registration and Turnout 18
2.3 Civil Disobedience 19
2.4 Lincoln's Second Inaugural 20
2.5 Kennedy's Inaugural 21
2.6 Your Country 22
2.7 The Selective Service System 23
2.8 International Citizenship-the UN 24
2.9 The UN-Part II 25
3 The Constitution 27
3.1 Constitutions 29
3.2 We the people . . . 30
3.3 Unscramble the Preamble! 31
3.4 Article I 32
3.5 Judicial Powers 33
3.6 The Bill of Rights 34
3.7 The Right Stuff . . . 35
3.8 The "Other" Amendments 36
4 Voting 37
4.1 Voting Rights 39
4.2 Register to Vote! 40
4.3 Voting-Interpret the Data 41
4.4 Voter Turnout-Graph It! 42
4.5 Vote for Your Choice! 43
4.6 Picture Perfect 44
4.7 Picture Perfect-Part II 45
4.8 Exit Poll 46


PART II. MAKING GOVERNMENT WORK
5 Federal, State, and Local Powers 49
5.1 Federalism 51
5.2 Limits on the Powers of the States 52
5.3 Three Levels of Government 53
5.4 Three Branches of the Federal Government 54
5.5 Three Branches of State Government 55
5.6 Three Branches of Local Government 56
5.7 Federal, State, and Local Responsibilities 57
5.8 Duties of the President and Vice President 58
6 TheStructure of the Federal Government 59
6.1 Political Terms 61
6.2 Check, Please! 62
6.3 Checks and Balances 63
6.4 Power Plays 64
6.5 Legislative Terms 65
6.6 Senators 66
6.7 Representatives 67
6.8 Congress at Work 68
6.9 When the Senate Meets 69
6.10 On the Floor 70
6.11 Qualifications for Federal Office 71
6.12 Term Limits 72
7 The Executive Branch 73
7.1 Powers of the Presidency 75
7.2 Veto Power 76
7.3 Presidential Prose 77
7.4 Dear Mr. President 78
7.5 Timeline: The American Presidency 79
7.6 The Presidential Cabinet 80
7.7 The Power to Wage War 81
7.8 Federal Agencies-Alphabet Soup! 82
7.9 Foreign Affairs 83
7.10 Presidents of the First 100 Years 84
7.11 Presidents of the 20th Century 85
8 Congress 87
8.1 The Powers of Congress-Part 1 89
8.2 The Powers of Congress-Part 2 90
8.3 Congress-Reviewing the Basics 91
8.4 Membership in the House 92
8.5 The Senate in the 19th Century 93
8.6 The Senate in the 20th Century 94
8.7 Congressional Crossword 95
8.8 The Committee System 96
8.9 "Talk the Talk"-Senate Committees 97
8.10 Senate Standing Committees 98
8.11 Senate Leadership 99
9 The Federal Judiciary 101
9.1 The Federal Judicial Branch 103
9.2 Structure of the Federal Courts 104
9.3 The Chief Justices 105
9.4 "And Justice for All . . . " 106
9.5 Today's Court 107
9.6 "And the Ruling Is . . . " 108
9.7 Courts of Appeals 109
9.8 Find the Eleven Circuits 110
9.9 District Courts 111
9.10 Spell "Subpoena" 112
10 The Legislative Process 113
10.1 A Bill Becomes Law 115
10.2 Three Ways to Pass a Bill 116
10.3 Congressional Incumbents 117
10.4 Congressional Staffs 118
10.5 Congressional Committees 119
10.6 The Lobbyists 120
10.7 Talking About Legislation 121
10.8 First Steps 122
10.9 Final Steps 123
10.10 Quorum Calls and Roll-Call Votes 124
10.11 Filibusters and Cloture 125
11 Elections 127
11.1 Voting in the General Election 129
11.2 How the Electoral College Works 130
11.3 Voting in the Land of OhNo 131
11.4 Election Results in OhNo 132
11.5 International Voter Turnout 133
11.6 Polling the Populace 134
11.7 Election Update 135
11.8 Left of Center or Right of Left? 136
11.9 The Third P*a*r*t*y 137
11.10 Who Wins? 138
11.11 Campaign Contributions 139
12 The Media 141
12.1 In My Opinion . . . 143
12.2 Just the Facts? 144
12.3 Campaign News 145
12.4 Colorful Reporting 146
12.5 Cover the President 147
12.6 Media Talk 148
12.7 Hacks and Banners 149
12.8 To the Editor 150


PART III. ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION
13 Taxes and Spending 153
13.1 Taxes 155
13.2 Who Pays? 156
13.3 Tax Time! 157
13.4 Where Does It All Go? 158
13.5 How Much Do You Owe? 159
13.6 Using Opportunity Sets 160
13.7 Tax-Free Day 161
13.8 Sharing the Burden 162
14 Budgets, Debts, and Deficits 163
14.1 Budget Matters 165
14.2 Balancing the Budget 166
14.3 Social Security 167
14.4 Federal Spending 168
14.5 Where Do Deficits Come From? 169
14.6 What Does a Budget Do? 170
14.7 Understanding Deficits 171
14.8 Deficits and Debt 172
14.9 Deficit Reduction Efforts 173
14.10 Creating a Budget 174
15 Federal Economic Policy 175
15.1 Policy Terms 177
15.2 Trade Talk 178
15.3 Trade Deficits 179
15.4 Terms of Trade 180
15.5 Antitrust Laws 181
15.6 Regulating Relationships-Child Labor 182
15.7 Tracking Enforcement 183
15.8 Policy Debates 184
15.9 Policy Reports 185
15.10 Policy in the Press 186
15.11 Finding Solutions 187
15.12 The State of the Union 188
16 Inflation, Employment, and Wages 189
16.1 Macroeconomic Terms 191
16.2 Money and Inflation 192
16.3 Evaluating Labor Markets 193
16.4 Participation Rates 194
16.5 Inflation and Purchasing Power 195
16.6 Productivity 196
16.7 The Service Economy 197
16.8 Where Are the Jobs? 198
16.9 Jobs and Education 199
16.10 Calculating Change 200
16.11 How Much Do They Make? 201
16.12 The Wage Gap 202
17 Corporate America 203
17.1 How Much Did the Company Make? 205
17.2 How Do You Spell "Money"? 206
17.3 Buying Companies 207
17.4 Saving for the Future 208
17.5 The Giants of Corporate America 209
17.6 Money Talks 210
17.7 Researching a Company 211
17.8 McDonald's(r) Money 212
17.9 Calculate Coca-Cola(r)'s Profits 213
18 Participating in Wall Street 215
18.1 Wall Street Talk 217
18.2 Share Holding 218
18.3 Reading a Stock Report 219
18.4 Mutual Funds 220
18.5 Mutual Funds Investing 221
18.6 Types of Mutual Funds 222
18.7 Write for Information 223
18.8 Stock Talk 224


PART IV. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
19 State Government 227
19.1 Federal/State Relations 229
19.2 State and Federal Courts 230
19.3 State Legislatures 231
19.4 Steps in a Court Case 232
19.5 Criminal or Civil? 233
19.6 Court Talk 234
19.7 The Richest and the Poorest 235
19.8 State Growth 236
19.9 In Civil Court 237
19.10 Decide the Case 238
19.11 Your City and State 239
20 Local Government 241
20.1 Structure of Local Government 243
20.2 City Government 244
20.3 Who Do You Call? 245
20.4 Spell "Criminal Court" 246
20.5 Whose Jurisdiction? 247
20.6 In Criminal Court 248
20.7 Reading Crime Rates 249
20.8 Progression of Civil Actions 250
20.9 Trials in Criminal Actions 251
20.10 Law and Order 252
20.11 Police Talk 253


APPENDIX 255
Virginia's Declaration of Rights 257
The Declaration of Independence 259
Constitution of the United States of America 263
Ten Original Amendments: The Bill of Rights 272
Amendments 11-27 to the Constitution of the United States 274
The Founding Fathers: Delegates to the Constitutional Convention 281
U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents 283
Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court 287
U.S. Secretaries of State 290
Senators of the 105th Congress 292
Membership of the United Nations 1996 295
Population of the United States by Census Year 300
ANSWER KEY 301