Government & Citizenship

The big idea

Your child learns what local government does, who leads it and how services are paid for, then how the three branches share power: Congress makes laws, the President carries them out and the courts decide what laws mean. Your child studies citizens' rights and responsibilities, holds a fair vote with a secret ballot and practices respectful disagreement. The unit ends with economic choices: needs and wants, budgets and opportunity cost.

Standards in plain words

• D2.Civ.1.3-5 Tells apart the jobs and powers of government officials at different levels and branches of government.
• D2.Civ.2.3-5 Explains how a democracy depends on people taking part responsibly, and what that means for how each person takes part.
• D2.Civ.3.3-5 Looks at where rules, laws and key parts of the U.S. Constitution came from and what they are for.
• D2.Civ.5.3-5 Explains where governments came from, what they do and how they are set up, including those created by the U.S. and state constitutions.
• D2.Civ.6.3-5 Describes how people gain from working together, and what is hard about it, in government, workplaces, volunteer groups and families.
• D2.Civ.8.3-5 Names core civic virtues and democratic principles that guide government, society and communities.
• D2.Civ.9.3-5 Uses careful group discussion to make decisions or reach judgments together.
• D2.Civ.10.3-5 Identifies the beliefs, experiences and values behind their own and other people's views on civic issues.
• D2.Civ.11.3-5 Compares ways of making decisions in different settings, such as a classroom, a school or a government.
• D2.Eco.1.3-5 Compares the benefits and costs of choices people make.

Anchor texts

• Reading About Our World passages: 'Three Branches, One Government' (Week 20), 'Every Vote Counts' (Week 22) and 'Choices, Choices' (Week 24)
• Video hub topics: local government, why government has three branches, ways to be a good citizen, what voting is and why it matters, and what economics is
• Your town or county's official website

Watch across the unit

• Watch for: Thinking the President makes the laws or decides everything, including local things like trash pickup.

  Try: Repeat 'Congress makes, President carries out, courts decide,' and ask who would know more about your street, someone in town or someone in Washington, D.C.

• Watch for: Calling any wish a right ('the right to stay up late'), or thinking a right has no limits.

  Try: Ask, 'Is that protected by the Bill of Rights or a family rule?' and talk through one limit on speech.

• Watch for: Naming everything not bought as the opportunity cost.

  Try: Ask, 'What was your second choice?' Only that one is the opportunity cost.