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iCivics Curriculum Unit

Citizenship & Participation

Students will learn what it means to be a U.S. citizen and how citizenship is obtained. They will compare and contrast personal and political rights with social responsibilities and personal duties. Students will explore global citizenship, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens in other countries. They will also learn about community engagement by selecting a problem of their own and creating a plan to solve it.

Topics at a Glance: citizenship | civil liberties | civil rights | immigration | naturalization | citizen participation | civic engagement | global citizenship | duties of a U.S. citizen | rights and responsibilities of citizens | involuntary and voluntary participation in civic life | U.S. census | D.C. voting rights

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  • Game

    Sortify: U.S. Citizenship

    Test your knowledge of U.S. citizenship without getting out of sorts!
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  • DBQuest

    Kids Making a Difference - Garden Edition

    Do you ever wonder how kids can make a difference? In this DBQuest, young people from three different periods in U.S. history share, in their own words, how they helped their communities and country. All three take on the issue of food insecurity in times of war and peace. This material is based upon work supported by the National Defense Education Program (NDEP) for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education, Outreach, and Workforce Initiative Programs under Grant No. HQ0034-21-S-F001. The views expressed in written materials or publications, and/or made by speakers…
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  • DBQuest

    Women in Service

    Women have long served the U.S. military, serving first in support and civilian roles. Not until WWI could women enlist. This DBQuest looks at the changing roles of women in the military, focusing on the post-World War II period to the present. Students will examine Congressional testimony in support of women serving as permanent members of the Armed Forces, an oral history from the first Black woman to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, and a 2015 press release announcing that all roles in the Armed Forces now will be open to women. Students will also consider the challenges women faced…
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  • DBQuest

    DC Voting Rights

    What does the American Revolution’s rallying cry “taxation without representation” have to do with the District of Columbia?  Looking at three different types of sources-- Congressional debates, a newspaper article and posters-- students will see how the taxation without representation argument has been used to advocate for district voting rights for over 200 years.
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  • Lesson Plan

    Plug Into Power with the U.S. Census (Infographic)

    Every 10 years the U.S. government circulates a census. Make sure your students know how to make it count with this printable poster infographic!
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  • Lesson Plan

    Get Counted! (The U.S. Census)

    What do you know about the U.S. Census? How does it affect your community? Are you prepared to be counted? Learn the who, what, when, where, why and how of the census in this lesson about the importance of being counted.Got a 1:1 classroom? Download fillable PDF versions of this lesson's materials below!
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  • Lesson Plan

    Immigration Nation Extension Pack

    Make your students’ gameplay more meaningful by using our immigration lesson plan designed specifically for Immigration Nation. This easy-to-use Extension Pack helps you give context and purpose to the game, as well as reinforce and assess the game concepts. Immigration Nation and its Extension Pack are correlated according to WIDA's methodology using the WIDA PRIME V2 Inventory. To see how these materials best meet your ELL students' needs, click here. (Note: PRIME stands for Protocol for Review of Instructional Materials for ELLs.) 
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  • Lesson Plan

    This Land is Your Land

    What ocean is off the east coast? Who is our southern neighbor? What are the U.S. territories? Can you draw the Rocky Mountains on a map? In this lesson, students answer these questions and more as they learn the basics of United States geography.
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  • WebQuest

    Civic Heroism!

    Let's explore what it means to be a civic hero!
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  • WebQuest

    Immigration & Citizenship

    For a person "coming to America", immigration is a precursor to citizenship. In this WebQuest, students learn why people migrate and what attracts them to America, and take a look at the naturalization process. 
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See how it all fits together!

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