SS.7.CG.1.4

This Grade 7 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.

In this lesson plan, students will learn about the governing principles that can be traced through America’s founding documents. Students will work independently or with a shoulder partner to demonstrate an understanding of the founding principles by completing a vocabulary Card Sort activity and a Primary Source Matching activity. There are six multiple choice questions on the Primary Source Matching activity to assess student understanding.

In this lesson plan, students will review and match the colonists' grievances as they expressed them in the Declaration of Independence.  Students will match the original wording of these grievances with simplified versions and then link each grievance to the natural rights of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. 

In this lesson, students will complete an interactive chart during a PowerPoint used to identify and highlight the impact of significant Enlightenment thinkers (Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau) on modern U.S. government. Students will then complete a one-pager activity to demonstrate their understanding. 

In this lesson plan, students will identify important Enlightenment thinkers that influenced how the Founders created the final plan for the United States government.

In this lesson plan, students will identify the impact the Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, English Bill of Rights and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense had on colonists’ views of government.

Students will be engaged in a review game as they take notes about how the U.S. Constitution limits the powers of government through separation of powers, checks and balances, individual rights, rule of law and due process of law. Students will fill in a graphic organizer to assist them in keeping their notetaking organized.