Government and How It Works

I use these pictures when students are ready to see government as people making shared decisions, not just a building in Washington. The set includes a town-meeting bell, handshake, parchment, quill, empty podium, White House, Capitol, courthouse, ballot box, voting booth, scales of justice, judge's robe, city hall, state map, and a simple branches-of-government diagram. It fits grades 2 to 5 civics units on rules, laws, leaders, voting, rights, and responsibilities.

For a specific activity, I'd give groups the color images and ask them to sort decisions by local, state, or national responsibility, then explain one answer. The blackline pages are useful for a mock town meeting: students draw a podium, write a proposal, and mark how a community could respond. I'd use the branch diagram as a starting point, while reminding students that real government includes people and processes beyond icons. I print the color art for role cards and let students write directly on the blackline copies.