iCivics Readers

Inspiring students and teachers alike to make change!

Develop tomorrow’s community and government leaders today by guiding your students as they explore real-world issues they really care about. Created in collaboration with civics expert iCivics, this high-quality literacy and civic resource engages K-5 students in critical thinking, thoughtful discussions, and fun activities about their civic responsibilities, constitutional law, freedom of speech, the court system, and more. Prepare students for civic engagement as community leaders and build literacy skills with the exciting iCivics Readers.

iCivics Readers

Overview

Teachers can easily integrate literacy and civic education, explore a globally connected community, and prepare elementary and early middle school students for civic engagement with this meaningful and fun resource from TCM and iCivics.

  • Help students gain civics knowledge, practice civics skills, and develop a civics mindset.
  • Promote civic discourse and critical thinking with easy-to-use lessons.
  • Motivate students with engaging, hands-on culminating activities and educational games.
  • Create concrete connections to key topics through paired fiction and nonfiction texts.
  • Meet state and national standards in literacy and social studies while building 21st century civics skills through entertaining games.

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Digital Resources
Teacher Materials
Student Materials
Student Engagement
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Unboxing Video

Digital Resources

  • All components of this product are available and included in digital formats, including read-along ebooks, PDFs of student pages, PDFs of books, and audio recordings for books.

Multimedia Resources

  • Enhance student engagement with videos to introduce civics topics.
  • Extend learning with additional songs, videos, and audio recordings related to civic education.
  • Professional Development videos by iCivics build civics knowledge and teacher's confidence.

Management Guide

Integrate literacy and civic education to help students gain civics knowledge, practice civics skills, and develop civics dispositions with this easy-to-use Management Guide.

  • Explores current research and best practices for teaching civics successfully.
  • Addresses relevant civics topics while guiding students to become civic-minded members of society.
  • Meets state and national standards in literacy and social studies while building 21st century civics skills.

Lesson Plans

Teach students the ins and outs of civic education with standards-based lesson plans.

  • Integrates literacy and civic education to maximize learning.
  • Focuses on critical thinking, thoughtful discussions, and activities that guide students to become civic-minded members of society.

Nonfiction Books

Topic-driven books help students explore social issues, understand government, make logic-based arguments, and consider different options.

  • 10 titles, 6 copies each in print and digital formats.
  • Introduces students to current civics issues and events that are relevant to students’ experiences with engaging readers based on current civics topics.
  • Grabs student’s attention with embedded fictional stories directly connected to the civics topics.

Civics Game Cards

Motivate students to participate and positively affect learning with engaging, collaborative game cards.

  • 6 decks of civics game cards in each grade level.
  • Reinforces civics knowledge and skills in fun and collaborative ways.

Student Engagement

  • Builds literacy and civics knowledge with high-interest books that teach the ins and outs of civics.
  • Provides opportunities for students to actively apply learning through varying civic-minded activities.
  • Allows students to explore their communities and local, state, and federal government.
  • Enhances critical-thinking skills with engaging civic discourse.

iCivics Readers Unboxing Video

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Sample Pages
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On demand webinars

iCivics Readers Sample Pages

This sample includes the following:

  • Management Guide Cover (1 page)
  • Management Guide Table of Contents (1 page)
  • How to Use this Resource Pages (10 pages)
  • Sample Reader (17 pages)
  • Sample Lesson Plan (16 pages)
  • Sample Civic Discourse Lesson (1 page)
  • Sample Game Cards (6 cards)
Download Sample Pages
 

How to Teach Civics in Today's Classrooms

Teaching in today’s ever-changing classroom environment presents many challenges, including teaching civics, a complex topic that can quickly stir up emotions. This webinar will help educators navigate teaching the latest civics guidelines in engaging, informational, and practical ways using trusted resources from organizations such as iCivics, and more.

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Price: FREE (Register and Watch Now)

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Why Civics? Why Now? Re-Imagining Civic Education for the Next Generation

A healthy constitutional democracy requires a citizenry that has the knowledge, skills, and desire to participate in it. To motivate the next generation of students to gain civic knowledge, practice civic skills, and develop a civic mindset, they need the right tools. Guide students to become civic-minded members of society by providing more instructional time for civics coupled with deeper integration of civics content in literacy instruction.

TCM and iCivics have partnered to produce relevant, engaging, and classroom-ready resources designed for that very purpose. Come learn about these brand-new kits -- iCivics Readers -- that empower students to hone both their literacy and their civic literacy at the same time!

Price: FREE (Register and Watch Now)

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Inquiry-Based Active Learning Strategies for Social Studies

Inquiry-Based learning gives students agency over their learning and develops student-generated questioning skills. When educators apply active-learning techniques in social studies, students aren’t just students, they’re historians and researchers.

Price: FREE (Register and Watch Now)

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Bringing History to Life: Using Primary Sources in the Classroom

In this professional learning opportunity, teachers will experience engaging strategies to discover ways to use primary sources to bring history to life for all students.

Price: FREE (Register and Watch Now)

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Relevant information

What is iCivics?

iCivics is a nationally trusted nonprofit civic education provider. They create "high-quality, non-partisan, engaging, and free resources to more than 7.6 million students annually" across America (iCivics.org, Who We Are).

Who founded iCivics?

The nonprofit organization iCivics was founded by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2009 to teach kids how to effectively participate in American democracy and become responsible citizens through play. Determined to make civic education accessible and engaging to students of all ages, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor "considers iCivics to be her most important work and greatest legacy" (iCivics.org, Our Founder).

Can students receive a high-quality civic education while they play games? Does 'civics for kids' really work?

Yes!

The iCivics Readers, card games, and internet resources support and prepare students in grades K-5 to not only become engaged citizens and voters but develop their own independent voice to make their community, country, and world a better place. In fact, current research shows "students who receive high-quality civic education are more likely to understand public issues, participate in civic activities, and view the political process as a method of enacting change in their communities" (p. 9, iCivics White Paper Aug. 2021).

Additionally, a recent iCivics survey of teachers revealed "95% of iCivics teachers have noted that their students are demonstrably more engaged; more interested in politics and current events; more open to civil classroom conversations about current events; and more knowledgeable about how our government works" (iCivics.org, Our Proven Impact).

Can iCivics play an effective role in non-civics and civics classes alike?

Yes!

For example, when 37,000 students played the games "Win the White House" (students attempt to win the majority of electoral votes by strategically raising funds, polling voters, and making personal appearances) and "Cast Your Vote" (students must learn how to become informed voters before casting a vote in an imaginary local election) as part of a test to determine the games' effectiveness as tools, iCivics’ new pre- and post- game assessments showed "an average increase in students’ civic knowledge and dispositions (i.e. likelihood to vote) of 26% and 38% respectively."

You can learn more about iCivics proven impact on student understanding of politics, government, and law by visiting their website. Teachers and other educators above Grade 5 are encouraged to create free iCivics accounts to download age-appropriate lesson plans and game guides, and students in Grade 6 or beyond may continue to play more educational games like "Executive Command" and "Immigration Nation" to explore pivotal citizenship and democratic concepts. Middle school students who create an account can collect impact points, save game progress, unlock special features, and compete with other members on the site.

“There is no more important work than deepening young people’s engagement in our nation.” - Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

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