Grade 5: Civics Content
- Concepts
- Government
- Democracy
- Citizenship and civic life
- Civic values
- Nation-state
- Leadership
- Power
- Public policy
- Interdependence
- Comparative government
- Rights of citizenship
- Content Understandings
- The governments of the United States, Canada, and Latin American nations
- Across time and place, the people of the Western Hemisphere have held differing assumptions regarding power, authority, governance, citizenship, and law.
- Basic civic values such as justice, honesty, self-discipline, due process, equality, and majority rule with respect for minority rights are expressed in the constitutions and laws of the United States, Canada, and nations of Latin America.
- Constitutions, rules, and laws are developed in democratic societies in order to maintain order, provide security, and protect individual rights.
- The rights of citizens in the United States are similar to and different from the rights of citizens in other nations of the Western Hemisphere.
- The roles of citizenship are defined by different constitutions in the Western Hemisphere.
- Governmental structures vary from place to place, as do the structure and functions of governments in the United States, Canada, and Latin American countries today.
- Concepts such as civic life, politics, and government can be used to answer questions about what governments can and should do, how people should live their lives together, and how citizens can support the proper use of authority or combat the abuse of political power (Adapted from: Civics Framework for the 1998 NAEP, p. 19).
- Legal, political, and historic documents define the values, beliefs, and principles of constitutional democracy. In the United States these documents include the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. In Canada these documents include the British North America Act and the Canadian Bill of Rights.
- Citizenship in the United States, Canada, and nations of Latin America includes an awareness of the patriotic celebrations of those nations. In the United States these celebrations include: New Year's Day, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas.
- International organizations were formed to promote peace, economic development, and cultural understanding. The United Nations was created to prevent war and to fight hunger, disease, and ignorance.
