The Fifteen Most Popular Lessons:

LawForKids.org Lessons:

• LawForKids.org Stay Out of Jail Free Cards Lesson
  -- Adobe Acrobat -- MS Word
• LawForKids.org Speak Up! Lesson
  -- Adobe Acrobat -- MS Word --

Law-Related Education Lesson of the week:

Write a Preamble for Our Class (The Civic Mind)
Students read and discuss the preamble to selected state Constitutions and the U.S. Constitution. As homework, kids write a preamble for the rules and values in their family. Then, they write, discuss, and agree to a preamble for students' and teachers' classroom expectations and conduct. The lesson is suggested for Grades 5-8, but could fit older kids with some minor modifications.

Law-Related Education Lesson of the week archive:

• Exploring the Social Effects of Video Games
  From the New York Times Learning Network
  In this lesson, students challenge the claim that video games that glorify violence and illegal activities promote such activities in the real world. There is a link to an actual NYTimes article about a new video game which students must read. The lesson culminates in a classroom mock trial.
• Somebody Has to Pay for It: 16th Amendment and the Income Tax (Grades 9-12) It's tax time and federal taxation is as controversial today as it was in the past. Through class discussions, lectures, note taking, small groups activity, and role playing, students will study a brief history of income tax in the United States. Specific terms, "regressive" and "progressive" taxation theories, and the practical impact of taxes on families are studied.
• Census - the Constitutional Count (Grades 3-5) This lesson will acquaint 3-5 grade students with Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution which calls for an enumeration of the population every ten years. Students explore the reasons for the census. They participate in a variety of activities designed to involve them in the census process. This lesson will be multidisciplinary involving math, language arts, art, and social studies skills.
• Arizona Law-Related Education Advanced Academy resources -- Finding and locating LRE materials. See this list of online resources organized to help you find LRE materials on the internet.
• Creating Alternatives to Violence -- Although conflict is part of everyday life, it does not have to lead to violence. In this reading, students examine the nature of violence and discuss methods for addressing the problem. (Constitutional Rights Foundation) http://www.crf-usa.org/violence/alternative.html
• LawForKids.org Stay Out of Jail Free Cards Lesson -- Adobe Acrobat -- MS Word --
  The set of 11 LawForKids.org cards offers kids a compelling and interactive way to learn new things about the law. This lesson is just one of the many ways you can creatively use the cards in your classroom as an effective teaching tool. Also, we want to hear ways you've found to use LFK Cards, so please email suggestions and refinements to this lesson plan or just plain ideas to editor@lawforkids.org and we'll share them in the "Teacher's Only" section.
• LawForKids.org Speak Up! -- Adobe Acrobat -- MS Word --
  As you know, the Speak Up! section of LawForKids.org allows Arizona kids to pose questions about the law and get them answered by professional lawyers. This draft lesson gives an outline for conducting a lesson where kids learn about the law, ask a question, and compare the answer with what they speculated before their question was answered on LawForKids.org. Please email suggestions and refinements to this lesson plan to editor@lawforkids.org and we'll share them in the "Teacher's Only" section.
• Case Studies in Civil Law (9-12) Civil litigation has become part of American life. This activity is designed to introduce students to civil suits. Most civil suits are initiated by everyday people for reasonable sums of money awarded by a jury of their peers. This lesson gives high school students (Oklahoma Bar Foundation) http://www.okbar.org/lre/lessonplans/casestudies.htm
• This week, a number of the President's Cabinet were confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Retired General Colin Powell is the new U.S. Secretary of State, the head of United States foreign relations for the President. This week's link is to student and teacher resources, activities and lessons at the Department of State's Digital Diplomacy for Student's site.
• A teen guide to the Bush Presidency (Article) -- and -- Lesson Plan -- A lesson from CNN.com which aims to get students to (1) analyze George W. Bush's recent actions to determine whether or not he is trying to overcome the divisiveness of recent political events (2) Predict national and world events that are likely to affect their country and lives (3) evaluate the effects that the president's decisions may have on their lives.
• Arizona Bill: How a Bill Becomes a Law in Arizona OK, this isn't exactly a lesson, but there are a thousand possibilities using the ALIS website to teach kids about how laws are made and changed in Arizona. This is a cute animated piece about how an "Arizona Bill" becomes a law featuring Arizona Bill. If you find a great way to use either the Arizona Bill handout or the A.L.I.S. website in your classroom, let us know and we'll share it on LawForKids.org!
• Space Law: Problem-Solving in 2080 This activity comes from the Future Problem Solving Program (www.fpsp.org). The activity includes a futuristic problem with a colony on the moon, making students use problem solving skills to determine a reasonable settlement for the Colony's problem.
• Doing Crime = Doing Time: Juvenile Consequences for Breaking the Law (Grades 5-12) (from the Oklahoma Bar Foundation) This is a one day lesson intended as an introduction to a unit on juvenile law or consequences of breaking the law. This lesson is appropriate in Civics, Government, History, and Law, at Middle School through High School.