Citizenship Teaching Resources

Bring good citizenship topics to life in your social studies classroom with printable worksheets, activity packs, Google slide decks and more teacher-created resources designed with this social studies standard in mind!

The Teach Starter team of expert teachers has curated a curriculum-aligned collection of US citizenship activities to help students understand the rights, responsibilities and duties of being a member of a community. Save time on your lesson plans with resources carefully curated by expert teachers just for your classroom!

Is this your first year teaching this section of the social studies curriculum, or are you just looking for some fresh ideas? Read on for some tips from our teacher team, including .

What Is Citizenship? A Kid-Friendly Definition

How do you define citizenship and what it means to be a good citizen for your students? Here's a kid-friendly way to explain the meaning to your class:

Citizenship means being a good community member and following the rules and laws that keep everyone safe and happy.

It also means treating others with kindness and respect, helping when you can and doing your part to make your community a better place.

Key Citizenship Vocabulary

Don't worry; we won't stop there! Here are some of the key vocabulary terms that are bound to come up during your lessons and meanings you can share with your students!

Community

You don't have citizenship without community — a group of people living in the same place who share common interests, values, and goals.

Rules

Good citizenship involves following rules or uidelines that people follow to maintain order, safety, and fairness.

Laws

US citizenship involves following laws — rules made by the government that are enforced by the police and the courts.

Respect

Respect is treating others the way you want to be treated, being polite and kind, and valuing differences between people.

Responsibility

Responsibility could be defined as being dependable and reliable, doing what you are supposed to do and being accountable for your actions — all key to good citizenship.