Revolution, Rights and Rules:
A Student's Guide to the Vermont Constitution
This 40-page booklet helps middle school students understand the 220 year-old document on which Vermont laws are based and how it continues to shape our lives today.  This booklet includes questions, writing assignments, and activities that encourage students to use analytical and critical thinking skills to express their own ideas about concepts like justice.  It concludes with an exercise where the class creates its own constitution. Click here to download a pdf version.
 

Under the Golden Dome - A State House Tour Booklet
This booklet has activities to make your tour of the Vermont State House fun as well as educational.  Play "legislative chutes and ladders", hunt for fossils, and learn how to turn your ideas into laws!  Click on the cover to preview the booklet.  These are distributed to classes that book a State House tour.  For more information about booking a tour, contact Alice Merrill at the State House at 802-828-1411 or email at amerrill@leg.state.vt.us.  Check out their website at http://www.leg.state.vt.us/FieldTrip/default.htm

The coolest thing here is our video, “Your Vote is Your Voice.”
Music, animations and special effects combine to tell you everything you need to know about voting in just a few fun minutes. Meet “The Head,” an animated character with an attitude in your favor, and let him answer all your questions.

In Vermont, watch for a special showing at a school near you this fall. Out-of-state? A few details may be different, but the important stuff is the same where you live, so you can request a copy by clicking here: olivia.gay@sec.state.vt.us  - or, you can watch it online here: PLAY

(Caution, this is a large file so if your computer is still on dial up, you’d better skip it.)

On the Road to Congress, a board game from the Secretary of State’s Office!
The game lets you seize the wheel of the electoral process! Drive your campaign car through the path that a campaign for congressional office must follow, from the earliest planning and paperwork stages to the final suspenseful moments when the vote is counted! It’s a race to the finish and the winner goes to the U.S. Congress! Do you have what it takes to make it to Washington D.C.?!

This game was designed to complement a classroom civics unit. Prior to its use as an educational tool students should have a basic understanding of the role of the electoral process in our democracy. The game comes with a short student packet and vocabulary list to supplement learning by providing more detailed information about what it takes to plan and implement a political campaign for congress. A teacher’s guide highlights the educational content and the Vermont Department of Education Grade Expectations that the game encompasses.

Click HERE to order a copy for your school!