Using Our Resources: Get Started

Using iCivics Resources

Decorative graphic image showing different resource icons (curriculum unit, dbquest, game, etc.) in colorful hues of eggplant, magenta, and tangerine.
GETTING STARTED

Using iCivics Resources

From grab-and-go lessons to year-long curriculum, our resources engage students with complex concepts in ways they can understand and relate to. To get started, we recommend exploring our planning and integration tools, resource types, and teaching ideas to find everything you need to inspire your students to be knowledgeable, curious, and civically engaged. We look forward to being a part of your classroom!

Scope & Sequences

Quickly find the perfect resource to meet your learning objectives. The Scope & Sequence documents are your guide to implementing iCivics resources in your classroom. 

Spanish & EL/ML Supports

Explore which resources are available with Spanish-language versions and English-language learning supports.

My iCivics LMS

Assign iCivics games and lesson plans to your students using the My iCivics LMS, available with your free account.

Integration tools

Assign games through single sign-on solutions, Google Classroom and Clever, or use Kami to allow students to annotate lessons.

Discover high-quality resources for teaching civics

Hundreds of standards-aligned resources designed to meet all of your instructional needs with minimal preparation required.

Lesson Plans

Build civic knowledge with ready-to-use lesson plans that consist of readings and activities. Each lesson plan offers a teacher’s guide that outlines the objectives, timing, resources, and steps needed to complete.

Games

Ignite student engagement with games that make learning come alive. Made with our magic formula, our games don’t require prior knowledge and can be completed in one class period. All games can be played in a variety of settings: 1-to-1, small groups, or whole class.

Videos

Introduce students to people and processes they need to know with short, purposeful videos. These videos can be embedded into lesson plans at any point to introduce a topic, start a discussion, or create a launchpad for research. 

Infographics

Improve visual literacy skills and simplify complex civics concepts with logical, memorable, and interesting infographics. Infographics provide structure and design to concepts and help students see the big picture.

Private i History Detectives

Grow elementary students’ content knowledge and critical thinking skills with this K-5 curriculum that makes teaching social studies easy and fun. Students work together to solve each mystery and develop life-long inquiry skills. 

Simulations

Engage students with simulations that bring civics to life through media-rich, whole-class, collaborative experiences. Simulations, implemented across 1–2 class periods, use technology to facilitate student interaction, group work, and engagement. 

illustration of dbquest assistants, 4 young adults illustrated in bright orange and dark blues

DBQuests

Develop skills for in-depth analysis and inquiry with DBQuest, a learning tool that challenges students to dig into primary sources. DBQuest uses document-based questioning to guide students in primary source analysis. 

WebQuests

Equip students to sort through and find online information with WebQuests. These carefully curated, inquiry-based activities break down a topic, offer resource links, and ask questions that help students make connections and infer. 

Two students are in a library, one holding a tablet and the other writing with a pen. They appear to be engaged in a discussion.
overhead shot of students engaging around table with American flag in foreground corner

Curriculum Units

Simplify planning with topically organized curriculum units. Each standards-aligned unit offers a comprehensive study of a topic through a variety of lessons, games, and activities and can be used just like a chapter or unit of a textbook.

Looking for more?

Scope & Sequence

Your guide to implementing iCivics resources in your classroom.

Have a question?

We’ve got answers. Get help with tasks like making assignments or setting up Google Classroom rosters.

Solutions for School Districts

Learn about services designed to build educator capacity and cultivate dynamic educational experiences for students.

From the Educator Blog

Sam helps her students connect the founding documents to their daily lives for the Civic Star Challenge

A few years ago, one of my colleagues invited Mary Beth Tinker to speak at our school—she was the student plaintiff in the landmark case Tinker v. Des Moines. It was an incredible experience to hear her calmly describe what it was like to participate in the case, recounting each

We Can Teach Hard Things Like Civil Rights

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Theodore Parker That’s not a typo you see in the attribution above. While the oft-cited quote is chiefly credited to Martin Luther King, Jr., who did indeed speak those brilliant words during more than one speech, it

Laura uses pop culture to make the Declaration relevant to students for Civic Star Challenge

Sometimes teaching civics is as much about translation as it is about history. As part of the Civic Star Challenge, I teamed up with my colleague, Laura McFarren. We wanted to come up with a way to help our students really plug into the Declaration of Independence. Our biggest challenge

Ready to dig in?

Discover lessons designed to meet all of your instructional needs. Our nonpartisan classroom resources engage students with complex concepts in ways they can understand and relate to.