First Grade Indicators for 1-3
1-3.1 Identify the basic functions of government, including making and enforcing laws and protecting citizens.
It Is Essential For Students To Know:
- It is essential for students to know and recognize the many different roles that the government plays in society.
- Students should explore different functions of government and identify ways that the government impacts individuals and families.
- It is essential for students to understand characteristics of government related to concepts like authority, justice, and responsibility.
- Students need to suggest and justify rules and laws for neighborhoods and communities and name consequences of not obeying rules and laws.
- Students should describe the basic authority given to local elected officials and identify how individuals and families depend on government services.
It Is Not Essential For Students To Know:
- It is not essential for students to know the names of the three branches of government.
- Students do not need to know or understand the concept of a Federalist system.
- Students do not need to know the names of their elected officials.
- Students do not need to understand how the services that the government provides are paid for.
1-3.2 Summarize the concept of authority and give examples of people in authority, including school officials, public safety officers, and government officials.
It Is Essential For Students To Know:
- It is essential for students to know that teachers, principals, guidance counselors and resource officers are examples of school authority figures.
- Students should recognize that police officers, highway patrol officers, judges, and elected officials such as mayors and senators are governmental figures of authority.
- It is essential for students to know that individuals in authority have positions in which they enforce rules and laws within the community.
- It is essential for students to identify the types of rules and laws that different local authority figures would enforce.
- Students should have a general understanding of the consequences associated with breaking local rules and/or laws.
It Is Not Essential For Students To Know:
- It is not essential for students to know names of individuals in authority within their community, state, or nation.
- It is not essential for students to understand matters related to the judicial process when laws are broken.
- Students do not need to understand the methods of enforcement that different government and community agencies might use to enforce rules or laws.
1-3.3 Identify ways that government affects the daily lives of individuals and families in the UnitedStates, including providing public education, building roads and highways, and promoting personal freedom and opportunity for all.
It Is Essential For Students To Know:
- It is essential for students to know and identify government bodies and explain their general functions in communities across America.
- Students should understand how individuals and families depend on government services. Examples of government services include, but are not limited to, public education, building and maintenance of roads and highways, and state and national defense.
- It is essential that students know that our government generally promotes and protects values such as freedom, equality, equity and others in one degree or another.
- Students should understand that many government services such as public education are ways to promote these values.
It Is Not Essential For Students To Know:
- It is not essential for students to know specific laws that govern individuals and families in the United States.
- Students do not need to know the specific agencies (i.e. the Department of Education) that provide these government services.
- It is not essential for students to understand how these services are funded or where that funding comes from.
- Students do not need to understand the concept of a public good and why these types of services are not provided in a private market.
1-3.4 Summarize possible consequences of an absence of laws and rules, including the potential for disorderliness and violence
It Is Essential For Students To Know:
- It is essential for students to identify laws in the local community and consider the consequences of breaking them.
- Students should cite examples of a government carrying out its legal authority in their local community.
- It is essential that students understand the role of laws in keeping their communities safe.
- Students should suggest and justify rules and laws for their own neighborhoods and communities.
- It is essential for students to identify the consequences that will occur when people are not obeying rules and laws and the outcomes that can occur when rules or laws are broken.
- Examples of disorderliness or violence that can occur when individuals break rules or laws are essential.
It is Not Essential For Students To Know:
- It is not essential for students to know details of the criminal justice system.
- Students do not need to know specific or graphic examples of criminal violence.
- Students do not need to know the names of specific laws or rules.
- It is not essential for students to know the specific punishments that are attached to breaking specific rules or laws.