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Arizona Civics Podcast
Welcome to the Arizona Civics Podcast. This podcast aims to share our journey of sustaining Arizona’s interests in reforms to civic education by working with civic educators in our state. This work is being done by the Center for American Civics at Arizona State University. I am your host, Liz Evans, Civic Education and Outreach Program Director at ASU, and I will interview Arizona teachers, content experts, and leaders in civic education. We hope you enjoy our journey to make Arizona a national civics model!
Arizona Civics Podcast
Building Young Citizens: The Crucial Role of Civic Education in Elementary School
Democracy begins in kindergarten. While most people think civic education starts in high school government class, our panel of passionate elementary educators reveals how young children are already practicing citizenship daily through classroom voting, community service, and learning about their responsibilities to one another.
These elementary teachers—representing second, third, and fifth grades from schools across Arizona and Kentucky—share innovative ways they incorporate civic learning despite packed schedules dominated by tested subjects. Rather than treating civics as "one more thing," they seamlessly integrate democratic principles into reading, writing, and even math lessons. When students vote on classroom rewards or graph their favorite ice cream flavors, they're experiencing democracy firsthand in ways that connect to their immediate lives.
The conversation explores how classroom activities like recycling programs, buddy systems with younger grades, and school community service projects teach children that their voices and actions matter. As one teacher explains, "We want them to be leaders...that help and don't just see someone struggling." Through age-appropriate activities, students develop the vocabulary, background knowledge, and sense of shared responsibility that will prepare them for more advanced civic learning later.
What emerges is a powerful reminder that elementary classrooms aren't just places where children learn academic foundations—they're civic laboratories where future citizens first discover their voices and responsibilities within a community larger than themselves. As one teacher succinctly states, "America doesn't work unless we want it to," highlighting why civic education must begin with our youngest learners.
Ready to help your elementary students become engaged citizens? Listen now to discover practical activities and cross-curricular strategies that make civic learning accessible and meaningful for K-5 classrooms.
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Welcome back everyone. This is actually the season closer I can't believe we're saying this of this wonderful just string of podcasts we've had, and I am so excited because elementary school teachers have my heart. My original degree is in early childhood education. I did my student teaching in kindergarten. My career took a different path, but I absolutely adore elementary school teachers. They are fun, they are magical, and I was always really appreciative, as the eighth grade teacher who got those kids from elementary school, how much my students talked about their elementary teachers.
Liz Evans:And really, what we're looking at, too, is the introduction of civic education in elementary school, because what we're looking at, too, is the introduction of civic education in elementary school, because what we don't want is kids coming to junior, high and high school and that's the first time they've ever gotten civic instruction. So I have worked with some incredible teachers on the curriculum to make it so that the civics isn't just another thing to do. It's something that can be interwoven. All of these lessons are incredibly amazing, but I have three incredible teacher experts with me today and I am going to have them introduce themselves. So, brandy, I will start with you.
Brandy Beam:Yes, my name is Brandy Beam and I teach fifth grade social studies in a rural town in Kentucky teach fifth grade social studies in a rural town in Kentucky.
Haley Smith:My name is Haley Smith. I teach second grade in Arizona over in technically it's Mesa, but I'm part of the Queen Creek School District and I've taught second grade now for going on nine years and it's only ever been second grade.
Chelsea Reynolds:So it's a fun thing and my name is Chelsea Reynolds. I'm a third grade teacher in the Mesa area and this is my sixth year teaching. I've had experience teaching second, third and fourth grade, but mostly third grade.
Liz Evans:Amazing. So our first question so civic education really often starts later in a student's academic journey? Because the truth of the matter is elementary school teachers, especially when it comes to testing. I know in the state of Arizona they start testing in third grade. The testing is ELA, it is math, it is science, and elementary school teachers only have so much time in their day. Teachers only have so much time in their day. But building civic knowledge early is crucial. Why do you think civics belongs in elementary school and how can it be made age appropriate and engaging for our younger learners? And Haley, I'm going to start with you.
Haley Smith:Perfect.
Haley Smith:I think when I was reading this question, I was really thinking of all the hands-on stuff that you can do with civics, literacy, and how many projects honestly you can do and how you can make it, even though it seems like we don't have a ton of time throughout our day.
Haley Smith:What I normally do is I switch back and forth between social studies and science, so I'm still always doing one or the other throughout the year and so therefore, I have time to do it and to do it well, so I don't feel like I'm rushing all the time. I also do it cross curricular, so I'm doing it like I'll teach a democracy lesson while we're doing something with reading, or even like it's easy to do like voting. We're doing graphing right now and you can throw it in with math and, honestly, even when you feel like you're struggling and you can't get it like taught in the day, I feel like there's always time to tie it into something else, to make it. So you have those at least. Even if it doesn't seem like you're hitting it every day, at least you're having some moments where you're constantly doing something tied to civics.
Chelsea Reynolds:And I would say just kind of going off of Haley's answer, I agree.
Chelsea Reynolds:I think it's helpful if you try to find ways to integrate the social studies and civics curriculum into your other subjects, just so that you can make more time for it in the day.
Chelsea Reynolds:I also think how to make it more age appropriate for younger students and engaging, I think, just the kind of activities that you are doing. So I know in older grades it's more at least when I was in school it's more often that you're like reading an article together and annotating it, maybe writing an essay about it. I think the way to make it more engaging for younger students in my experience has been more like putting more movement into the lesson. So instead of just sitting in one spot reading an article, maybe we read a little bit of it together and then the students walk around and talk about what they read, Also incorporating like projects or artwork. So the students have to like if we're learning a subject about civics, then they can make a poster or make a mural or something like that. That lets them be creative at the same time. So I think those are some ways to make it more age appropriate for the younger students.
Brandy Beam:When I think about making civics age appropriate, something that and this may actually answer a different question that we get into but it's really easy to work on the local level, you know, because we have the local, the state and the national level. But if you're working at a local level with the kids in their school, it makes it more relevant to them, they can make more connections. So something that we've done in my schools, we started a recycling program. Easy enough, civic duty. You're helping out your school and your community and they get really excited about it. Something else that we do as fifth graders is we go down and we help the preschoolers. So it doesn't just have to be a fifth grade thing, it can be, you know, that can be fourth grade and third grade. So even younger age, kindergarten, first grade, they can help recycling. They can put the bucket in the hallway, they can pick up trash on the playground. So I think you know thinking civically minded should start very early and it can be very easy to integrate that with just helping around the school.
Liz Evans:That's perfect. And that does kind of tie in with our next question, because I think sometimes too, people think of civics so narrowly and it's like, no, it is so much bigger. It is being a part of a community, your school community. It's recycling, it's student council, it's you know, things that maybe are more student-led within the school. So what are some of your favorite civic lessons or activities for elementary students? And definitely feel free to use one of the lessons that you created, because we want to know how do you help them connect to the bigger concepts like democracy, rights and responsibilities, because I mean teaching kindergartners about democracy. They're going to it's going to go over their head because it's not relevant to them right now, but how can we use these lessons to kind of connect it to their own lives and make it relevant? And, chelsea, I'm going to start with you.
Chelsea Reynolds:Thank you.
Chelsea Reynolds:Okay, when I think of this question, what comes to mind first is thinking about like at the beginning of the year is a lot of times where it falls when we're talking about like the voting, the citizen rights, just kind of like those different things that we do in a democracy.
Chelsea Reynolds:So one lesson I like to do a lot when it's time to teach those topics is having like a class election so we learn about it, like on the scope of what does it mean for the like state government and the federal government. But then how can we kind of like create this like fake election scenario in our own classroom about something that is relevant to them? So we've voted on things like what is the best lunch food that should be added to the cafeteria, what's the best sport that you know we should add to like the PE curriculum, or playing at recess. So I think just kind of like simulating those civics like activities but on a level that is more relevant to them, like you mentioned, is a great way that I enjoy teaching civics and I think it's again more engaging for them. So that's just what comes to mind for that question.
Brandy Beam:When I think about think rights and responsibilities and some of the civics lessons and things like that, I think of doing skits, looking at a lot of primary resources, you know, and there's lots of strategies to just look at a picture, ask questions about the picture, even for the younger students you know, protesting, pictures of protesting why would somebody protest? And thinking about, is it okay to speak up? Because when you're young and fifth grade and under, you may not think that it's OK to state your opinion. And then we talk about how we do use our opinion in an appropriate manner. So we might talk about in my classroom a topic they obviously see some of the news. We're very respectful to each other I'm very fortunate this year to have a group that is and then we talk. We try to talk about how could you state your opinion on this topic in a way where people will listen to you, and I think that's extremely important right now in today's environment.
Brandy Beam:Also, looking some of the lessons, like creating a flag you know, one of the questions is about our, about our American flag and the stars and the stripes and things and what that flag does. It creates a community and cohesiveness. And then have them design their own flag for even their table, the class and things like that. So I know somebody mentioned art. So yeah, if you have skits acting out some things that in history and bringing it to their level, I think that you can make anything accessible.
Haley Smith:Yeah, and kind of going off of what you guys have both said. It's, I think, like voting. Like I always have, we vote constantly in my class for like what our goals are, that we're working towards. So we have like rewards and our goals are that we're working towards. So we have like rewards and things like that that we're working towards. So that's fostering that community in our classroom. And then we have goals for, like grade levels in our school and things like that that they get to vote on, they get to do like tying to the student government.
Haley Smith:Stuff is always really nice because even in second grade they feel like they don't always have a voice. And it's like you guys do we, you get to make so many choices and like we want you to use your voice. And I know at my school we have, we use leader in me and so we use like the habits and we are constantly encouraging them to like be those leaders that we want and to have that community around us all the time. So we're constantly trying to like build that together and I think it's so it's easy to do it in your classroom, but then it's like it's so much fun when you get to do it with other grade levels, like we have a buddy classroom that's in third grade.
Haley Smith:So then they get to see what those guys are doing and just building that culture and that community and tying it in with everything that we're like working on, and like they get to vote on so much stuff. And they get to vote on like what are we going to do at recess? Or like just even fun stuff, like graphing right now I know I said that earlier, but like we're doing graphing right now. So we get to like vote and we get to be like okay, like what's your favorite ice cream flavor? And then it's like voting on that and tying it into other things too. So I think that's always really cool and it's just cool for them to feel like like they have a say and their voice matters and all of that as well.
Liz Evans:I love all of this because what you're talking about is making civics relevant to their lives right now. It doesn't matter how old they are. Right, we all have choices. We have ways to talk to each other and, brandy, I love that you talked about you know the news comes into your classroom Like it is what it is. Parents are watching, you know they're they're getting to it, but learning how to be respectful and stating opinions isn't something that starts in junior high. It's something that starts in kindergarten and earlier, and I love the leader in me schools. My niece is a part of one and it's so cool.
Liz Evans:I got to go to special person's day one year, which, as an auntie, is so fun because it's usually reserved for grandparents, but I got to go one year and it was amazing to see the shared set of values in this school community and how each of the grades are part of it. And I think one of the things that you know is a huge misconception is that, well, elementary school kids, they're just too little and it just it doesn't matter right now because people think civics and they think these big topics that they talk about in high school and it's like no, what all of the things that you're saying and it just makes my heart so happy to go into elementary schools and to hear from elementary teachers and it's like no, we're doing this, we're putting it into math or we're even talking about it. How you know, let's vote on what the next sport in PE is going to be right. It doesn't just have to be this small 20 minute thing that we do every other day because we have to mix it with science. Oh, I love these conversations. They just make me so happy.
Liz Evans:So many again think of civics as voting and as government or you know, like you said, Brandy, talking about current events, which current events are kind of crazy lately, it's a lot. But it's also about community involvement and we kind of talked about, like these buddy systems, recycling, things like that. But if I'm a new elementary school teacher, how can I encourage civic engagement and responsibility in my classroom, even if it's in a small way, both inside and outside of my classroom? So, brandy, I'll start with you. Yeah.
Brandy Beam:Uh, yeah, uh, I was thinking specifically something um, a lot of people at Christmas choose to do, you know, a few different things and that would be an easy integration. Uh, one year we made dog treats for the local dog shelter, um, and because of that they brought in a puppy. They had, um, and and shared that with with my class when we and when we donated the treats, um, because that's usually a time of the year that you have some downtime and you can work in some of that. So again, that's the community responsibility. Also, we went shopping at Walmart. I know every school can't do that, doesn't have the ability to do that, but we were fortunate enough that a local business and school paid for our bus trip to Walmart and we did buy some Christmas gifts for an angel tree, and again, I know Christmas. You know some schools don't participate in that and that's great, but again, these are just some options.
Brandy Beam:Something that is really easy to do is I know that some schools, since COVID, they eat in their rooms and grab and go a lot in the morning, so we were just watching them out of uneaten food or unopened food, utensils and things that were getting thrown away. So a couple of my kids that weren't even on the recycling team said hey, can we stand by the trash cans in the hallway and get this unused food? And I was like that is an excellent idea. So some of it goes back to the cafeteria. Some things they can reuse, some things can't be really reused so they just get put on a share table. Also, for Earth Day is a really easy way to integrate the different grade levels too.
Brandy Beam:You know, I know a lot of times people will make pictures and things. But if you just take it one step further to actually I got a local nursery to donate a tree. You know we're going to go out and plant a tree tomorrow and get free trees from your local 4-H or extension office. I know sometimes the forestry service in the state will donate some of those too. So all the kids are going to get a tree to take home. Trying to think some other things, those are just some of the, I think, the easy ways that a lot of the kids can get behind. And I think if you say you know, you somehow say this is a responsibility, you know we're all in this together and go ahead and start using that word civic, because I think back to education, my education. I don't know that. I even heard that word till high school even, and so I try to throw it around all the time. And so I try to throw it around all the time.
Haley Smith:Yeah, I also think like like that's so amazing that your school does all that. That's so cool. Sorry, I'm like that's awesome. I like you get to plant a tree and everything tomorrow so cool.
Haley Smith:I think also like for my school, we try to have a lot of like community too, because where my school is, it's also like in a neighborhood. So we are constantly trying to like work with members of the community to like because we want them in there. We want them to like see all the cool stuff that we're getting to do and to like have our students show off too and be like look like. Other people want to see what you guys are doing, what you're working on. Like it's not just me wanting you to like do this stuff all the time. They also.
Haley Smith:There's so many people that are, I mean, they're blown away by what these kids can do because they are, they work so hard and they just like. Just having that community involvement is a huge difference. I feel like in like the lives of these kids because they do get to see like it's not just me by myself Like the things I do, the things I say, they matter, and other people are like looking and listening. I also think it's really fun when you can tie in like upper grades and lower grades so that like it really feels like your school's coming together and working together towards whatever kind of goal that you have.
Haley Smith:I think that's like a huge thing also.
Haley Smith:That can really help kids just realize, like what some of their responsibilities as a citizen are and stuff like that too, because I think sometimes I even have to remind my own where I'm like we're not just thinking of us, we're thinking of like outside of us, which for a second grader, can be hard to do sometimes. But like I think when you give them those opportunities, you just get to see like how truly amazing like kids are and how much like we like I think people think like elementary kids they're so little they can't do so how much like we like I think people think like elementary kids they're so little they can't do so much of this stuff. But in reality, if you give them the opportunity and you set that expectation, then they will meet you where you like want them to be. You just have to be a teacher that like is clear with what you want and your expectations and like just showing them also like it's going to take hard work, but like this, stuff is worth it and stuff like that too.
Chelsea Reynolds:I think that really it makes a huge impact, even on the little ones um and for me, I think, how can teachers encourage civic engagement and responsibility inside and outside the classroom? I think about um, and I know a lot of schools like have this in common we my school is a PBIS school, so we have three expectations like part of our PBIS system that all the students are expected to like adhere to. And then we have, like this matrix that explains the different like behaviors and what it would look like if they were meeting those three like expectations. So it's be respectful, be responsible, be safe. So, especially at the beginning of the year, every classroom really focuses on like, what does that look like, what does that sound like? And also, why is it important that all of us are following these expectations? So, instead of just saying like, oh, we need to be quiet in the hallway, well, why are we being quiet in the hallway? Who are we being respectful of? Or why is it important that we're not interrupting the other classroom?
Chelsea Reynolds:So I think creating that like shared responsibility in the school between all of the students and staff, so that they all kind of like have ownership over why we have these rules, and that kind of relates back to like in real life, you know, when they have civic responsibilities and you know all that stuff when they're adults.
Chelsea Reynolds:I feel like it kind of sets them up for that, and then also it's like a separate idea. But I also think one of the field trips we take our students on is going to the state capitol, and when we go to the state capitol we get to see, like where are the laws made, we get to hear about the history of, like how Arizona became a state, and so I think if you can like, take the kids out into the world to let them see their local government like for themselves, or if you can like somehow bring it in like with pictures or with speakers or anything like that, I think that also I've noticed with my students after we learn about the state government and then we actually go see the physical building. It's very impactful for them and they're like oh, this is a real place, you know. So I think those are both really good ways to encourage civic engagement and responsibility for elementary students.
Liz Evans:I do have to say, anytime I have to go downtown and because I'll go speak at the legislature, I go early because I love the Arizona Capitol Museum, because it's so cool and I just feel like such a nerd, like taking pictures, but it is fun for kids to see that. And you know, brandy, you brought up a good point. Like everything is community specific, so you get to do things in your community that maybe my community doesn't do. And that's amazing because it is the diversity of communities and what each community needs and getting the community involved, right, like they, the community wants to be involved. They love it.
Liz Evans:I have been invited to schools in the greater Phoenix area because they'll have like a leader in me day or they'll have something, and I'm like heck, yeah, I absolutely want to go to this school, I want to be a part of it. So getting involved with your community. And I love the Earth Day because that shows them, yes, we're citizens of our school and of our classroom, but we're also global citizens. So this one tree maybe you don't think it makes a difference, but it does. And the why? Why are we doing this? I? That is so important, right, it is because I think, especially with kids and I can say this for junior, high and high school kids is I mean, they live in a fishbowl. They're thinking about themselves because that's the way their brains work. That's not a bad thing. But them understanding why we do things, why we walk quietly in the hallway is the same thing like in neighborhoods, why we go 25 miles an hour, and it's not because, well, I just don't want to. It's because I want my community to be safe. When I'm out walking my dog, I don't want people speeding and everything you said all of you.
Liz Evans:One of the things I noticed is that you weren't talking about sitting and getting right. They're not going to just sit there and listen to your lessons. They're doing stuff, they're talking. They're not going to just sit there and listen to your lessons. They're doing stuff, they're talking. They're getting the school involved and I I mean I think that more civics is happening in elementary schools than people even realize. But it's not called civics, it's called community responsibility or all of these other things. But at the end of the day.
Liz Evans:So again, I'm a new teacher, I'm looking at all my lesson planning and I am like there's so many competing priorities, there's testing, there's so many things that elementary school teachers have to do and they have a limited amount of time to do it. We don't have, you know, unlimited hours. How can civics be integrated into subjects? And, haley, you kind of touched on this with math, but reading, math and science. If I'm a brand new teacher or maybe I'm just a teacher who's never done this, because I just saw it as one more thing how can we integrate it into subjects to make sure that kids are getting this vital information and this foundation to really set them up for success? And, haley, I'm going to start with you.
Haley Smith:Perfect. I think like, honestly, the best thing to do is to find things that you can do cross-curricular, because then you are making sure that you're getting all of it in. And at least with the youngers I know that they can, like I, the way I integrate a lot of it into mine is I try to find like a read aloud that I know is going to tie into it, so I have that during reading time. Or I will find like books for them to look at and to read, even if they are just doing like they finished early, so they can go and grab a book from the library. I'll have some set up that have to do with like what we're going, like what's going on in the world or a specific civics topic, so that they can look at it and even if it's just like in that time, at least they're getting that exposure to it. And I also try to do it a lot with writing and you can also then incorporate the reading with the writing and if you're really lucky, sometimes you can get math into it, depending on what it is. But I think like the easiest way for elementary would be like finding really meaningful text and being able to tie it into like your reading time and your writing time, because I do a lot of my like.
Haley Smith:The reading stuff that I pull from is mostly having to do with civic stuff, because then they are always being exposed to it like every single day, and so I'll tie it to my reading and my writing time and I can also make it so that we can do like carousels or jigsaws to make it more interesting and just make it so it's as hands-on as I can get it to be for them, so that they aren't just sitting there listening to me describe what democracy is to them over and over again, because they have nothing to tie that to.
Haley Smith:So I also have to give them the background knowledge prior to any of it, because they I mean it's awesome if they got it in first in kinder, and I hope that they did, but not all of them have. So I also am, as a second grade teacher, responsible for building that foundation for them and that vocabulary for them to then also be able to take it forward. And they're not going to be able to sit there and listen to me talk about these like huge words that they have no tie to if I don't give them something to anchor it to, so that they can then hold on to it and keep building that in the future.
Chelsea Reynolds:I would completely agree with what Haley said. I think reading is probably one of the best subjects I've also found to integrate social studies with, just because, like she said, you can find a lot of good texts, both like realistic fiction and nonfiction, depending on what standards you're trying to teach in reading. So it's a great way to get your reading curriculum in. But then you can also be having these discussions and learning about these topics that are related more to civics and social studies. And then I would say, in third grade we definitely integrate pretty much all of our social studies and civics with writing, just because it's kind of like a natural connection in my opinion, because you have to. In third grade we're doing a lot of like text-based writing. So we will read something and research it and then we'll have to write about it. So usually the things we will read and research will end up being our social studies and science standards, so that we can get both in and then I think even taking it one step further.
Chelsea Reynolds:So like, for example, at the beginning of the year we talk about citizenship and civic responsibilities and then we do a writing where they have to. It's like an informational writing, where they have to explain like what are some different civic responsibilities that like a US citizen would have? And then we have a project that the kids will do like a STEM project, where the setup is like oh, we have a student at our school who's like a new citizen in the country, like what are some things that they would need to know about civic responsibilities of a US citizen? Know about civic responsibilities of a US citizen? And then the kids have like creative freedom to think of what kind of project they want to make.
Chelsea Reynolds:So a lot of kids will make posters, but some of them will make brochures. Some of them I've had kids make like books. They've made like a banner, like a flag banner with different facts on it. So I think that's kind of how maybe you could tie it into more like science stem, but it's mostly. I think that's kind of how maybe you could tie it into more like science STEM, but it's mostly. I think reading. Writing is definitely a strong connection with civics is what I would tell like a new teacher who is trying to find time to teach it.
Brandy Beam:So I like this question because I think, from an elementary perspective, that is just the ever-present question how do we fit this in, how do we fit that in? How do we fit more and more? I know that a lot of the upper elementaries are given, you know, 20 minutes for social studies, or in fourth grade, because in my state it's not a tested subject, and then in fifth grade there's not much science because science is not tested in the fifth grade. So, just listening to the others oh, definitely reading. Our school's kind of taken on the project of trying to find text to ensure that all of our standards are integrated into the reading, and so we didn't want to put that on any one teacher. We want to help them. So instead of asking our teachers okay, you know, what program do you need? Do you need this program? You know, for example, there's great, a lot of great websites out there that you can integrate, but what we were hearing over and over was we just don't have time even to do that. So we're going to attempt again to find, like some I can't remember if it was Haley or Chelsea mentioned some really rich texts that, yes, if you work this in, it covers, you know, standard XYZ, something else that I think it's school buy-in.
Brandy Beam:But there's so many national days, right Like Veterans Day. Your school could just do a Veterans Day program and that leads into the discussion of you know how some people serve their country and you know that's a pretty high level of selflessness. Also, bringing in speakers if there's a special day going on, you know, bringing in the mayor, making that more tangible for the students. You know, hey, here's the person you can't vote yet, but you will. You do have power right now, just not in this way yet. So, bringing in some speakers, and then I yeah, I think I'd written down days of the year. But those are just some of the things that I thought about.
Liz Evans:And until I like this is the hill I will die on, although I don't think I need to. Every kid in every level benefits from being read to and that is something in my bachelor's degree that I really stuck to and I used to read children's books to my AP government kids in their senior year and they loved it Because it is. You know, our favorite one is Grace for President, where it talks about the electoral college and it really simplifies it. But at the same time, like reading and writing are such a natural fit, I feel like in general, for everything you can read and write in math and in science and in social studies, and it is so natural and you know, informational writing is natural in this space and finding, I think sometimes what happens is people are like, well, the Declaration of Independence is too hard for third graders, you know, to read. Okay, well, we can take little parts of it and tell a story with it and have kids get creative with it. We can talk about Veterans Day or Martin Luther King Day. We can talk about why some states celebrate certain holidays and some don't.
Liz Evans:I learned, like five years ago that not every state celebrates President's Day because of some Civil War beef. But for some reason I just thought Arizona was the center of the universe in our nation and if we do it, everybody else doesn't. But there are so many opportunities to have these conversations and speakers. Again, people love going into classrooms and talking. One of the things that my colleague Jeff does here in Arizona is matches veterans with classrooms and these veterans love. They're the ultimate primary source right, and kids love interacting with them because they don't know people who've served.
Liz Evans:Maybe when I was in a long time ago, when I was in elementary school, junior high and high school, that was kind of the Vietnam era and Korea where those veterans would come in and even early on in my teaching, desert Storm, like there were things like that. But it almost feels kind of far away for some kids because there hasn't been a quote, unquote war that they can really tie things to and I think sometimes too they don't realize like not all veterans fought in a war. There's so many things that you can do in the services or if you want to be mayor, if you want to be on city council, it just ties it in so nicely. So for our final question, because you are the experts and I genuinely think teachers are the experts in their classroom and their content and their kids. So if you could tell parents, school leaders, anyone listening, one thing about why civics and elementary school matters, what would it be? And Chelsea, I will start with you.
Chelsea Reynolds:I would say, why does civics and elementary school matter?
Chelsea Reynolds:I would say it starting in elementary school and teaching the kids these things like civic responsibilities, community engagement.
Chelsea Reynolds:I think it helps create like a level of shared responsibility and it kind of starts that journey of the kids being more involved in their community and just taking pride in the community I guess that they're a part of and contributing in a positive way.
Chelsea Reynolds:So if they understand, kind of going back to what we talked about before if they understand kind of like the why behind things, like the why behind why this is the way it is in the country or why we have these laws or why we have these rights, I think that just helps bring it down to their level a little bit more, make it more real world for them. And then I think if you start with that when they're younger, then they can continue to grow and develop that as they grow up and then it will create, you know, students who when they graduate, hopefully they can feel like they're more part of their community and like they have a say in their community and that they have. We all have this shared responsibility to keep it safe and to keep it healthy and all that stuff. So that's what I would say is it creates that like level of shared responsibility.
Brandy Beam:I would probably simply say America doesn't work unless we want it to. We need to teach civics young so that that we do have that shared responsibility. It's going to take everybody to keep it going and I think we're learning that it's easy to take take things for granted, that that things are going to go smoothly, but everybody needs to be knowledgeable enough to um to make it happen, to make it work.
Haley Smith:Yeah, and just going off of what both of you guys have said, I think it really like the path forward to like a stronger country, a stronger state, a stronger community all starts within our classrooms, really, because we're teaching the future to build strong communities and like having democracy and the importance of all of these things all the time. Then they're just taking that forward with them and they're all just going to have, they're all just going to be little leaders, and that's what we want them to be. We want them to be leaders. We want them to want to be a good member of their community that helps and doesn't just see someone struggling. That they are given the tools that they need to be able to help themselves and to help others, even as small as, like some of our kids are. That they get to go forward and feel like they're making the world a better place.
Haley Smith:Place even just little by little, and working together is the only way that we can achieve that. Like that's why I tell my kids all the time I'm just like you guys are our future and we, like we're all here to help you, to give you these tools and, like I, want to live in a world filled with nice people who are loving and kind. We don't need to be mean people like. So the words we say and the things we do really do matter, and that starts when they're really little. So I think that's like a huge part of it and that's like super important and it starts with teachers like you.
Liz Evans:Um, civics is successful. Elementary school kids are successful because they have teachers like you. So thank you, brandy, chelsea and Haley so much for your time, for all of the amazing lessons that you created and for everything you do for civic education.
