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GeauxVote Smart! ― Civics Lesson Plans

Our standards-based lessons and resources provide basic citizenship information for K-12 students as well as citizens who are interested in a civics refresher course.

• Division of Power (PDF) Investigate how the U.S. Constitution organizes our government to create a balance of power and to protect our rights. Grades one through 12.
• Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens (PDF) Learn about the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens and your most important duty as an American citizen. Grades one through 12.
• Media and Propaganda (PDF) Find out why the media (newspapers, television, etc.) is important to American democracy and how you can use the media to GeauxVote Smart. Grades one through 12.
• Political Parties (PDF) Learn why political parties are important to our country. Grades one through 12.
• Electing a President (PDF) Explore the role of political parties, presidential candidates, campaign contributors and voters in selecting the President of the United States. Grades one through 12.
• Hit the Campaign Trail (PDF) Investigate the office of President of the United States and hit the campaign trail to elect a new Commander in Chief. Grades 4 through 12.

Louisiana and American History Lesson Plans

Our standards-based lessons and resources actively engage students with content knowledge to increase their understanding and appreciation of Louisiana and American history. Our lessons integrate basic literacy strategies and can be used either as stand-alone classroom resources or in conjunction with classroom visits to our history galleries.

• Huey Long (PDF) This lesson plan is based on the Old State Capitol’s state-of-the-art Huey Long galleries, which opened in 2009. Fun activities and projects integrate K-12 basic literacy strategies and provide insight into Huey Long’s impact on our state. Download the file for classroom projects and museum field trip guides as well as pre and post-visit activities.
• Work Progress Administration (PDF) During the 1930s, the Old State Capitol housed the offices of Louisiana’s Work Progress Administration.
• John James Audubon (PDF) Audubon spent much time studying and painting Louisiana birds in their natural habitats. This thematic lesson introduces students to John James Audubon—the man and artist—and can be used as a stand-alone classroom resource or in conjunction with a museum exhibition of Audubon’s paintings. This resource includes ideas for a variety of art, science, math and history activities as well as classroom and independent research projects.
• Louisiana Governors (PDF) This lesson and field trip guide prepares students for their visit to the Old State Capitol where they will view the Louisiana Governors’ Portrait Gallery, the state’s largest exhibition of gubernatorial portraits. Pre-visit activities ask students to explore our Louisiana Governors and Statehouses of Louisiana Internet exhibitions to discover which Louisiana governors served their term(s) in Louisiana’s historic statehouse. The museum exhibition guide helps students explore our new history galleries as well as our historic building and grounds.
• World War I Propaganda Posters (PDF) During World War I, the United States produced over 2,500 poster designs and approximately 20 million posters in less than two years. This lesson explores online exhibitions of World War I posters and includes activity sheets for use with museum exhibitions of WWI posters.
• Education for Women (PDF) This lesson explores the historic and contemporary significance of educating the women of the world as well as the national and global impact of denying education to women. Students examine Internet collections of artifacts to compare and contrast historic and contemporary education programs and practices. Student projects ask students to explore contemporary education for women as provided by countries in various world regions.
• Federal Writers' Project Slave Narratives  (PDF) These lessons are based on the interviews of former slaves which were conducted in the 1930s by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The result of these efforts was the Library of Congress Slave Narrative Collection, a group of autobiographical accounts of former slaves that today stands as one of the most enduring and noteworthy achievements of the WPA.