Understanding Government is from Susan Traugh’s Daily Living Skills series offering transitional skills for mild-to-moderately affected special needs students and general education students alike. Understanding Government provides adult living skills for special needs teens to meet transition mandates. It is a stand-alone unit providing students with skills to understand how government works, how democracy needs informed citizens, and what their rights are. This workbook serves as both a traditional print version and an interactive version using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Like the other books in this series, it contains airy pages and bullet-point information for easy, independent study, yet, these books, nevertheless, respect teens’ maturity and humor while presenting federally mandated, Indicator 13 skills and transition skills needed for adult independence.
Written on a 3rd/4th-grade level, workbooks are meant to be self-paced and adaptable with student interests and goals driving most units. Each lesson is taught in a short one-to-four page format with follow-up worksheets/activities to check comprehension. Real-world activities are provided whenever possible.
Lessons in Daily Living Skills in Understanding Government include:
- Why study government
- Kinds of government
- What kind of government are we
- The 3 branches of government
- The Legislative Branch
- How to pass a bill
- Making your voice heard
- The Executive Branch
- The Cabinet
- The electoral college
- The judicial branch
- Who are the judges
- The Bill of Rights
- Amendments I-X, and more.
Additionally, this book provides a student grading sheet, answer key and a Parent Letter suggesting at-home activities for families in accordance with federal mandates.
Like the other books, it contains airy-pages and bullet-point information for easy, independent study, yet, these books, nevertheless, respect teens’ maturity and humor while presenting federally mandated, Indicator 13 skills needed for adult independence.
A preview of this book is provided here, or sample the series with our free book—Doing Laundry.
Titles in the Daily Living Skills transition series include: Becoming Likeable, Becoming Self-Aware, Building Character, Building Self-Esteem, Building Self-Motivation, Buying Insurance, Celebrating Holidays, Cleaning House, Creating Self-Confidence, Decision Making, Doing Laundry, Dress for Success, Everyday Manners, Fair Fighting, Getting a Paycheck, Grocery Shopping, Hygiene for Girls, Hygiene for Guys, Interviewing Skills, Kitchen Basics, Making Conversation, Making Meals, Managing Stress, Nutrition, Outdoor Chores, Overcoming Failure, Paying Bills, Practicing Patience, Safe Dating, Seeking Employment, Staying Healthy, Time Management, Transportation, Voting, Washing Dishes, Who Am I? College and Career, Work Games
A Powerpoint Presentation introducing the program to students, parents, and staff is available free of charge on this site.
A Teacher’s Manual providing tips on implementation and written ITP goals for most of the workbooks is also available for purchase on this site.