Resource Type: Collection

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Civics Resources

PBS Resources

Illustration showing Daniel Tiger and his friends sitting on a blanket outside learning with Teacher Harriet

Early Learning Resources

PBS KIDS helps support PreK-2 learners to participate as active and engaged members of their home, school, and broader communities.

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Middle school students looking at an exhibit at a museum

Elementary Resources

Civics resources for grades 3-5 help elementary learners understand foundational concepts of government, civic engagement, and elections.

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Teens walking outside of a school building, talking, and smiling

Secondary Resources

These civics resources deepen civic knowledge and understanding for learners in grades 6-12.

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Illustration of a diverse group of folks collaborating while holding water bottles and other beverage containers

Featured Resources

Illustration of City Island, a PBS Kids program

City Island

Solve challenges with creative solutions in City Island– a living city where the objects are people with iconic businesses, government institutions, and a diverse citizenry. Grades PreK-2

Scene from a Wisconsin Biographies video

Wisconsin Biographies “Leaders in Government”

Meet people from Wisconsin’s past who felt a calling to represent their communities, serving as leaders in local, state, or national governments! Grades 3-6

 A collage of political buttons

Election Central

Keep up with election news, study the history and process of elections, learn about voting rights, and engage in classroom debates with videos, activities, and lesson plans. Grades 3-12

 Stylized images of female historical figures with superimposed text, Civics Collection

Civics Collection

Support middle and high school students to acquire civic knowledge, develop civic understanding through applied historical and present-day examples, and engage and participate in civic affairs. Grades 6-12

 A student sitting at a desk and completing an assignment in class

Wisconsin First Nations

Wisconsin First Nations provides accurate and authentic educational resources for teaching and learning about the Native Nations of Wisconsin. Grades K-12

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Quotation

Logo with white text, Civics Resources, on a blue flag with red and white outlines

PBS gave us a path forward for weaving civic engagement lessons with library and classroom lessons in a way that will be positively impactful for our learners. Thank you! It is exactly what we needed.

Kay Koepsel-Benning
Director of Library Services, Elmbrook Schools
Photo with golden yellow cast effect depicting a person performing agricultural work and carrying a tray of small vegetable plants ready for planting with the superimposed collection title, Climate Wisconsin, Stories from a State of Change, and a subtitle for the page, About

About Climate Wisconsin

Featured Story

People working with chainsaws in a forest next to a fallen tree

Forestry

Neopit, WI

Find out how climate change is impacting the forests managed by the Menominee Nation and what it means for the health of forests across the state.

All Stories

Illustration showing earth in surrounded by dark sky

Adaptation & Mitigation

Wisconsin

An animated overview of strategies for addressing climate change with examples of actions that humans can take as individuals and as a society.

 Part of the brick wall of a building. In the distance the outline of Elijah Furquan is visible.

Extreme Heat

Milwaukee, WI

Elijah Furquan channels his creativity as a spoken word artist into giving voice to the effects of extreme heat on his urban community.

 Kyle carrying a tray of plants

Farming

Bangor, WI

Kyle Niedfeldt Zenz shares about the challenges pests and disease pose to raising crops on her family’s farm.

 Peter raising his arm to cast his line while fly fishing

Fly Fishing

Viroqua, WI

Peter Cozad, a fly fishing guide, talks about the increasing frequency of severe weather events that are impacting trout streams.

 Marshall Pecore standing in front of the Menominee forests

Forestry

Neopit, WI

Marshall Pecore describes the forest’s economic and cultural value to the Menominee and invasive species that now threaten the forest’s health.

 Tom Marchant holding up a fish caught while ice fishing

Ice Fishing

Madison, WI

Tom and Norma Marchant share about their enjoyment of winter ice fishing season, which is being made shorter by warming temperatures.

 Small yellow birds perched around a bird feeder

Phenology

Baraboo, WI

Nina Leopold Bradley talks about how keeping records of the changing timing of plant and animal life cycles makes climate change visible.

 A bag collecting sap from a tree. In the distance Kat is carrying a bucket towards the tree.

Sugaring

Athens, WI

Kat Becker and Tony Schultz recount the seasonal practice of maple sugaring and how changing conditions impact the sap supply.

Partners

Quotation

Logo with text, Climate Wisconsin, Stories From a State of Change

“[Climate Wisconsin] inspires stories among my students every time I share it.”

Jake Eaton
Middle School Science, Waunakee
The hosts of The Look Back, each highlighted with a yellow outline, appear in a sort of collage, surrounded by historical objects featured in episodes of The Look Back, and in front of them is the logo for The Look Back

About The Look Back

Featured Episode

Taylor L. Bailey's photo surrounded by the photos of an antique tintype photography camera and H.H. Bennett, and early pioneer in photography, with the logo for The Look Back in the foreground, and the words, say cheese, in the background

How a Tintype Photographer Put The Dells on the Map

The Progressive Era and Labor

H. H. (Henry Hamilton) Bennett started his photography business in 1865 after serving in the Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. The landscape photos Bennett made included widely popular stereoscopic images that promoted Wisconsin as a tourist attraction.

Explore the collection

All Eras

First
Nations

Before 1620

Early
Explorers

Before 1800

The Fur
Trade Era

1600–1832

Territory to
Statehood

1787–1848

Early Wisconsin,
the Civil War &
Reconstruction

1848–1877

The Progressive
Era and
World War I

1874–1914

WWI &
the Great
Depression

1914–1939

The New Deal
& WWII

1933–1945

Postwar
Wisconsin

1945–1960

Vietnam
Era

1960–1975

Modern
Era

1975–Present

Partners

Quotation

Logo for The Look Back

I loved how you made the videos educational and fun at the same time!

Wisconsin student
The logo for The Ways appears in front of decorative pieces of wood

About The Ways

Stories

A color photograph showing Molly Miller and another person standing in front of a wooded area. They are looking at each other and are smiling. Molly wears a blue hooded shirt with the word

Clan
Mother

Healing the Community

Molly Miller, a Stockbridge-Munsee Community elder reflects on healing from trauma and caring for her community.

 A color photograph showing Greg Biskakone Johnson outside in a wooded area. Greg is wearing a black hat and coat and has his head turned, looking to the viewer's right.

Hunting
Deer

Sharing the Harvest

Greg “Biskakone” Johnson, a member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa hunts honoring traditional ways.

 A color photograph showing Jessica House and her teammates giving each other high fives during a basketball game.

Lady
Thunderhawks

Leading the Way

Jessica House of the Oneida Nation infuses the values of her culture into her role leading her school’s basketball team.

 A color photograph of the Peterson family in front of their fish market.

Lake Superior
Whitefish

Carrying on a Family Tradition

The Petersons, members of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa share their experiences with treaty fishing.

 A color photograph of Arlene Thunder Blackdeer sitting at a kitchen table with her daughter. The two are looking at each other smiling.

Language
Apprentice

Bringing Back the Ho-Chunk Language

Arlene Thunder Blackdeer learns and teaches the Ho-Chunk language to connect and strengthen the community.

 A color photograph showing Roy Corn Jr. pushing his daughter on the swings outside in winter.

Living
Language

Menominee Language Revitalization

Ron Corn Jr. teaches his youngest daughter the Menominee language to ensure it lives on in the next generation.

 A color photograph showing Fred Ackley Jr. holding a curved tray containing manoomin that he is winnowing.

Manoomin

Food that Grows on the Water

Fred Ackley Jr. of the Sokaogon Chippewa Community of Mole Lake harvests wild rice.

 A color photograph showing Dylan Jennings wearing powwow regalia in a tented area filled with people.

Powwow
Trail

Keeping the Beat

Dylan Jennings, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa provides insight into contemporary powwows.

 A color photograph showing Tall Paul (Paul Wenell Jr.) rapping in front of a wall mural that includes a horse.

Prayers in
a Song

Learning Language Through Hip-Hop

Tall Paul (Paul Wenell Jr.) of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe raps about language learning and his Native identity.

 A color photograph showing Jason Bisonette spearfishing with his son at night.

Spearfishing

A Living History

Jason Bisonette of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe practices spearfishing as part of his culture.

 A color photograph showing two students holding papers and pencils against a tree to write while doing sugaring in the woods.

Waadookodaading

Ojibwe Language Immersion School

Waadookodaading educators integrate the tradition of sugaring into the curriculum to support Ojibwe language learning.

 A color photograph showing a Mark Antonio Daniels Jr. looking down at his hands as he wraps them with hand wraps in the boxing ring.

Warriors
Boxing

Fighting for Our People

Mark Antonio Daniels Jr., a member of the Forest County Potawatomi continues a longstanding boxing tradition.

Partners

Quotation

Logo for The Ways

The Ways has been an invaluable resource as we continue to share culturally accurate, relevant, and contemporary information about Native people with non-Natives in and out of classrooms.

Robin Amado
School Librarian, Vel Phillips Memorial High School