WI Academic Standards Themes: Civic Learning

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Civics Resources

PBS Resources

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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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Elementary Resources

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

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Secondary Resources

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

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Invite our team to share standards-aligned civics resources from public media with educators in your school or organization.

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Featured Resources

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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
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Educator Resources

Why Climate Wisconsin

Stories in Climate Wisconsin can be the seeds for growing robust climate education experiences in classrooms and community spaces. Explore the quick start chart to see what’s in the collection, and then dig into the educator guides for extension activity ideas, discussion questions, essays, and standards alignment.

Climate Wisconsin Educator Guides

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Sugaring: Athens, WI

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

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“We use Climate Wisconsin videos all the time! Such a great resource, really well done and relevant to our audience.”

Brenna
Community Educator, Monona, WI
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“I like the variety of the resources, especially those that are more local to my area.”

Wisconsin Educator
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Educator Resources

Why The Ways

First Nations communities are part of the fabric of our state, our country and our world. The contemporary video stories, maps and questions to consider in The Ways can be woven into many experiences you create with students in your learning space. Educator guides for each story offer supplemental essays and Wisconsin state standards alignment.

Begin here

Use this quick-start chart to see how the featured stories map to First Nations communities, geographic locations and standards.

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The Ways Educator Guides

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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“I absolutely LOVE The Ways! Great modern resource to add to any lesson when talking about Native Americans.”

Casey Ineichen
Library Media Specialist, Monona Grove School District