Students
Attached is a copy of the 2013-2104 Illinois Bluebook pertaining to the Illinois Comptroller’s office. It is a great resource for you as a student to begin any research on the job of comptroller and what it involves.
Attached is a copy of a diagram from the Illinois General Assembly’s Legislative Research Unit. This diagram will come in handy in understanding how a bill becomes a law in the Illinois state house.
Attached is a copy of the Secretary of State’s guide to the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. A visit to Springfield is so invaluable to all citizens in the state. If you are student, your school may sponsor a trip to Springfield so you can meet your local state representative and state senator. This guide will help you plan what you wish to see and give you some history about the current Illinois capitol and past Illinois capitol. Remember, Springfield is the capital of Illinois. Note the spelling is different than for the building which is the capitol, with an “o” instead of an “a.”
Have you ever read your state constitution? Here is your chance.
Do you know your state’s history. In this Bicentennial year of 2018 (Illinois became a state in 1918), see the attached chronology and this historic item from Judy’s home on the Illinois Sesquicentennial of 1968. Judy was so proud of Illinois and what it accomplished over the last 200 years.
Do you know about the US Constitution and other documents that helped make our country what it is today?
Teachers
Attached is an Illinois scavenger hunt document that can be used to encourage students to get to know more about their state.
Attached are pictures of the Illinois flag and the Illinois quarter. Sometimes it is great to find ways to encourage students to identify their state’s symbols.
Do not forget to visit the Illinois State Capitol and walk around the capitol campus seeing the various statues and memorials. The attached brochure will be of help.
Item from Judy’s estate about Springfield and Central Illinois.
While going through Judy Baar Topinka’s estate materials, her son found the following items provided to people in the Chicagoland area after the Liberty Train came to Chicago in 1976 and was parked at Navy Pier. Judy’s family waited to get into the train on a Sunday for almost four hours and then was moved through the training in about ten minutes. Many of the documents that were on display in the Freedom Train were printed in this packet so people could appreciate them in their homes with their families. We hope that these items will come in useful during classes as teachers talk to their students about civics and our foundational, legal documents in the United States of American.
Item from Judy’s estate. She loved Illinois history. Now you can use these items for your students during the Illinois bicentennial.
Just Judy Lesson Plans
Social Science Learning Standards
Teachers should be aware of the new social sciences learning standards in Illinois. Just Judy is a natural complement to these standards. (see Illinois State Board of Education for more information)
- Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science
- Civics Guidance Document
- Mandate Guidance Document
- Standards by Grade Level
Helpful Websites
EDSITEment
A project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, EDSITEment offers humanities-focused educational materials to students, teachers, and parents. Subject areas include history and social studies, literature and language arts, art and culture, and foreign languages. The website features a collection of lesson plans for teachers as well as interactive activities for students, and a guide to resources specifically for online instruction.
The National Archives
The National Archives and Records Administration preserves important federal government documents and offers online public access to items such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The Archives website also features an online teaching tool called Docs Teach, which offers classroom-specific activities and primary source documents. They also offer a number of free e-books, including Using Primary Sources to Review Major Topics in U.S. History: 1860–1979, which presents six review lessons designed to engage students in hands-on learning and discussion. In light of the interruption to classroom teaching due to COVID-19, the National Archives has partnered with the Presidential Primary Sources Project to offer interactive distance learning opportunities through the end of May 2020.
The Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America is a portal to historical documents, images, and resources gathered from America’s libraries, archives, and museums. The collection allows users to search through materials in innovative ways, including by timeline, map, virtual bookshelf, format, and topic.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution as well as the largest library in the world. The library’s website includes digital collections and services, providing access to print, pictorial, and audio-visual materials, which can be used to supplement classroom instruction.
Huntington Library
The Huntington Library is an institution that supports and promotes the appreciation of, as well as research and education in, the arts and humanities. Fundamental to their work is conservation—stewarding and protecting artworks, books, manuscripts and related materials to ensure their continued availability for new discoveries and interpretations. The Huntington’s website features a variety of online resources that support instruction for subjects including U.S. history, world history, geography, and English language arts. These resources include standards-aligned lessons for learning at home; interdisciplinary activity guides; resources developed by teachers, for teachers, and inspired by the Huntington’s collections; and access to lesson plans and learning modules.
iCivics
The iCivics Remote Learning Toolkit makes available enrichment activities and lessons to facilitate home learning for K-12 students nationwide. The website offers customized resources to provide differentiated solutions for at-home learning. The Remote Learning Toolkit for Families offers manageable learning and engagement activities that children can enjoy with minimal supervision. The Remote Learning Toolkit for Educators provides best practice guidance and high-quality resources that are motivating and engaging. The toolkit includes virtual professional development webinars and support networks, updated resources on timely topics such as news media literacy, and the newly launched Game Odyssey, which encourages student game play at home through leveled game quests with badges earned for completion.
PBS Learning Media
https://houstonpbs.pbslearningmedia.org/
The PBS Learning Media site provides numerous lesson plans, online activities, classroom resources, and educational videos covering multiple subjects for preschool through 12th grade. With the creation of a free teacher account, users have access to a vast array of PBS video resources like Crash Course and Founding Principles for use in their classrooms. PBS Learning Media also has an entire section of the website dedicated to Reading in History and Social Studies, which encourages and instructs students to analyze primary source documents to form their own hypothesis.
National Constitution Center
https://constitutioncenter.org/
The National Constitution Center’s approach to constitutional education emphasizes historic storytelling, constitutional rather than political questions, and the habits of civil dialogue and reflection. Its suite of online educational resources includes an interactive Constitution tool, copies of original historical documents, educational videos, lesson plans, and various interactive activities and games that engage students in close reading and critical thinking exercises. The Center is also offering remote learning opportunities through free lectures and civil dialogue sessions on the Constitution that students can access online on a home computer, laptop, or phone.
Stanford History Education Group
The Stanford History Education Group comprises Stanford faculty, staff, graduate students, post-docs, and visiting scholars and seeks to improve education by reaching directly into classrooms with free materials for teachers and students. SHEG’s Reading Like a Historian curriculum engages students in historical inquiry and encourages critical reading and analysis skills through the use of primary source documents. The Beyond the Bubble assessments unlock the vast archive of the Library of Congress to create easy-to-use assessments that measure students’ historical thinking rather than recall of facts. SHEG has also created a Civic Online Reasoning curriculum to help students develop the skills needed to navigate our current digital landscape.
Parents
Attached if the May 24, 2014 report from the Illinois State Board of Education regarding civic education. Many other developments have happened in Illinois since this report. Parents should consider how their children are learning to be good citizens and whether they understand how government works at the local, state, and federal levels.
In addition, parents should understand what the current Illinois law states in regard to education in social studies for grade school students.
The Robert R. McCormick Foundation’s Illinois Civic Blueprint provides a wonderful overview of Illinois renewed effort to teach students about civics.
Another wonderful resource is the report, Democracy, The Civic Mission of Schools, produced by the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools in partnership with the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, the National Conference on Citizenship, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, and the American Bar Association Division for Public Education.
If you are going to visit Judy’s historic home, the Village of Riverside, Illinois, the attached map and 1975 Centennial booklet and map insert will be informative and helpful. Take a tour by foot, bicycle, or car and visit Judy’s favorite candy store, Aunt Diana’s Fudge, and historic Higgin’s Glassworks.
If you are going to visit Judy’s second home of Springfield, the attached map will be so informative. Visit Lincoln’s grave, his museum, or his home. Judy was a great fan of Abraham Lincoln.