Help build Storybook County.
The Educator Toolkit and Storybook County were written for classrooms, and they get better every time a teacher writes back. Tell us what worked, fix what didn't, or send a lesson of your own.
Ways to help
Every note makes it better for the next class
Pick whatever fits your time. Five minutes or a whole unit, it all helps young people learn how their government works.
Tell us how a lesson went
What landed, what dragged, what you changed on the fly, and what your students said. That is the most useful note we get.
Fix something
A typo, a broken link, a standards code that changed, a session that runs long. Point us to the page and we will correct it.
Remix a story
A better public domain character, a new Storybook County problem, or a local issue that makes a lesson click. Tell us the skill it teaches and why it fits.
Write a lesson plan
Build out a grade from the K to 12 map, or a lesson we haven't thought of. Rough drafts are welcome.
Make it local
Send the real offices, officials and records for your town, county or state so other teachers near you can swap them in.
Pilot and review
Try a new lesson in your classroom before it is finished, or read drafts and tell us what a teacher needs.
Most wanted right now
Where your help counts most
- Kindergarten to grade 3 lessons. The map has outlines for the Three Bears, Nursery Rhyme Village, the Village Election and the Queen's Decree. We need K to 3 teachers to write them out and tell us if 15 to 25 minute sessions are right.
- Grades 4 and 8. These fit the standards in two or three states and lead straight into the Middle School and High School conferences, so we want them built first.
- Middle school options for Connecticut and Rhode Island. Rhode Island grades 6 and 7 and Connecticut grade 6 have little civics in their standards. Ideas for those years are welcome.
- Classroom stories. A paragraph on what happened when you taught a lesson helps the next teacher decide to try it.
Send a lesson plan
What a good Storybook County lesson includes
Use any format you like: Word, Google Doc, PDF or a photo of your notes. We will shape it into the same PDF and slide format as the other lessons and send it back to you before it goes up.
- The lesson: the Storybook County scenario and the Youth and Government process it practices, sized for the grade.
- Sessions: how many, how long, and what happens in each.
- Tools: handouts and any free outside tools, named so other teachers can find them.
- State goals: the New York, Connecticut or Rhode Island standards it meets, if you know them. We can help.
- Make it local: how to swap in a real office or issue from your community.
A few ground rules
- Use public domain or original characters. Characters from current books, shows and games belong to someone else, so we can't post them.
- Keep it nonpartisan: argue the policy, never the person.
- No student contact details. Student work and photos need permission from a parent or guardian.
- Send only what you wrote or have the right to share.
What happens next
We read every note
- We read it and reply.
- Quick fixes go up on the website as soon as we can make them.
- For a new lesson, we shape it into the Storybook County format and send it to you to check.
- When it goes up, it is free for every teacher, YMCA and family, the same as the rest of the toolkit.
Got five minutes?
Tell us one thing that would make the toolkit better for your students.