Government Resources for K-12

 Kids' Sites | Sample Web Sites by Documents Librarians | Statistics  | Useful Reference Resources | Teachers' Sites | Free Stuff |  Useful State Resources | Searching | Voting and Elections

Government Agencies of Interest to Kids

• Federal Kids Portal The Federal Consumer Information Center has collected web sites from across the Federal government and other organizations and organized them by topic.
• Government Printing Office Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government for Kids--built by the Government Printing Office, this site provides access to educational government resources in four grade ranges: K-2, 3-5, 6-8- and 9-12. Kids can learn how a bill becomes a law, visit other government web sites for kids, play games, and work interactively with U.S. government information. See their U.S. Government Web Sites for Kids for a well-organized and rich list of web sites designed for your audiences.
• Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook Describes careers--the kind of work involved, average pay, demand, and much more. Great for kids thinking about what they want to do with their lives.
• Library of Congress
  • http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ The Library of Congress serves the members of the United State Congress. They also make wonderful exhibits that they share with us. Many of these describe us to ourselves; others introduce us to the rest of the world as it is represented in their library collection.
  • http://www.americaslibrary.gov This Web site is brought to you from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the largest library in the world and the nation's library. It includes information about Amazing Americans, America at play, America's history, the American states, and American music.
  • http://thomas.loc.gov/ Includes information about current legislation at the national level and many other helpful links.
• See Also State University of West Georgia's Ingram Library site for kids Organized by subject and agency

Sample Sites for Kids by Documents Librarians

• Uncle Sam for Kids!
• Resources for Teachers

Statistical Information

• Statistical Abstract of the United States Includes statistics of all kinds describing the United States.
• Statistical Abstract of Missouri Includes statistics of all kinds describing Missouri.
• FEDSTATS The premier Federal search engine for statistical information gathered by agencies across the U.S. government. Its not comprehensive, but it's pretty close.
• U.S. Census Bureau Represents the work of the Census Bureau. Includes an A-Z list of topics and a search engine to help locate information.
  • http://www.census.gov/prod/www/titles.html Publications Online
• OSEDA The Missouri State source for many kinds of statistical data.

Useful Reference Resources

• Core Documents of U.S. Democracy This page has links to some of the country's founding documents, such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, etc.
• Background Notes Produced by U.S. State Department. Contains information on countries around the world.
• Code of Federal Regulations The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
• U.S. Government Manual As the official handbook of the Federal Government, the United States Government Manual provides comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches.
• Healthfinder Produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This site contains information on a wide variety of health topics and is directed toward the K-12 audience.
• World Factbook Produced by the CIA. Contains a wealth of information on countries around the world.
• American FactFinder Produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. Contains a wealth of information about the country.
• GPO Access Established by the GPO Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act of 1993, GPO Access provides the authoritative version of Congressional bills, acts, and action in electronic format as well as access to hundreds of other Federal government publications.

For Teachers and Administrators

• ERIC Database of educational resources, produced by the Department of Education

• Gateway to Educational Materials Get your lesson plans here!

• Federal Resources for Educational Excellence This is a great site! Try out their Search & Subjects link.

• K12 Practitioners' Circle Provides statistical information on education specifically for local education practitioners, including K-12 teachers and support staff, administrators, policymakers, librarians, community members and parents.
• Education Resources for Grades K-12 Organized by topic by Melody Kelly at the University of North Texas
• GPO Access

  • http://www.gpo.gov/su_docs/index.html Includes links to publications, databases, and locator services.
  • Kids and the Internet: The Promise and the Perils
    • http://www.nclis.gov/info/kids2.html From the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS).  The hearing took place at the Freedom Forum in Arlington, Virginia, on November 10, 1998.  The report includes both the transcript of the hearing itself and a wide variety of materials submitted by individuals and organizations "for the record." Caution: this is a huge file. See also their brochure, "Kids and the Internet: The Promise and the Perils: Practical Guidelines for Librarians and Library Trustees." It summarizes in 2 pages the information collected during this hearing.
  • Subject Bibliographies Subject organized catalogs of in-print materials available for purchase from GPO.
  • Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Search the CFR as a whole or individual titles like Title 34, Education. This document contains the regulations that grow out if  laws passed by Congress.

• Library of Congress
  • American Memory Learning Page This web site was created to assist educators as they use the American Memory web site to teach about United States history and culture. The site provides tips and tricks for using the American Memory collections, as well as frameworks, activities, and lessons that provide context for their use. It will be useful to life-long learners of all ages.
  • Thomas Includes information about current legislation at the national level and many other helpful links.
• Missouri Revised Statutes Search the laws of the state of Missouri.
• Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) This is a rich site for K-12 education in Missouri.
• Missouri State Government Telephone Directory Search by name, agency function or department. Email addresses might also be nice: http://www.missouri.gov/mo/cgi-bin/email/email.htm
• MOREnet Key people for connecting your school library to the Internet.
• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Search this resource for Federal funding opportunities of all kinds for your school and library.
• National Register of Historic Places Use this site to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic places into the classroom.
• Rich Resources for the Not-so-Rich School Library Media Center (http://faculty.ucmo.edu/libraryscience/presentations/richresources.htm) This page was designed by Pat Antrim, head of the LIS program at the University of Central Missouri. It is a guide to education government resources that correlate to Missouri's Show Me Standards.
• Smithsonian Smithsonian Outreach Program
• Transportation, Department of DOT AUTO SAFETY HOTLINE OUTREACH PROGRAM--Request posters, flyers, newsletter, etc.
• National Biological Information Infrastructure Provides access to online resources that emphasize the teaching of biology, biodiversity, and ecology.  Included are activities, lesson plans, experiments, projects, resources, and references for classroom and home use. 

Free Stuff

Finding Government Information

Search Engines

• Missouri's FirstGov Search engine that searches across most federal and state government web sites. Also includes some local (county, city) web resources.
• Other States This page has links to information on states and state governments.
• Google! (state and federal search)

Voting and Elections

• Department of State Foreign Press Center This site is produced by the state department’s foreign press center. This is an elections resource that the State department provides for members of the foreign press. It contains links to information about candidates, polls, key topics, the schedules of the presidential candidates and more.
• Project Vote Smart This site is produced by a non-profit, bipartisan organization, of the same name. They say that their goal is to provide unbiased information regarding political candidates and the election process.
• Democracy Net Provides information on elections, candidates, the voting process, and more. Produced by the League of Women Voters.
• Elections 2004 Produced by the government documents department at the University of Michigan libraries.
• GODORT Elections Site This is a fairly comprehensive resource on elections that is produced by GODORT, the government documents round table that is part of the American library association.

8-29-07
ML