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3rd grade · Social Studies · Unit 5 of 6

Town Meeting to State House

How towns and Maine make decisions

What your child practices

How leaders are elected and laws are made in Maine: town meetings and select boards, mayors and councils, the Legislature and the Governor, taxes, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: Civics & Government 1; Civics & Government 2; Civics & Government 3; Civics & Government 4 · how governments are organized, how leaders are elected and laws are made, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Many Maine towns decide things at a town meeting, where residents vote. A select board runs the town between meetings.
  2. Cities have mayors and councils. The state has a Governor and a Legislature in Augusta.
  3. Taxes pay for roads and schools.

Example: In many Maine towns, who votes on the town’s budget at town meeting? A town meeting is open to the town’s voters. The residents decide together. Answer: the town’s residents (voters)

Town Meeting to State House in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 5 of 6 in 3rd grade Social Studies, after Maine's Land & Regions and before Wabanaki & Many Communities.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Maine Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    In many Maine towns, a small elected group runs the town. It is called the…

    • fan club
    • select board
    • school board

  2. Question 2

    Who leads the whole United States?

    • the select board
    • the President
    • the Governor

  3. Question 3

    In many Maine towns, voters meet once a year to decide on town plans. This is a…

    • town meeting
    • parade
    • field trip

  4. Question 4

    Which of these is a responsibility of citizens?

    • ignoring neighbors
    • obeying laws
    • never helping

  5. Question 5

    What does a judge do?

    • collects the mail
    • decides if a law was broken and what is fair
    • makes the laws

  6. Question 6

    Why is it important that everyone follows the same laws?

    • so laws can be secret
    • so some people can skip them
    • so everyone is treated fairly

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