The FirstRoot curriculum empowers both teachers and students to learn core life skills in financial literacy, civics, design thinking and democracy. With our curriculum resources, teachers can bring Participatory Budgeting programs to their school.

Our civics curriculum has been developed based on the Suggested K-12 Pathway for College, Career, and Civic Readiness Dimension 2, Civic and Political Institutions and is available for anyone. So, join the FirstRoot community, download our app, create your account, and run Participatory Budgeting programs in your school with our education curriculum resources!

Questions or suggestions? Send an email to curriculum@firstroot.co

01. Discover

Discover phase in a PB Cycle is about making sure you’re prepared: you understand the theme, have established your budget, and understand who is involved. In the FirstRoot civics curriculum, Discover phase is about making sure that your students get familiar with Participatory Budgeting and the government structure.

• Introduction to Participatory Budgeting
• Structure: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches
• Structure: Federal, State, City Govt.

02. Dream

Dream phase in a PB Cycle is about creativity: generating ideas that align to the theme. In the FirstRoot civics curriculum, Dream phase is about giving your students the understanding of how money works both in government and schools.

• Money: How is the Government Funded?
• School Structure: District, Charter, Private
• Money: How are Schools Funded?
• Who determines how money is spent?
• Laws and the Distribution of Funds

03. Design

Design phase in a PB Cycle is about making sure proposals are desirable, viable, feasible, and sustainable. In the FirstRoot civics curriculum, Design phase is about helping your students develop the skills to realize their civic rights and goals.

• Civic Rights and Responsibilities
• Civics: Dispositions for Civic Engagement
• Media Literacy
• Voting: Who participates in voting processes?

04. Ballot Creation

Ballot Creation in a PB Cycle is about selecting the best proposals. In the FirstRoot civics curriculum, you can discuss the ballot creation process with students or just keep moving into the next curriculum lessons.

05. Decide

Decide phase in a PB cycle is where students get to make their choices. In the FirstRoot civics curriculum, you can help prepare students for voting by helping them consider how they make decisions and how results are generated.

• Voting Algorithms I

06. Do

Do phase in a PB cycle is where students can experience the impact of their choices. In the FirstRoot civics curriculum, students use the Do phase to learn how voting works and how to measure the impact of their outputs and outcomes.

• Voting Algorithms II
• Corruption in Politics
• Grants and Philanthropy in Civil Society
• Measuring Impact: Outputs and Outcomes
• Reflection: Is Participatory Budgeting a Good Thing?