Civics & Citizenship · Years 3–6
A civics unit your class will still be arguing about at lunchtime.
Two Australian picture books that carry a full Civics and Citizenship unit for Years 3–6 — councils and community voice for the younger band, Parliament and law-making for the older one. Read the story on Monday, run the five lessons across the fortnight.
Order physical class sets on a school purchase order, or licence the digital pack for your classroom and start teaching this afternoon.
- 3–6year levels, mapped to Levels 3–4 and 5–6
- 5ready-to-use lessons per title
- 2ways to buy: invoice, or card
- Freesample lesson, no account needed
Two ways to get it
Books on a purchase order, or the whole pack on a card.
Schools buy in two quite different ways, so we support both properly. Use whichever suits how your school actually works — and you can do both, since the digital licence covers the lessons and the physical set covers the reading.
Class sets, invoiced to the school
Real books in real hands. Tell us the titles and quantities, we send a quote, you raise a purchase order, and the invoice follows the delivery.
- School pricing from 10 copies, mixed titles counted together
- No prepayment and no account needed — a PO is enough
- 30-day invoice terms, ABN and remittance details on every invoice
- Quotes valid 30 days, so they survive a leadership meeting
- Free freight on Australian school orders over $75
A classroom licence, paid by card
The ebook, the lesson plans, the worksheets and the whiteboard slides, licensed to one teacher and their class for twelve months. Pay by card and the download link is on screen before you close the tab.
- The picture book as a displayable ebook for the whiteboard
- All five lesson plans, worksheets and extension tasks
- Curriculum mapping and assessment rubrics
- Ready-to-run slide decks — nothing to build
- Print for your own students as many times as you need
Where it fits
One title per band, and they build on each other.
Start close to home with councils, then widen to Parliament and law-making. A school running both across Years 3–6 gives students the same characters and the same questions at a bigger scale.
The Mob
Local government, community voice and the idea that a decision belongs to the people it affects. A mob of kangaroos is about to lose its home, and one girl decides not to stand by.
- Councils & services
- Community decisions
- Persuasive writing
- Sustainability
Sam the Platypus Goes to Parliament
Three levels of government, an election campaign, and how an idea becomes law. From a polluted creek to a Bill debated in Parliament, and finally an Act.
- Three levels of government
- Elections & campaigns
- Bill to Act
- Advocacy
How the lessons map
| Year band | Title | Strand | What students do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years 3–4 | The Mob | Government and democracy | Identify what local councils do and which services they provide; explore how decisions get made about a shared space. |
| Years 3–4 | The Mob | Citizenship, diversity and identity | Debate funding priorities as a class, listen to differing views, and take part in a decision that affects everyone. |
| Years 3–4 | The Mob | English · literacy | Respond to a literary text, then write a persuasive letter to the Mayor about a real local issue. |
| Years 5–6 | Sam the Platypus Goes to Parliament | Government and democracy | Sort issues and services into local, state and federal responsibility; run a mini election campaign and hold a class vote. |
| Years 5–6 | Sam the Platypus Goes to Parliament | Laws and citizens | Sequence a Bill from an idea through drafting, debate and Royal Assent; role-play a parliamentary debate and divide on it. |
| Years 5–6 | Sam the Platypus Goes to Parliament | Sustainability · cross-curriculum priority | Connect a democratic decision to an environmental outcome, then write to an MP or build a media message. |
Aligned to the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0. The specific content descriptors and codes for each activity are listed inside the education package, alongside the learning intentions and success criteria. Interstate schools: the content maps cleanly onto the Australian Curriculum HASS strands for the same year bands.
General capabilities the unit exercises
- Critical and Creative Thinking
- Ethical Understanding
- Personal and Social Capability
- Literacy
- Sustainability
- Intercultural Capability
The stories read aloud comfortably from about age 6, so a composite or multi-age class can share the book while the written tasks are set at each student’s band. Planning notes for composite classes are in both packages.
What you get
Four things, and none of them need building.
Written for the way a primary week actually runs. Open the ebook on the board, read the story together, then work through five activities that move from discussion to participation.
1 · The book on the board
The full picture book as a displayable ebook, sized for an interactive whiteboard or a projector. A class can do the whole unit from this alone — physical copies make it better, not possible.
2 · Five lesson plans
Learning intentions, success criteria, before/during/after reading prompts, the activity itself, and extension ideas. Printable worksheets for every task.
3 · Slide decks
One ready-to-run deck per lesson, in the same warm style as the book. Editable, so you can cut a slide or add your own local example.
4 · Mapping and rubrics
Curriculum codes against each activity, plus a plain-language assessment rubric you can hand to a student or paste into a report.
The five lessons
- Who does what?Sort community issues and services into local, state and federal responsibility — and find out why a creek can involve state law.
- Run for officeChoose priorities, write a slogan, deliver a short speech, hold a vote and count it honestly.
- From idea to lawSequence the stages of a Bill, from a drafting table through debate to Royal Assent.
- Chamber in actionRole-play the debate. Take a role, make an argument, listen, respond, and divide on the question.
- Make your voice heardPick a real local issue, then write to a councillor or an MP — or build a media message about it.
Lesson names differ slightly between the two titles; the shape is the same.
Why teachers like it
- No prep beyond reading the lesson once
- Every task has a printable and a slide
- Discussion, inquiry and persuasive writing in one unit
- Real-world tasks students can finish and send
- Extension ideas for the students who race ahead
What students walk away with
- Who decides what, and at which level of government
- Why communities elect people to represent them
- How an idea becomes a law
- How an ordinary person changes a public decision
- That their own voice counts, and how to use it
Digital licence pricing
Priced per classroom, renewed once a year.
A licence covers one teacher and the students they teach, for twelve months. Nothing renews automatically — we email you a month out and you decide.
<span class="gumleaf-tbc">TBC</span> marker and this notice. Nothing here should go live showing “$00”.
Single title, one classroom
One book, one teacher, one class. The way most teachers start.
$00 TBC per classroom / 12 months, inc. GST
- One title: the ebook, five lessons and all worksheets
- Slide decks and assessment rubric
- Print for your own students, unlimited
- Twelve months from purchase
Both titles, one classroom
The full Years 3–6 civics sequence — councils first, then Parliament.
$00 TBC per classroom / 12 months, inc. GST
- Both titles: two ebooks, ten lessons, every worksheet
- Slide decks, rubrics and curriculum mapping
- Print for your own students, unlimited
- Twelve months from purchase
- Composite and multi-age planning notes
Whole school
Every teacher in the school, both titles, one licence to administer.
$000 TBC per school / 12 months, inc. GST
- Everything in the two-title licence
- Every teacher and every class, no seat counting
- Shareable on your school intranet or Google Drive
- Invoice available instead of card, on request
Prefer physical books?
Class sets are quoted rather than listed, because freight and volume change the number. Send us the titles, quantities and year levels and you will have an itemised quote — GST shown separately, valid 30 days — usually within one business day.
Free downloads
Teach one lesson before you spend anything.
A full lesson from each title, free and complete — plan, worksheet and slides. No sign-up, no email wall. Run it with your class, and if it works, licence the rest.
Need it in a different format? Just ask.
Ordering
Whichever route you take, no account required.
Four steps to a class set
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Tell us what you need
Titles, quantities and year levels through the enquiry form. A rough number is fine at this stage.
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We send a quote
Itemised, GST shown separately, valid for 30 days. School pricing applies from 10 copies.
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Raise your purchase order
Email the PO through and we ship. No prepayment needed for Australian schools.
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Invoice follows the books
30-day terms. Remittance details and our ABN are on every invoice.
Three steps to teaching today
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Choose your licence
One title or both, for your classroom or the whole school. Twelve months from the day you buy.
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Pay by card
Card, Apple Pay or Google Pay through Stripe. A tax invoice lands in your inbox straight away for reimbursement.
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Download and go
The link appears on screen and in the email. Ebook, lessons, worksheets, slides and rubrics, all in one folder.
Need an invoice rather than a card for a digital licence? Ask through the enquiry form — we will send one, it just takes a day rather than a minute.
Details for your business manager
- Supplier
- Gumleaf Publishing, Ballarat, Victoria
- ABN
- 88 336 723 673
- Payment terms
- 30 days from invoice on physical orders; card at checkout for digital licences
- Card processing
- Stripe. Card details never reach us and are never stored on our site.
- GST
- Shown separately on every quote and invoice
- Minimum for school pricing
- 10 copies, mixed titles counted together
- Freight
- Free on Australian school orders over $75
- Quote validity
- 30 days, so a quote survives a leadership or council meeting
- Digital licence term
- 12 months, no automatic renewal — we email a reminder a month out
Before you ask
Common questions
What exactly does a classroom licence cover?
One teacher and the students they teach, for twelve months. You can print the worksheets for your own students as often as you like, display the ebook and slides in your classroom, and store the files on your own school drive. If a second teacher wants to run the unit, they need their own licence — or move up to the whole-school one, which covers everybody.
Can I share the files with the teacher next door?
Not on a classroom licence. We keep the price low precisely because it covers one class, and the honour system is what makes that possible. If your year level or your school wants it, the whole-school licence is designed for exactly that and costs far less than buying seats one at a time.
Do we have to pay by card?
For a digital licence, card is fastest — you are teaching from it within a minute. But if your school will not reimburse a personal card, ask through the enquiry form and we will invoice the school instead. Physical class sets are always on a purchase order and invoice; no card needed.
Is our card information safe?
Payments run through Stripe, which is what most Australian schools already use for their own payment portals. Your card details go straight to Stripe and never touch our site, so there is nothing here for anyone to take.
What year levels is this pitched at?
The Mob suits Years 3–4 and Sam the Platypus Goes to Parliament suits Years 5–6. A school running both across Years 3–6 gives students the same questions twice, at a bigger scale the second time. Both stories read aloud comfortably from about age 6, so composite classes work — there are planning notes for that in each package.
Do we need the physical books to teach the unit?
No. The digital licence includes the full picture book as an ebook you can display, so a class can do the whole unit without a single physical copy. Most schools still buy a small set — a picture book passed around a circle on the floor does something a whiteboard cannot.
Is it only relevant to Victorian schools?
The curriculum references are Victorian and the stories are set in the Ballarat region. The content — councils, elections, how a Bill becomes law, caring for waterways — maps cleanly onto the Australian Curriculum HASS strands for the same year bands, and interstate schools order regularly.
What happens when the twelve months are up?
Nothing renews automatically and nothing is charged without you asking. We email a reminder a month out; if you want another year, you renew, and if you do not, the licence simply lapses. Worksheets you have already printed are yours to keep using with those students.
Can the author visit our school?
Tom does a limited number of school visits and online sessions each term, mostly in regional Victoria. Ask through the enquiry form and we will tell you honestly what is possible for your dates.
Talk to us
Ask for a quote
Whether you want thirty books on a purchase order or a licence invoiced to the school, tell us roughly what you need and when. We usually reply within one business day.
Prefer email? Write to schools@gumleafpublishing.com.au — update this address in the Site Editor.
A real person reads these. Ask anything.
Try a lesson. Then decide.
A complete lesson from each title is free, with the plan, the worksheet and the slides. Run it with your class this week and see how it lands.
Gumleaf Publishing · Ballarat, Victoria · ABN 88 336 723 673 · schools@gumleafpublishing.com.au