Lesson 4: Rules and Citizenship

Kindergarten 

Key Concept 1: 

Rules and Citizenship Lesson 

Overview: 

Students will learn through primary sources the chain of command that we all must live under. Students will consider rules and laws starting with their homes and then moving to the school, city, state and federal government. They will discuss the rules in each form of government. Students will then think about rules they believe should be in effect at their home or school, and write proposals for those rules to be presented. The lesson plan is set up into five 15 to 30 minute segments. The teacher can teach more than one a day if necessary.

For the Teacher: 

This lesson is very straight forward. The only changes that you might need to make are updates in the photos for the Arkansas State Governor and the U.S. President.

'''Materials Needed: '''

·        Packet (included)

·        Computer with projector or printed pictures and maps

·        Construction paper

·        Coloring utensils (e.g. crayons, colored pencils, or markers…)

Key Vocabulary: 

Capitol

Congress

Consequence

Rule

Citizen

Community

 

Objectives:

C.1.K.2 Describe the role of a school and its leaders.

C.3.K.1 Recognize the need for rules and consequences

C.3.K.2 Discuss ways people improve communities

C.3.K.3 Discuss the importance of problem solving related to classroom issues

E.4.K.2 Explain reasons behind a personal decision

 

Instructions:

 

Day 1:

1. Give students the This is my House coloring page. Ask students to color this house like their house. Add flowers, trees, windows and doors as they desire.

2. Next, walk students through a discussion of some of the rules they have at their homes. Drawing attention to how many are similar and how some are different.

3. Pass out Who’s in charge at my house? Ask students to draw a picture of who is in charge at their house.

4. Review the rules that were placed on the board, and ask students to write one or more rules from their home. Answers will vary.

Day 2: 

1. Give students This is my Classroom. Ask students to write their name in the box. Next, have students pick one other person in the room (introduce the word partner if needed) and to write their name in the other box. You may also have them draw themselves and their partner sitting correctly in their desks.

2. Then, share with the students a picture of yourself (the teacher). Discuss with them how the teacher is in charge of the classroom and he/she is there to take care of them and to make the decisions.

3. Give the students the worksheet named This is my Teacher. Let the students draw a picture of you. If you choose to have your printed picture available for the students to look at, then omit the coloring activity.

4. After the discussion, ask students to look at the classroom rules. These may be your rules or the ones they came up with. Discuss any changes that should be made. Make changes as you see fit.

Day 3:

1. Share with students a picture of your school and your principal.

2. Optional activity to having actual pictures of your school might be to have the students draw and color the picture called '''This is my school. '''

3. Discuss with the students that the school is like our home. We have to take care of it.

4. Next, discuss with them that the principal is in charge of the school and that you as a teacher, and they, as students, must answer to him.

5. Finally, discuss some of the rules that students must follow in school. Explain to them why these rules are important. (Optional sidewalk chalk activity of four way intersection using stop signs and demonstrating using the rules and disobeying the rules to show importance—the children find it fun to bump into each other while running the stop signs so make sure to explain that someone could easily get hurt, especially if they were in a car).

6. Finish today’s activity with a tour of the school. Make sure to point out important locations such as: library, music room, office, gym, lunch room, etc.

7. If time allows, upon returning to the room, distribute '''This is my Principal '''and have students draw a picture of the principal.

Day 4: 

1. Review with your students rules at home, rules in the classroom, rules in the school and who is in charge in each situation.

2. Start your discussion with either a US map or Google Earth, looking at their school, city and then introduce the state.

3. Share with students a picture of the current governor, and the Arkansas State Capitol (go ahead and google it right in front of them.  It is important that they learn how to look information up on their own and this a great model to use in your classroom on a regular basis.  “Class, what should I type in to search for…”).

4. Next, discuss with them that the governor is in charge of the state. Explain to them that he has helpers to make the laws of our state and they are a group of people called the State Congress.

5. Finally, discuss some of the rules that citizens of Arkansas must follow.

Day 5: 

1. Once again review the rules at home, the classroom, the school, the rules of Arkansas and who is in charge in each situation.

2. Start your discussion with either a US map or Google Earth, looking at their school, city, state and now the nation.

3. Share with students a picture of the current president and the U.S. Capitol 

4. Next, discuss with them that the president is in charge of the whole country. Explain to them that he has helpers to make the laws of our country and they are a group of people we call Congress.

5. Finally, discuss some of the rules that citizens of the United States must follow.

6. Ask students to get into groups to discuss a law they think our school or classroom needs to have. Ask students to write it on a piece of construction paper as a group. Then present it to the class during a group time.

Assessment: 

Evaluate the student’s ability to follow directions through teacher observation.

The teacher can also observe and evaluate the student’s fine motor skills through the coloring and writing pages.

The teacher can observe and evaluate the student’s ability to follow classroom and school rules and work with others.

Students can be given a Presentation Rubric score based on their ability to present their law to the group and explain why they think it should be a law.