Citizenship

Life Skills 1st-3rd Grade

Essential Question

What makes you a good citizen?

What are ways you can be a responsible citizen?

What could happen if you are not being a good citizen?

Standard(s)
 5.1.2.A Explain the purposes of rules and their consequences in the classroom and school community
 5.1.2.E Describe citizens’ responsibilities to the state of Pennsylvania and to the nation
 5.2.2.D Explain reasonable community behavior
 5.3.2.F Identify and explain behaviors for responsible school citizens and possible consequences for inappropriate action

Objectives
Students will be able to…
 Distinguish between examples a being a good citizen and an irresponsible citizen
 Give examples of ways they have been a good citizen

Materials and Equipment

 Cards for sort
 Good citizen worksheet
 People cutouts
 Art materials for decorating (markers, yarn)

Procedures

Introduction
 “What does it mean to be a good citizen to you?”
 Give students mixed up citizenship cards and labels that read responsible citizen and irresponsible citizen
 “You are going to sort these examples into the categories of things a responsible citizen does and what an
irresponsible citizen would do”
 After they finish the sorting, ask them why they put certain examples into the categories they did

Sequence of Lesson
 Ask the students what keeping the peace means to them and examples of how they have been a good citizen in
school, at home and in the community
o “Have you seen other people at home, school or the community being good citizens? What were they
doing?”
o “What could happen if you are being an irresponsible citizen in any of these places?”
 Students will then complete a worksheet on what a good citizen is (attached) and personalize it to themselves

Closure/Summarizing Strategy
 Introduce the concept of the interactive bulletin board
 o “You will be decorating your own person that represents you. Each day when you have time, you will
write a way that you have been a good citizen or a way you are planning to be a good citizen and stick it to
your person. Eventually, all of our people will be filled with ways we have been a good citizen!”

Assessment/Evaluation
 Grade the sorting activity by how many they got correct/the total number of cards

Assignments
o N/A

Special Considerations

Early Finishers
 Start decorating the cutout that will represent them on the interactive bulletin board

Remediation
 List examples for the worksheet and have them pick which of them apply to them to write down

Enrichment
 For the sort, they can add their own examples to each category

Special Accommodations
 Seth: Sit close by with him while doing the sort and give constant praise. Interact with him in a way that you are
doing the sort with him but he is ultimately doing the work. Have him write about how he feels when people are
good citizens to him and not a good citizen to him
 Trey: Make the sorting a game with trains and planes. Every time it was a good choice he could pretend like the card
was a train and move it to the correct category accordingly. If it was a bad choice he could pretend the card was a
plane and fly it to the correct category.
 Maggie: Give her a written checklist of steps that she can keep with her throughout the lesson the remind her what
she should be doing
 Kim: Give a written checklist of steps with pictures and examples to remind her of what she should be doing that she
will keep with her. Give constant verbal reminders.
Interactive Bulletin Board