Morgan McCorkle.

Sam Christopher, Esmeralda Roman, Camdyn Gray

Lesson Title: The Right to food, Shelter and Care- based on How to Steal a Dog - by Barbara
O’Connor

Lesson Topic: Food, Shelter and government responsibilities

Social Studies Major Content Area(s):

How are you connecting the lesson to any combination of these…

History: We will compare the book the students will have read, “How to steal a Dog” with the Great
Depression, a time in history where many people struggled to have food and shelter.

Geography: Certain areas of the United States have more resources for success. We will be exploring
what areas seem to have more resources and why.

Economics: We will be discussing Poverty, and how some people struggle with money. We will discuss
the effects poverty can have on families, children, etc.

Civic: The government has systems set in place to help people during poverty. How effective are these
systems?

Community Partner(s):

Member(s) of our local food bank to explain the real issues of poverty and what we can do to better the
issue.

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific
details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

Objectives/Big Ideas
Students/community members will…
Know/Understand: The struggles that certain people go through, as well as the struggle the Government
goes through in providing resources.

Be Able to Do:
What skills and habits of mind will this lesson help develop?
Students will be able to be a part of a group that struggles with everyday resources, the middle class, or in
charge of the government and giving out resources. Students will need to critically think about what they
need from the government. Members of the government will need to collaborate and decide where they
think the resources fit best.

Eco-Citizenship Focus Area(s):

§ Human Rights
(Children’s Rights)
§ Animal Habitat
§ Arts
§ Food Security/Sovereignty
§ Land
§ Water
§ Other(s)

Children’s Right(s) Emphasized

Article 24: Children have the right to good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and a clean
environment so that they will stay healthy. Richer countries should help poorer countries achieve this.

Article 26: The Government should provide extra money for the children of families in need.

Article 27: Children have the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their
physical and mental needs. The government should help families who cannot afford to provide
this.

Essential Question:
 1. What rights do you have as a child?
2. Why do certain students not have access to all of the resources?
3. Do those who are in need receive enough help from the government, and what can we do
to help people get the resources they need?

Sub-essential Questions:

1. Why is the government set up this way?

2. What lessons can we learn from the “who gets what” activity?
3. How are stories from other places and times about me or relate to me?

Connection between School/Community EQ and Classroom/Lesson(s) Sub-EQs:

The connection between the school and essential EQ’s is should our school take any action to
help our community/those who are less fortunate, and can our class do anything specifically to
help those who are less fortunate as well?

Materials Needed:

● Fake money (amount dependent on how many students in class)

● 10 pictures with a house on it
● 13 pictures with a car on it
● 13 pictures with clean bottled water/ 2 pictures with dirty water
● 10 pictures with showers on it
● Pictures with food
(these are small cutouts of like clipart)

Activities/Procedures:

~Who Gets What?~ Activity

1. This activity will take place after reading the book “How to Steal a Dog” by Barbara O’Connor,
which will bring up conversations about poverty and government support. This activity will
reinforce and bring up questions about who deserves what resources, should every child have the
right to food, shelter, and care? Etc.
2. To start the activity, the students will be split up into two separate groups - the citizens and the
government. There will be five students in the government and 15 students that are citizens, based
off of a 20 person class size.
 3. The government will be given an allotted amount of money (specifically not enough to help each
of the students fully). Each of the citizens will be given a mixture of resources, including things
such as a house, a car, water, and food. There will be items for sale as well, as each of the
resources will have a price.
4. Note - some students will have everything, car/house/shower/food/etc., whereas some students
may only have a car, or food, etc.
5. Each of the students will have 3 mins to plead their case on why they deserve the money and
what they would buy to support themselves. After they all go, the government will be given 10
mins to decide how much money they want to provide for each student. They should see that they
don't have enough money to get everyone all the resources, so they will have to decide who they
think needs it most and how much they need.
6. Students will flip roles a few times to see the perspective of others and resources will be switched
around.

~Discussion Questions to follow~ (Show them the Children's Rights First)

1. For the government - How did you decide which people you were going to give the
money too?
2. If every child has a right to food, shelter, and a clean/safe environment, why do you
believe there are some kids that dont have this?
3. Dp you think the government should provide more resources for those in need, such as
Georgina Hayes in “How to steal a Dog?”
4. What can we do as a community to help provide resources who may not have enough at
this point in their lives?
5. Do you believe where someone is born may have an effect on how many resources they
have? Does this seem fair to you?

Assessment/Evaluation
How will I know what students have learned?
One form of assessment will be verbal feedback and discourse. This is an activity that requires a lot of
collaboration and communication.

Support
What do I need to teach this lesson? What might students need to learn within the lesson?

Curriculum/Instructional Coaching:
Library resources (How to Steal a Dog)

Community resources (Food bank worker)

Community Partner support: The community partner support will come at the end of the lesson
when students have a better understanding of the struggle that a lot of families go through. This
food bank member will explain things that need to happen in order to help resolve this issue.

Other Support:
Specific Groups - We will have students picked in certain groups that we think will collaborate
well with each other and be limited with distractions.
Copy of Book: A copy of the book will be provided. Some chapters will be read out loud by the
teacher, while others are silently read. If students need to be read to, we can create a small group
while the teacher reads to them.

Notes/ Next Steps:

- Next lesson/unit will dive deeper into the Great Depression and the factors that caused it.
Students should have a good grip on poverty at this point.