Thematic Teaching

citizenship: activity ideas

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Volunteerism

Grade Level: 6-8; 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts; Social Studies; Science & Technology

Discuss the importance of contributing to your community with your students. View the PBS programs "Ben Franklin: An Extraordinary Life, an Eclectic Mind" and/or "The American Experience: Jimmy Carter." As a class, make a list of reasons why Franklin and Carter valued community involvement. Then take a look at the documentary and/or Web site for "Alcatraz Is Not an Island," which describes the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969. How does the activists' definition of community involvement differ from the community involvement encouraged by Franklin and Carter? How is it similar?

Brainstorm why and how people contribute their community. In what ways do students contribute to your school or local community?

Plan and execute a community service project. Have students visit the Civic Practices Network Web site, where they may read case studies and essays about civic innovation, explore various models and techniques of civic engagement, and discover 50 affiliate organizations involved in local communities.

For a science connection, identify ways in which scientists (especially Nobel laureates) and others devote their lives' work for the benefit of others.

For younger students: Read "A River Ran Wild" or "The Great Kapoke Tree" and discuss how individual people can affect their environments. Brainstorm ways the students can have a positive effect on the local environment. Plan and execute a community service project that will benefit the environment.

Online Resources

Ben Franklin: Citizen Ben
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l2_citizen.html

American Experience: "Jimmy Carter"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter

Alcatraz Is Not an Island
http://www.pbs.org/itvs/alcatrazisnotanisland/

Civic Practices Network
http://www.cpn.org/

Print Resources

The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History by Lynne Cherry
More Recommended Resources
The Language of Citizenship

Grade Level: 3-5; 6-8
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts; Social Studies

Have students create a government dictionary. Begin with four pieces of white paper; fold them length-wise, then fold them width-wise. On each page, students should write a letter of the alphabet, a word that begins with that letter, a definition in their own words, and an example. Illustration is optional.

Next, have students create a crossword puzzle. Students summarize 20 definitions from the glossary and arrange space for the words interconnecting down and across. Color or fill-in spaces not used. Students exchange crosswords and complete.

Younger learners may read "America: A Patriotic Primer." Create a class primer with each student responsible for a letter, word and illustration. Bind the letters into a book.

Online Resources

PBS Democracy Project: Glossary
http://www.pbs.org/democracy/glossary

Print Resources

America: A Patriotic Primer by Lynne V. Cheney
More Recommended Resources
Citizenship Testing

Grade Level: 11-12
Subjects: Social Studies

Find out what your students know about becoming a U.S. citizen. Discuss the process with the class. Visit the Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) Web site and show your students the knowledge/information required of someone wishing to become a U.S. citizen. Have students take the test.

Assess the test as a class. Why is it important to know the answers to the questions on the test to become a citizen? Does the test meet the ideals of the Founding Fathers? Why or why not? If you worked for the INS what questions would you ask of someone wishing to become a citizen?

Follow-up:
- Tutor immigrants in American history and government to help prepare them for the test.
- Attend a naturalization ceremony or organize one at your school with a judge.
- Have students create 15-20 open-ended questions to ask a naturalized citizen about their experiences/life before, during and after this process of becoming an American citizen.
Online Resources

La Ciudad: Facilitator's Guide
http://www.pbs.org/itvs/thecity/resources3_2.html

First Measured Century: Trends in Immigration
http://www.pbs.org/fmc/poll/immigration1_vote.shtml

The New Americans
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/

P.O.V.: "Well-Founded Fear": Your Decision
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov1999/wellfoundedfear/
frameset.php3?section=yourdecision
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Create a Good Citizen

Grade Level: 3-5
Subjects: Social Studies; Reading & Language Arts; The Arts

As a class, brainstorm the qualities a good citizen. Use spare magazines and newspapers to create a collage of words and images that represent the idea of "good citizenship." Teachers may want to have students trace themselves (or a partner) on craft paper and create the collage in the shape of the child. Join the citizen collages together on a bulletin board or wall for display. As a follow-up discuss or write about how good citizens are important to the community and the country.

Online Resources

By the People
http://www.pbs.org/democracy/

PBS Kids: The Democracy Project
http://www.pbs.org/democracy/kids/index.html

Civil Practices Network
http://www.cpn.org/
More Recommended Resources

Founding Fathers and Citizenship

Grade Level: 6-8
Subjects: Social Studies

Have students visit the PBS Web site, Rediscovering George Washington, and explore the qualities of a good citizen as he envisioned them. Have students define "civic virtue," "self-reliance," and "self-assurance." Define "global citizen" as this term applied to Ben Franklin. Discuss each man's involvement in the founding of our nation and their sphere of influence. (More information about Franklin may be found at the PBS Web site, Benjamin Franklin.)

Divide students into small groups, and have each one develop a definition of citizenship. Discuss with your students their viewpoints on citizenship. How do their ideas compare with those of Washington and Franklin?

Again working in groups, have students choose a figure from American history (the list below offers suggestions). Have them perform biographical research on their person with the aim of explaining how he or she exemplifies good citizenship.

Presidents/Activists Thomas Jefferson Abraham Lincoln Susan B. Anthony Theodore Roosevelt Franklin Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan	Artists Thomas Hart Benton Frank Lloyd Wright Duke Ellington Ansel Adams Stephen Foster	Explorers Richard Byrd Meriwether Lewis & William Clark Charles Lindbergh John Wesley Powell Nelly Bly
Authors Mark Twain Eudora Welty Nelly Bly Ida B. Wells	Atheletes Knute Rockne Joe Dimaggio	American Scientists/Inventors John Nash Thomas Edison James Ead The Wright Brothers

As a follow up activity, hold a class debate on which person best exemplifies good citizenship.

Online Resources

Ben Franklin: Citizen Ben
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l2_citizen.html

Rediscovering George Washington: Civic Virtue
http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/classroom/civic_virtue.html

American Experience: "The Presidents"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/archives_themes_presidents.html

American Experience: Biographies Archive
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/archives_themes_bios.html

Thomas Jefferson
http://www.pbs.org/jefferson/

Not for Ourselves Alone
http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony

More Recommended Resources

Get It on the Ballot -- Then, Vote!

Grade Level: 9-12
Subject: Social Studies; Math

Referenda and ballot initiatives have become powerful tools for ordinary citizens to affect change in their communities. Ballot initiatives in various states have ended affirmative action programs, given voters the chance to support legalized medical marijuana use and physician-assisted suicide.

What if more people felt strongly about things in your community? Is there something your students would like to change? Have the class brainstorm things they would like to see changed in their community. Are curfew laws too strict? Are the local parks kept in good condition?

Lead a reading and discussion of the article, "I petition, you petition, we all petition for ice cream," by Curt Brown. Next, have students work in pairs doing Internet research on what the process is for initiating community changes. As a class, develop and execute plans for getting your issue on the ballot. Begin with a school survey to assess the popularity of different ballot initiatives proposed by your class. Analyze the survey results and then follow up by proposing the most popular school-tested initiative.

What are the requirements to vote? How does one become eligible to vote? Working in teams of 2-4, have students create public service announcements promoting voter registration and voting.

Follow-up: Register students at 18 years old to vote. Will the newly registered voters cast their votes in favor of your students' ballot initiative?

Online Resources

By the People
http://www.pbs.org/democracy/

American Bar Association: "I Petition, You Petition, We All Petition for Ice Cream"
http://www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday/
convo/00/activities_petition.html

Find Law (locate your state constitution)
http://www.findlaw.com/11stategov/
More Recommended Resources
Get the Word Out!

Grade Level: 3-5; 6-8
Subject: Social Studies; Math; The Arts

As a class or in small groups, choose an issue that is important to the students at a school, local, state or national level. Create a t-chart in order to assess the pros and cons of this issue. Each student should come to a conclusion and justify it in a paragraph. Have students create slogans promoting their conclusion. Create bumper stickers, buttons or t-shirts where students can display their political opinions. Display around the classroom, school, local community center and/or polling place.

As a follow-up, ask students to create a simple survey to test public opinion on this issue. Help students tabulate and analyze the results.
More Recommended Resources
Face of the Nation

Grade Level: 6-8; 9-12
Subject: Math; Social Studies

Using the U.S. Census Bureau website, create questions (as a class or individually) about the population of your community. Create graphs with the data found and compare it to the rest of the U.S. For example, create a pie graph of the state population based on age. Students might also explore demographic changes in the local or state population over time.

Online Resources

First Measured Century: Trends of the Century
http://www.pbs.org/fmc/

U.S. Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/
More Recommended Resources
Sportsmanship as Citizenship

Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8
Subject: Health & Fitness

How do good sports make good citizens? Discuss with students the characteristics of good behavior on the sports field and in the community. What are the similarities and differences between good sportsmanship and good citizenship? What are individuals' responsibilities to themselves and to others in each setting?

Test your ideas by writing to local coaches or athletes and asking them about good sportsmanship.

As a follow-up, consider how sports and physical recreation affect your community. Do they create jobs? Create ways for people to get to know each other? Etc.
More Recommended Resources
Compile an Election Scrapbook

Grade Level: 6-8
Subject: Reading & Language Arts; Social Studies; Math

As a class, choose a state or local political race. Using local and state newspapers, students will cut out articles about the candidates, the issues, political cartoons and polls, and the outcome of the election. Students mount each article on a sheet of construction paper and summarize the article/item below the article. Compile the pages into book form, and create a cover sheet; the last page should be a 3-paragraph persuasive essay about the candidate of their choosing.

As a math extension, ask students to estimate the percentage of content that is related to elections in local newscasts or newspapers. Do students think this is enough coverage? Too much? Too little? Have them send their opinions to local news providers.

Online Resources

Mathline: Is It Really News?
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/mathline/lessonplans/
msmp/news/news_procedure.shtm
More Recommended Resources

Published: November 2002

PBS Teachers™

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Thematic Teaching

citizenship: activity ideas

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