SOCIAL STUDIES/LANGUAGE ARTS
Clap 3 Times for Citizenship!

Submitted by: Deirdre Cardona
From: Yorktown Heights, NY
Date Submitted: April 24, 2003

A Thematic Unit by Deirdre Cardona

Grade Level: Kindergarten

Subject(s):
#61608; Social Studies
#61608; Language Arts

Description: Students become aware of rights, responsibilities, and roles of citizenship. Students will gain knowledge about and respect for the flag of the United States.

Goals:
1) To learn that all people have responsibilities at home, school and in the community.
2) To encourage individual opinion and thought.
3) To recognize our flag as a symbol of citizenship.

Objectives: Students will:
1) listen to books, poems, and songs on citizenship
2) communicate ideas and opinions in three areas of citizenship responsibilities
3) view the flag of the U.S. as a symbol of freedom (to express personal ideas and opinions)
4) trace their own hands on three different colors of paper in order to write down ways they can show citizenship in the three different areas
5) build a representation of the U.S. flag using their hand prints on a bulletin board

Materials:
 Books: For the Love of Our Earth by P.K. Hallinan; Our Big Home An Earth Poem by Linda Glaser; The Star-Spangled Banner, The Pledge of Allegiance, America the Beautiful by Scholastic; The Flag We Love by Pam Munoz ryan; Miss Nelson is Missing! By James Marshall; How to Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson; This is My Family by Gina & Mercer Mayer; A Friend Like ED by Karen Wagner; The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners by Stan & Jan Berenstain
 Red, white, and blue paper
 Pencils, sharpie markers, and scissors

Procedure: Separate the unit into the three categories: citizenship at home, school, and in the community and develop each one to enhance the learning. The day before beginning the unit read How to Lose All Your Friends, A Friend Like ED, Will I Have a Friend?.

Day 1
1) Activate prior knowledge by asking the student's what are some ways they can help people in school.
2) List their responses on large chart paper.
3) Explain to the student's that the class is going to build a flag representing the United States with their traced hands. They will be exploring good citizenship in three places: school, home and the community (town) and writing how they can be good citizens in each of these places. Each place will be a different color of our flag (red, white, and blue).
4) Read aloud Miss Nelson is Missing!
5) During Work Board time the student's trace and cut out one hand (teacher or aide may need to help students trace hands) on white paper, then write down ways they can help people in school on each finger and copy the word school on the palm. Trace over words with a "sharpie marker".
6) At the end of the day read aloud The Berenstain Bears Forget their Manners.

Day 2
1) Repeat steps 1-5 from day 1 changing the focus to home, reading aloud This is My Family and paper color to red.
2) At the end of the day read aloud Our Big Home An Earth Poem.

Day 3
1) Students finish working on citizenship in school and home hands.
2) At the end of the day read aloud The Pledge of Allegiance; The Star-Spangled Banner; America the Beautiful have book responses/discussions to each.

Day 4
1) Repeat steps 1-5 changing the focus to community, reading aloud For the Love of Our Earth and paper color to blue.

Day 5
1) Read aloud The Flag We Love
2) Students finish working on citizenship hands in community and any others.
3) Create the flag bulletin board.
4) Select a couple of students to write a "process statement" on pocket chart strips to add to the bulletin board.

Assessment: Informal assessment ongoing with individual conferencing and during large group participation. Formal assessment after student completes each hand.

Differentiated Instruction: Students requiring help thinking of ways to be good citizens can refer to the books read in class for additional ideas and charts created.

Extended Learning: Teach the sign language song Hello World! to the students. Homework: students bring in pictures found in magazines that show good citizenship and share with the class; create a mural.