Texas Activities
Activities for Children
Ages 9-11

This activities was submitted by:

Brad Davis
Extension Program Specialist 4-H
South Plains District 2

Continuity and Change

• Overview
• Coordination with Instructional Materials
• Framework Connections
• Selected Topic(s):
  • Our Local History: Discovering Our Past and Our Traditions
  • Our Nation's History: Meeting People, Ordinary and Extraordinary, Through Biography, Story, Folktale and Legend
  • Focus Lesson:
    If Third Graders Were in Charge of the World
  • Extension Lesson(s):
    • Due Process
    • Law and Pets
  • Additional Activities:
    • Inviting a Lawyer to Your Classroom
    • Lack of Space: Getting Along With Others
    • People Who Make Courts Work
  • Resources

Overview

The focus of the third grade history-social science curriculum is Continuity and Change with an emphasis on learning about our local and national history. It builds on the second grade curriculum by exploring how people and their traditions and stories helped to shape our nation.

In this course of study, students are encouraged to observe how local, regional and national traditions change over time. They also learn the concept that history is our "common memory" of those changes. To understand those common memories, children should study legends, folktales, tall tales, and hero stories. They should also study biographies of important people who took risks and opened new opportunities for many. Biographies are a great opportunity for students to discuss the character of individuals to see why they are still remembered.

As students study the changes that have taken place during our nation's growth, they should be asked to compare our new developments with the way things were in the past. They should analyze how communities have evolved and how they have established order. They can discuss values and issues such as responsibility and leadership that were important in the past and are still important in community life today.

Coordination with Instructional Materials

The lessons and activities in this unit coordinate well with the third grade social studies textbook, From Sea to Shining Sea (Houghton Mifflin). The lesson "Understanding Cause and Effect" (pp. 126-127) in Unit 3, Chapter 7 of From Sea to Shining Sea provides an excellent opportunity to integrate language arts and social studies. Use the "If...Then" statements as a transition to the lessons.

The Focus Lesson If Third Graders Were in Charge of the World helps students understand the idea of "fair laws" and provides them with an excellent introduction to the role individuals played in the development of a written code of laws. They can also begin to understand the need for social responsibility, rules, and good citizenship.

Lessons also relate to:

• Pages 200-201 which tell about setting aside wilderness areas as national parks.
• Pages 206-207 which talk about ways people can address pollution.
• Chapter 11 which discusses creating national holidays and symbols.

Students can examine why laws are made in relation to these issues and even create what they consider to be good laws.

Framework Connections

The unit supports the goals and curriculum strands of the History-Social Science Framework while connecting to the third grade topic, Continuity and Change (see pages 40-43 of the History-Social Science Framework.)

Topic Connection(s)

• Our Local History: Discovering Our Past and Our Traditions
• Our Nation's History: Meeting People, Ordinary and Extraordinary, Through Biography, Story, Folktale and Legend
  
  
  • Goals and Curriculum Strand Connections
    
    The chart below lists goals and curriculum strands from the Framework. The phrases printed larger and in bold type are History-Social Science Goals and Curriculum Strands that are addressed in the lessons and activities for third grade. Students will have an opportunity to develop thinking and communication skills as they work together to analyze how people developed rules for social order when they moved to new communities during our nation's growth. They will also understand the contributions of many diverse people to our common memories, values and system of government.

Selected Topic: Our Local History - Discovering Our Past and Our Traditions

Focus Lesson: If Third Graders Were In Charge Of The World

BACKGROUND

Good literature is often an effective means of introducing students to social studies concepts in a different context. In this lesson, Chapter 12 of E.B. White's Stuart Little, a story about a sensitive and philosophical mouse and Judith Viorst's poem "If I Were In Charge Of The World" are used to introduce the idea of "fair laws."

OBJECTIVES

• Identify those freedoms most important to students.
• Identify characteristics of a "good" rule.
• Develop "good" rules for the world.
• Identify how decisions or rules made today might affect the future. .

MATERIALS

• Copy of Stuart Little by E. B. White (Harper Collins, 1990)
• Flip chart or butcher paper for each group.
• Felt tip pens
• Handout: "If I Were In Charge Of The World" by Judith Viorst.
• Copy of the "Bill of Rights in Everyday Language" for every student.

TIME NEEDED

Approximately one and one-half hours

PROCEDURE
Intorduction

Have students read independently or as a class the chapter from Stuart Little entitled "The Schoolroom." Ask the class: "What do you think the children learned at school the day Stuart was the teacher?" Have them brainstorm Stuart Little's rules and discuss whether or not they are "good" rules. Discuss with the students what makes a rule good. List the characteristics of a "good" rule. Ask students to identify which freedoms the rules protect.

Though

• Assign students to groups of three to five and ask each group to develop a list on butcher paper of three important rules for the world. Tape the list around the room and ask students to discuss the rules and comment on which they consider to be the most useful rules.
  
  
• Have the class arrive at a general consensus - if possible - on the five most useful rules.
  
  
• Distribute a copy of the abridged version of the "Bill of Rights" to each student. Discuss the meanings of the different rights. Have the students compare their rules to the "Bill of Rights." How are they alike? How are they different?

Beyond

• Distribute handout "If I Were In Charge Of The World" to the students. Read the poem aloud. Direct student groups to use their lists of rules to create a similar poem.
  
  
• Ask each group to select a spokesperson to read its poem aloud. You might wish to publish the poems and use the title "If Third Graders Were In Charge Of The World."

ASSESSMENT
Allow each student to choose a rule that is the most important to them. Have them write about why they feel that rule is important and how it affects them personally. This is a good opportunity for students to share their thoughts on justice and fairness.

SOURCE

Adapted from the Temple University School of Law, 1992. Temple-LEAP Project, The Bill of Rights - Alive



THE BILL OF RIGHTS IN EVERYDAY LANGUAGE
Reprinted with permission from the Illinois State Bar Association

The Bill of Rights in "plain language" does not adequately reflect the documents full content. It is an abridgment to make constitutional rights understandable to grade school children and to facilitate teaching concepts. The actual language of the Bill of Rights is provided, set off by stars, for your information.

1. Congress may not make rules to change freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech or the right of people to come together in a peaceful way or to send petitions to their government.

* Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. *

2. The people have the right to keep and bear arms (except for children and convicted felons).

* A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. *

3. During peacetime, the government cannot make citizens put up soldiers in their homes.

* No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. *

4. People or their homes may not be searched unreasonably.

* The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. *

5. Persons accused of a crime may not be forced to give evidence against themselves. Their lives, freedom and property may not be taken from them unfairly. If the government takes a person's property for public use, it must pay the owner for it. A person may not be put on trial twice for the same crime.

* No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. *

6. People accused of serious crimes have the right to a speedy and public trial by a jury. They must be told what they are accused of. They have the right to have a lawyer help them. They have the right to see and question those who accuse them.

* In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. *

7. In most non-criminal cases, there must be a right to a jury trial.

* In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common
law. *

8. Punishment may not be cruel and unusual. A court decides what cruel and unusual means

* Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. *

9. & 10. If the Constitution does not give a certain right to the U.S. Government, and also does not forbid a state government to have that right, then the states and the people have it.

IF I WERE IN CHARGE OF THE WORLD

If I were in charge of the world,
I'd cancel oatmeal,
Monday mornings,
Allergy shots,
and also Sara Steinberg.

If I were in charge of the world
There'd be brighter night lights,
Healthier hamsters, and
Basketball baskets forty-eight inches lower.

If I were in charge of the world
You wouldn't have lonely.
You wouldn't have clean.
You wouldn't have bedtimes.
Or "Don't punch your sister."
You wouldn't even have sisters.

If I were in charge of the world
A chocolate sundae with whipped cream and nuts
would be a vegetable.
All 007 movies would be "G."
And a person who sometimes forgot to brush,
and sometimes forgot to flush,
Would still be allowed to be In charge of the world.

Judith Viorst
People and Other Aggravations
New York: World Publishing Co., 1971


EXTENSION LESSONS

Due Process

BACKGROUND

This scenario about a missing bicycle will help students distinguish between facts and opinion. They can then use the facts to solve the mystery.

OBJECTIVES

• To discuss the differences between fact and opinion.
• To identify information that is a fact.
• To discuss the responsibility of the police to be fair and just.
  

MATERIALS

• Copy of fact and opinion scenario
  

PROCEDURE

• Read aloud the scenario and testimony, stopping periodically to provide students with a definition of fact and opinion appropriate to their level. Ask the class to respond to questions at the end of each person's testimony.
  
  On May 15, 1995, John's red ten-speed Schwinn bicycle disappeared. Detective Jim Shoes was assigned to investigate the case.
  
  DETECTIVE SHOES: "When did you last see the bicycle?"
  
  JOHN: "I rode home after delivering my papers yesterday, May 14th, at about 6:30 p.m. I parked the bike in the corner of the garage. I didn't put the lock on because it was in the garage. When I got up to ride it to school, the bike was gone. I think Lou took it because he wanted a bike like mine and I don't think he likes me."
  
  
• Discuss with the class: What are the facts? What are the opinions?
  
  If there is not a good response, re-read the scenario and John's testimony and ask the questions again.
  
  
• Detective Shoes then interviews a neighbor. Read the scenario to the class.
  
  DETECTIVE JIM SHOES: "Did you see John's bicycle yesterday?"
  
  NEIGHBOR: "Yes, I was cutting grass about 6:30 and I saw John ride his bicycle into the garage. About 9:30 I let my dog out and saw a suspicious shadow moving in the garage. I think it was Lou. He's always in trouble."
  
  
• Ask the class: What are the facts? What are the opinions?
  
  
• Then read aloud Detective Shoes interview of Lou.
  
  DETECTIVE SHOES: "John's bike is missing. Where were you and what were you doing about 6:30 p.m. on May 15, 1995?"
  
  LOU: "I was just having fun. I was pitching for the Highland Park Champs. After the game the whole team went out for hamburgers. My folks picked me up about 10:30 p.m. at the Big Shake restaurant and we went home together. I had a really good evening. My brother John and I had a pillow fight which really made a mess. Then we went to sleep. I think Harvey took the bike."
  
  
• Once again have the class review the testimony and distinguish fact from opinion.
  
  
• At this point conduct a pro se court.
  
  The pro se court may be organized in a variety of ways, depending upon the maturity of the students. The simplest way is to divide the class into three groups. One group will represent John and try to present all of the reasons why he thinks Lou should pay him for the bicycle. A second group represents Lou and should present all of the reasons why he should not have to pay. A third group represent judges, and they decide what should be done based on the evidence.
  
  It is also possible to form a series of groups of three students. Each student will play the role of either John, Lou, or the judge. When all groups have completed their role play, ask each judge how they decided the case and why.
  
  When a decision has been reached debrief the activity by discussing:
  • What are the arguments in favor of finding Lou responsible for taking John's bike?
  • What arguments can be made in support of Lou?
  • How strong is each argument?
  • Are other arguments possible?
    
    
• If a lawyer or other resource person is available to the class he/she could recount a case and indicate some statements made in the case. Let students try to identify which statements were facts and which were opinions.
  
  
• Ask students to discuss why facts are usually more important than opinions in trials.
  
  
• NOTE: John's bike was returned by Mike, who had asked John two weeks before if he could borrow it on the 14th. John had simply forgotten that he had given permission.

SOURCE

Greenawald, Dale "Seeking Facts to Solve Mysteries" Update on Law-Related Education, American Bar Association,. Winter, 1986. Reprinted with permission.

Law and Pets:

BACKGROUND

Not only do laws protect people, they protect animals. The following lesson deals with pet laws that protect both animals and people.

OBJECTIVES

• Name three laws which deal with animals.
• Discuss ways in which animal laws protect people.

MATERIALS

• Copy of "Dog Bite" Transparency #1
• Copies of "Pets Lost" Handout #1
• Paper and pencils

PROCEDURE

• Show the picture on Transparency #1 and say, "This child is being bitten by a dog." What might happen as a result of this dog bite. Have students brainstorm answers.
  
  
• Then ask students the following questions:
  • What is rabies? (A disease of animals which can be transmitted to people by a bite.)
    
    
  • What laws would have prevented this? (All dogs must have rabies shots. All dogs must be on leashes or fenced.)
    
    
  • What must each of us do to protect ourselves against those who do not obey laws. (Leave strange dogs and cats alone.)
    
    
• Cut apart Handout #1 "Pets Lost" on the dotted line and give one item to each student. Ask each child to write a story pretending that he is the pet that is lost. Suggest they include in their stories: The events that led to the loss of the pet. Whether or not the pet ran away and, if so, tell why. What the pet is thinking and feeling now. What laws or rules if obeyed would have helped the pet. How does the owner feel about losing the pet?
  
  
• Send for pamphlets about caring for pets from your local government or the A.S.P.C.A.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

• Invite a Lawyer to Your Classroom
  
  Invite a lawyer to visit your classroom on Law Day (May 1). Some guidelines to follow for a successful visit include:
  • Try to meet with the lawyer, or at least have a lengthy telephone conversation with him/her prior to the visit to discuss the presentation and information about the class.
    
    
  • Alert the lawyer to the children's attention span, vocabulary level and pacing, and the need for student involvement. Make sure he/she knows that the allocated time is 30 - 45 minutes for maximum effect.
    
    
  • Develop large student name tags to be placed on the desks or hung on their necks. One for the lawyer and you, too.
    
    
  • If possible, duplicate Leslie Williamson's article "Twelve Hints for Lawyers" from the Special Law Day Issue of Update (Winter 1986) published by the American Bar Association's Special Committee on youth Education for Citizenship. There are many successful examples of lawyer's presentations.
    
    
• Lack of Space: Getting Along With Others
  
  Tell the old Yiddish folktale about a man who lives in a little one-room hut with his mother, his wife, and his six children (Could Always Be Worse by Margot Zemash. New York: Scholastic Paperback, 1976).
  
  The crowded conditions cause so much noise and argument that the old man cannot stand it any longer. Finally, at his wit's end, he goes to the Rabbi for advice. The Rabbi asks the old man if he has any animals. The old man says he has chickens, a rooster and a goose. The Rabbi tells the old man to go home, bring the animals into the hut and come back in a week. The old man thinks this is strange advice but does as he is told, believing the Rabbi to be a wise man. Life in the hut becomes worse than ever because the honking, crowing and clucking only adds to the quarreling and crying. In a week he returns to the Rabbi complaining that things are worse than ever. This time the Rabbi asks the old man if he has a goat. When the old man says yes, the Rabbi tells him to bring the goat into the hut. The old man follows the Rabbi's advice and things are worse than ever. The next week the Rabbi tells the old man to bring in the cow. When it seems the old man has surely reached the end of his rope, the Rabbi tells him to take out the chickens and return a week later. The old man finds that things are a bit better and reports this to the Rabbi. Each week the Rabbi advises the old man to take out another animal until the hut is back to the way it was when the old man first visited the Rabbi.
  
  Activity
  
  A Play with Thirty-Two, more or less, Parts.
  
  This activity has students experience a change in perspective about a resource: living space. It makes the point that it is not always the amount of a resource that is available but sometimes our own viewpoint. Assign parts for a play of this story. You can have as many parts as you want so that every student can participate. The play can be done with thirty-two parts; sixteen speaking parts and 16 non-speaking parts.
  
  Parts
  
  The Old Man
  His Wife makes arguing and scolding noises.
  His Mother makes complaining noises.
  Six children make crying and fighting noises.
  Three (or more) Chickens making clucking noises.
  Rooster makes crowing noises.
  Goose makes honking noises.
  Goat continually butts into people and animals in the hut.
  Cow makes mooing noises.
  16 (or less) children to form the walls of the hut; four for each side.
  
  Tell the walls to form the hut by linking arms. No one should move except the student who acts as the doorway. The children will be tempted to expand the hut when it gets crowded so be sure to tell them that they are walls and should not move. Read the story and have the speaking parts act it out.
  
  Follow-Up Discussion:
  
  Relate the story to students' lives by asking them if lack of space creates problems in getting along with others. Discuss how cultures view space differently. How can you respect other cultures space needs?
  
  SOURCE
  
  Gallagher, Arlene. Living Together Under the Law: An Elementary Education Law Guide. New York State Bar Association, 1988.
  
  
• People Who Make Courts Work
  
  
  • Tell students that if a person is accused of committing a crime, that in order to find out the truth, various people would need to be involved in court.
    
    
  • Begin by telling students of a hypothetical case. Maggie (don't use the name of a student in the class) has been accused of throwing a rock through a school window. Remind the students that a person is believed to be innocent until proven guilty.
    
    
  • You will need about 30 minutes of time and signs for students to wear: Judge, Defense Attorney, Prosecuting Attorney, Court Reporter and enough signs for the rest of the class as Jury.
    
    
  • Discuss each of the important roles with the class before asking for volunteers and assigning students.
    • What do judges do?
    • Who will help Maggie tell her side of the story?
    • What do lawyers do?
    • Who will tell the school's side of the story?
    • Why do we need a record of the trial?
    • What do court reporters do?
    • What does a jury do?
      
      
  • Conclude by describing all the roles discussed and explain that they are important if everyone is to be treated fairly. Point out that;
    • both sides have a chance to tell their story
    • the judge does not take sides
    • the jury decides on the basis of what it hears in court
      
      

  Is this a fair way to decide cases? Why or why not?
  
  SOURCE
  
  Greenwald Dale. "People Who Make Courts Work." LRE Project Exchange. American Bar Association. Spring, 1986. Reprinted with permission.

RESOURCES

Teacher Resources

The Bill of Rights - Alive! Temple Leap Project. Temple University School of Law, 1992.

Caylor, Margaret. Rules and Laws for Citizenship Office of Law-Related Education, State Bar of
Texas, Austin, Texas, 1984. A series of lessons and learning stations for primary students to aid them in understanding the need for society to develop laws and legal institutions that regulate behavior, resolve conflict and make life more predictable.

Elementary Law-Related Education Resource Guide, Grades 3-6. Cleveland Public Schools, Cleveland, Ohio, 1986. This Resource Guide distributed to all grade 3 - 6 teachers in Cleveland Public Schools is integrated law-related topics and lessons into the intermediate social studies curriculum.

Elementary Lesson Plans on Law and Citizenship. Utah State Office of Education. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1986. A collection of lessons and activities on law-related topics integrated into the social studies curriculum. The manual is divided into three sections: K-3, 4-6, and K-6.

"Our American Rights". Learning Magazine. Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, Washington D.C., 1990. Included are learning activities and poster illustrations.

Patrick, John J. and Robert S. Leming. Resources for Teachers on the Bill of Rights. Eric Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, 1991. Sample lessons on the Bill of Rights are included as well as an extensive bibliographic listing.

Singleton, Laurel, Editor. Education for Freedom. Graduate School of Public Affairs University of Colorado, Denver, 1991. These K-6 lessons were developed by the Social Science Education Consortium for the First Amendment Congress. The publication includes seven primary and eight intermediate lessons.

Update on Law-Related Education. Winter, 1986. This special Law Day issue includes an excellent section on elementary school level strategies to help elementary students understand legal procedures. A special "pull out" section gives guide lines for bar associations and school districts to join in partnership to conduct a district-wide Law Day program. .