Civics and Citizenship in practice
Waratah Public School
KLA: HSIE
Syllabus: HSIE K-6
Stage: ES1 to S3
Audience: Professional
Description: Civics and citizens unit of work which focuses on Respect,
Responsibility and Learning.
Learning resource type: Unit of work
Version published: November 2009
Respect
Educational Goals
Students learn:
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How to be respectful people
Treat other the way you want them to treat you
Treating people with the respect makes better relationships
How to be respectful list
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Treat other people the way you want to be treated
Be courteous and polite
Listen to what other people have to say
Care for my school and environment
Take pride in myself and my school
Student Activities
Lesson 1
The Fuzzy Feeling Chair
A special chair (e.g. a bean bag, stool) is positioned in the room. Each day
ask a different student to sit in the special chair. The other students then take
turns saying nice things about the person in the chair. The person in the chair
can only say thank you. At the end of the activity ask the child sitting in the
chair how they felt when others were saying nice things about them.
Lesson 2
Paper chains
Using different coloured paper strips students write one talent on each strip of
paper (each student has 5 strips of paper) and create paper chains. Links are
joined together to make a long class chain. Ask the class what the chain
demonstrates.
Lesson 3
What does it mane to treat other people with respect? Have you class
brainstorm a list of do’s and don’ts for treating people with respect. Ask for
specific examples of each behaviour they identify. Compare their list with the
respectful list above. Hang the list on the wall as a reminder.
Lesson 4
Go through each item on the list. Using a book from the resource list, have the
students describe how characters demonstrate respect  or what characters
could have done to be more respectful.
Lesson 5
Make a class contract in which students lay out a set of rules for having a
respectful classroom. What will be the consequences of their choices?
Lesson 6
Brainstorm ways to make the school environment more respectful. Create a
list of recommendations, and present them to your SRC.
Lesson 7
Have the students role play or use puppets to act out the following situation:
Four good friends are planning to spend the day at an amusement park. Two
of them want to invite another student who is new to the school. The other two
don’t want to include this student because she/ he is different in some way
(culturally, a ‘dweeb’ or has a disability etc.). After the role play have a class
discussion. Then have four other students do the role play changing what is
different about the new student. Repeat the process with the difference
changing each time.
Lesson 8
Bring in articles from newspapers and magazines describing situations in
respect and disrespect are issues. Talk about who is acting respectfully and
who is acting disrespectfully in these situations.
Lesson 9
Using a book from the resource list, draw a picture and write a description of a
character. Tell how you would treat them if they want to join in a game with
you and your friends.
Lesson 10
Write about an experience you had with a person who did not show respect.
What happened and how did it make you feel?
Lesson 11
Are students not shown respect at your school? How do you think these
students feel about this? How do you feel about this?
Lesson 12
In what ways do you treat people with respect? Are there any ways in which
you could improve your skills in this area?
Lesson 13
Write a letter to an imaginary bully telling this person what she or he is doing
that you don’t like, why you don’t like it and how you want this person to
behave instead.
Responsibility
Educational Goals
Students learn:
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What responsibility is and what a responsibility person does
Why is important to behave responsibly
How irresponsible behaviour can damage their relationships with
others
That being a responsible person results in better friendships
How to solve problems by thinking
How to be responsible list
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Be reliable and dependable: when you agree to do something do it
Take care of your own business. Don’t make excuses or blame others
Use your head: think before you act: imagine the consequences
Student Activities
Lesson 1
Write the responsible list on the board. Have the students think of as many
examples of each they can, and write them on the board. Can they think of
any responsible behaviours that should be added to the list? Have a class
discussions about these behaviours. Have the students make a poster of
these behaviours to put up around the school.
Lesson 2
Take the example from lesson 1 above, and turn them into role-play
situations. The students can act them out themselves or use puppets. First,
have them role-play irresponsible behaviour, and then, the responsible
behaviour. Have the group critique each of the role-plays.
Lesson 3
For the upper grades: have the students look for magazine or newspaper
articles in which responsibility is an issue. Discuss the issues in the context of
responsible and irresponsible actions. What are the stakes? What are the
consequences?
Lesson 4
How responsible are you? For each responsible listed, rate yourself on a
scale of 1 to 5 (1 = awful and 5 = terrific). For each of these behaviours give
an example of how you are responsible or not, and what you could do to
improve.
Lesson 5
Can your think of a time when you did something irresponsible? Describe it in
detail. Why did it happen? How did you feel about it at the time? Did it affect
anybody else? Did it cause any problems for you? How do you feel about it
now? What did you learn from it? Or, perhaps you would prefer to write about
something you do that was very responsible.
Lesson 6
If your students are old enough to write book reports, have them write about
the how the characters in the book behaved in wither a responsible or
irresponsible way. Do the same with movies or television programs they have
seen. If your students are too young to write a book report, so this as a class
discussion about the books they are reading or that you are reading to them.
Lesson 7
Write about someome you think is responsible. What do you like about that
person?
Lesson 8
Write about how it makes you feel when somebody lets you down.
Learning
Educational Goals
Students learn:
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Basic life long skills that help us work successfully together
The benefits of being a life long learner
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How to cooperate with others
How to be an effective learner list
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Listen carefully to others and be sure you understand what they are
saying
Share when you have something that others would like to have
Take turns when there is something that nobody wants to do, or when
more than one person wants to do the dame thing
Do your part the very best you possibly can
Encourage people to do their best
Make people feel needed, Working together is a lot more fun that way.
Student activities
Lesson 1
Break students into four groups and tell them they’re going to make music.
One group claps, one group whistles, one group taps on the seats, one group
makes sushing sounds with their mouth (like cymbals). Each group plays their
sound when you point to them. The object is for each group to get coordinated
into something that sounds good without talking to the other members of the
group. In order to accomplish this they have to listen to what each other is
doing and adjust accordingly. Point to the groups one at a time, letting each
group get their act together. Then start adding groups together allowing time
for them to adjust what they are doing until they sound good. Eventually all
the groups will be going at once in a well coordinated ensemble.
When the concert is over ask the students what made this activity fun and
why it required cooperation to make it work. What would have made it work
better? If it did’nt work why not?