Character Counts!

April

APRIL ELEMENTARY ACTIVITIES

Citizenship

CITIZENSHIP

Do your share to make your school and community better

Stay informed; vote in school elections
Be a good neighbor
Obey laws and rules
Respect authority
Protect the environment

CITIZENSHIP
Students need to learn the importance of contributing to their school and community. They should have
compassion and show kindness towards others. They should also show humility and consider the needs of
others. Serving and helping others is also of great importance. Building citizenship skills helps students
feel that they can be contributors to others and can do work that benefits their community. This shows them
that their lives are important now and sets a foundation for becoming active citizens in adulthood.

Quotes:
There is no better exercise for strengthening the heart than reaching down and lifting up another.
Anonymous

We may never know all the good a simple smile can do. May no one ever come to you without going away
better and happier. May everyone see kindness in your face, in your eyes, and in your smile. Love is a fruit
in season at all times.
Mother Teresa
Be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life,
but be interested in the lives of others.
Saint Paul
A person who gives to others will get richer. Whoever helps others will himself be helped. King Solomon

Following are activities for use in your classrooms to help your students build character to become more
successful in their daily lives. Hopefully these will be beneficial in helping you teach/stress these skills in
your classroom. There will be one activity per week for the month of April/Citizenship. Please adapt these
activities in any manner to help you achieve your classroom goals.

1. Writing Activity
Cooperative Learning Round Table Writing: In teams, students take turns generating written responses,
solving problems, or making a contribution to the team project.
Read the beginning of the story, and then add to the story until the teacher calls time. Pass the story to the next
student. When time is up, come up with a good title as a team. Choose one student to read story aloud to class.
Title ________________________________________________________________
Citizenship Cecil has heard about his neighborhood wanting to start a recycling program. He
decides to talk with his friends on his street about whether they should participate. He thinks he has
some good ideas to share. __________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Alcohol, Tobacco, & Other Drug Activity:

Read to class:
We are thinking of ways to show good citizenship this month. To be a good citizen you must be a good
neighbor and community member. To do this you must respect authority and obey laws and rules. It is against
the law to do many drugs.
Many drugs are also addictive, which means they alter the brain and body so that people crave them. If
they cant get the drug, they begin to feel sick. An addicts craving for a drug can become so strong the person
will do risky things to get it. Some addicts are driven to commit crimes, visit dangerous places, and be around
violent people to get the drugs. Once someone is addicted, its very hard to quit, but with help from counselors
and doctors an addict can get off the drug and live a normal life. An addict who stops using drugs goes through
withdrawal. During withdrawal, an addict may feel restless, moody, tired, or sleepless, and may suffer from
an upset stomach, muscle and bone pain, fever, sweating, shaking, or chills. Even for addicts who are off drugs,
addiction is a disease that never really goes away. Addicts need treatment to learn how to act differently so they
dont go back to using drugs. They sometimes have to take medicines to help control their craving for drugs.
So, remember that by not doing drugs you are following laws and rules. You are not only respecting
authority, but also respecting yourself by not using a substance that can become an addiction.
Activity: Get the Message!
Procedure: Have students copy words listed below onto their paper, or write words and copy to hand out to
them. Follow instructions given next. Cross out the names of 4 countries, 4 sports, and 4 animals. Then write
the 10 leftover words to get an important message.
(activity continued on following page)

(Words for activity #2)

FRANCE
YOUR

KEEP

SOCCER

HAMSTER

LIFE

DOG CONTROL
SPAIN

BASEBALL

MAKE TENNIS

CAT

OF

ENGLAND

SMART

USA

DECISIONS FOOTBALL ABOUT RABBIT DRUGS

____________

____________

____________

____________

____________ -

____________

____________

___________

____________

____________ !

3. Cooperative Learning Activity: Membership in the Community

Overview: Students will define and discuss community and various members roles in making the community
function. The students will learn how various people can help make the community a safe and happy place for
everyone.
Preparation/Materials: none
Procedure: Say: Today, were going to talk about community. Ask: Can anyone tell me what a
community is? Explain that a community consists of many people who live in one area. Every community
needs different kinds of people who do different things for each other. Everyones job is important and
everyone has to do their share to make the community run smoothly.
Say: Lets discuss the different kinds of people every community needs. How do these people help
protect our communities? Go over each of the following occupations and have the students discuss how these
people contribute to the community:

police officer
mail carrier
store clerk
dentist
school counselor
bus driver

*
*
*
*
*
*

teacher
school crossing guard
firefighter
electrician
gas station attendant
mechanic

Discuss how these roles are interrelated (e.g., the fire fighter needs a gas station and mechanic for the fire
trucks, and the mechanic needs a teacher in order to learn how to fix the trucks, and so on).

3. Cooperative Learning Activity: Membership in the Community cont.

**If there is time, or if you want to continue study in this area with your students, you may include the
following activity.
Activity: Good Citizen Interviews
Overview: Students will interview adults whom they consider good citizens. They can share their interview
with the class and reflect on what it means to be a good citizen.
Preparation/Materials: Students will only need paper and a pen or pencil to record important points of his/her
interview.
Procedure: Discuss the meaning of good citizenship with the youngsters (e.g., working for the common good,
volunteering ones services to others, protecting the environment and obeying laws and rules). Ask students to
think of an adult he/she knows who is a good citizen. This person may model good citizenship in their personal
or professional life. Tell them that their assignment is to conduct an interview with that person and write down
some of the points this person thinks are important to being a good citizen.
Have them practice interviewing each other to familiarize them with this process. Ask for student
volunteers who are willing to be interviewed by their peers. Give the volunteer an imaginary adult role (e.g.,
police officer, teacher, judge, volunteer at a homeless shelter, etc.). Suggest that the students ask questions like
the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Do you think you are a good citizen? Why or why not?

Do you do anything at work which shows good citizenship?
How do you think young people can show good citizenship?
Do you do any volunteer work?

After they have all conducted their interviews with their designated adults, ask them to share what they learned
with the rest of the class. Re-cap your discussion on good citizenship and add any new ideas found in the
interviews.

4. General Activity: Recycling Responsibly

Overview: Student will become more responsible about waste management. They will discuss which objects
to recycle and reuse and then make a chart reinforcing this awareness.
Preparation/Materials: They will need magazines to cut up, glue, scissors, paper, pencils, or pens, and
bulletin board.
Procedure: (Suggestion) Crumple up a piece of newspaper and throw it in the wastebasket in front of your
class. Ask them why they think your action was NOT responsible. After receiving several answers say:
While it was good that I was throwing my trash away and I was not littering, I was not responsible because
my trash was a piece of paper and paper can be recycled. Talk about what recycling is and what kinds of
products can be recycled. (You can display actual objects that are recyclable.) Ask the students to give you
examples of trash that can be recycled. Discuss why recycling shows responsibility. Give examples of how it
helps the environment. Talk about ways to recycle and reuse items. Like: Your old newspapers can be used
as a clean up cloth under projects and activities. Empty jars of any size can be used as containers in your room
or on your desk.
Distribute scissors, magazines and glue to students. Demonstrate on the board what you would like
them to do on the paper. Have them cut out of magazines objects that can be found in the trash and are
reusable or recyclable. Ask them to make collages. Display the items somewhere in the room and designate
areas for recyclable items.
For those of you that do not have recycling available at your school, you could possibly get student
volunteers to have parents take the recycling home to recycle. This would be a great in-class recycling project.

Quotes:
I have a very clear sense about what I think is important to do. Go beyond yourself and you will find
yourself. Care about something you dont have to care about. Throw yourself into the world and make
Hillary Rodham Clinton
your voice count.
You must give some time to your fellow people. Even if it is a little thing, do something for others,
something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.
Albert Schweitzer