Citizen Me

Clays Mill High Intensity Learning Center
5th grade
Government Unit of Study
 Developed by Yvonne, Sandy, Lynn, Scott    

Organizer

What does it mean to me to be a U.S. citizen?

Essential Questions

1.       What is a citizen?

2.     Why do we have laws?

3.     What information can I find in the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, that is meaningful to me as a citizen?

·        functions of government

·        purpose of government

4.    What is a  democracy and how does it compare to a monarchy?

5.    As a citizen, how does knowing about the branches and levels of government help me?

·        be a part of city/school council

·        rights

·        knowing resources

 

Academic Expectations

2.14  Students understand the democratic principles of justice, equality, responsibility, and freedom and apply them to real life situations.

2.15  Students can accurately describe various forms of governments and analyze issues that relate to the rights responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.

2.16  Students observe, analyze, and interpret human behaviors, social groupings, and institutions to better understand people and the relationships among individuals and among groups.

2.17  Students interact effectively and work cooperatively with the many ethnic and cultural groups of our nation and world.

2.20 Students understand, analyze, and interpret historical events, conditions, trends, and issues to develop historical perspective.

 

Scoring Guide for

       What does it mean to be a citizen?

 

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Question 1

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Question 2

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Question 3

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Question 4

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Question 5

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Question 6

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Question 7

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C= Content

R= Relevance

 

OVERALL  PROJECT

Þ Originality

Þ Organization

Þ Presentation

 

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Organization

 

 

 

 

Presentation

 

 

 

 


OVERALL  PROJECT EVALUATION

Þ Content- demonstrates accurate information and understanding of essential questions

Þ Originality- creative, unique, uses resources wisely

Þ Organization- flows smoothly, highly relevant, resources properly cited.

Þ Presentation- voice, appeal of project, few errors, neatness.

 

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Content

 

 

 

 

Essential Questions addressed?

Yes    or      No

Originality

 

 

 

 

 

Organization

 

 

 

 

 

Presentation

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time Line

Constitution and Bill of Rights               3 days

Courts in Session                                  4 days

Mayor/Council                                      2 days

Intro/Pretest/America Rock                    1 ½ day

Fact Based Test                                    1 day

Word Searches/Homework                    ? days

Presentations                                         3 days

Review Games                                      1 day

America Rock Video                             1 day

Open Response                                     1 day

Explain Project Models                          1-2 days

Guided Research w/KYVL                    1 day

Independent Research                           1 day

Family Circus Court                              ½ day

Newspaper                                            ½ day

Outside Speakers - Ernie Fletcher, Jim Bunning, Scotty Baesler

Outside of SS Classroom learn PowerPoint, FrontPage, and have library time to research.

 

Knowledge                                           Skills

Constitution/Bill of Rights

Reference

citizen

idea organization

law

presentation

forms of government (democracy, monarchy)

communication

branches/levels of government

writing

responsibilities of a citizen

compare/contrast

rights of citizens

choices

technology

apply/role playing

 

analyze

 

interpret


Activities

Week 1

Activity 1

Goal: Introduction of unit and review of the Constitution. Students will be given the book, US History Homework Helper Handy Reference Guide.  They will read and discuss Chapter 4. Lead into the essential questions. Give copy of essential questions to each student.

 

Activity 2

Goal: Determine level of knowledge about the essential questions.

Students will be given a checkup focusing on what they learned from the essential questions and the reading from the previous day.

 

Activity 3

Goal: Introduce the project they will do.

Students will be shown the projects developed by the teachers focusing on the essential questions. Students will talk about projects they can do. They will be given their folders and they will add to a given vocabulary list.

Send letter to parents about the activity and the project that they will be required to complete for this unit of study. Projects are not limited to technology. Students will be asked to use their creativity in these projects.

 

Activity 4

To be done during the first week at a time other than social studies.

Goal: Have students work on doing searches, citing information and learning to determine relevance of material.

Students will be shown the Kentucky Commonwealth Virtual Library web site. They will research a topic, find the information, cite the information and learn how to determine whether the information is useful now or will it be used at a later time.

 

Activity 5

Goal: Introduction to software to create projects.

Students will be introduced to web pages and desktop publishing software.

 

Week 2

Activity 6

Goal: Introduce the Preamble to the Constitution

Students will be introduced to the Constitution’s Preamble. They will be asked to  memorize, recite and write their interpretation of the Preamble.

 

Activity 7

Goal: Review concepts learned in week 1 and introduce the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Students will discuss with teacher.

 

Activity 8

Goal: Check mastery of vocabulary

Students will be given a word search or puzzle in which they will identify vocabulary words.

 

Activity 9

Goal: Students will be divided into groups of four. They will find articles from the newspaper dealing with a topic of their choice on a national, state and local level.

 

Activity 10

Goal: Students will select one of the Articles from the  Bill of Rights and tell why it is important to them as a U.S. citizen.

 

Week 3

Activity 11

Goal: Courts in Session

Students will be given two trial scenarios and will participate in the roles of those involved in the trial process.

 

Activity 12

Goal: Students will be shown an actual city council meeting. Vocabulary (citizen, local, government) will be discussed, as well as the purpose and function of the government.

 

Activity 13

Goal: Review the term citizen. Present the Mayor discussing the role, purpose and function of the Mayor’s office and of local government.

 

Activity 14

Goal:  Students write about the Mayor’s visit.

Students will be asked to write a letter to the Mayor, or speaker thanking them for coming and will reflect on what they have learned.

 

Activity 15

Goal: Teaching about the Constitution

This will be assessed on the facts based test.

 

Activity 16

Goal: Compare and contrast the Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Students will participate in the Balloon activity.

 

Activity 17

Goal: To experience what it would be like to have no rules or laws.

Students will participate in a “What If” activity.

They will role play what it would be like not to have one of the school rules, and then expand it to what would it be like not to have  traffic laws, letter laws, animal abuse, laws, hunting laws, theft or stealing laws, and arson laws.


Resources

Critical Resources:

Web Sites:

Human Resources:

Technology Standards:

Should the students choose to use technology in the creation of their projects, the following standards will be met.  

T3.1 Use proper citations

T3.1.2 Cite other electronic resources

T3.1.3 Cite web pages

T3.2.2 Use correct grammar, mechanics and spelling

T4.4 Locate information using the Internet

T4.4.1 Determine when Internet search may be effective

T4.4.2.1 URL's

T4.4.3 Use Boolean logic with various search engines/tools T4.4.3.1 Keywords (broadening and narrowing)

T4.4.3.2 Index (broadening and narrowing)

T5.2 Evaluate information using electronic references

T5.2.1 Use keywords

T5.2.2 Use Boolean logic

T5.2.3 Scan for relevant information

5.2.4 Use appropriate bibliographic citations for electronic resources

T6.1 Select appropriate software for a task

T6.1.2 Develop a plan for the project

T6.2 Publish information on the Internet (if a web page is the project chosen)

T6.5 Create a presentation or product using application software.

T6.5.1 Choose appropriate information for purpose and audience

T6.6.1 Use digital media for image input and output (camera, scanner, OCR, videodisc)

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