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What would happen if there were no rules?

What should you do if you find a rule that is unfair and unjust?

Are there any areas of our lives that don't have any rules?

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What is a rule?

Why do we have rules?

Are rules the same everywhere?

Who makes rules?

What is a consequence?

What is efficiency?

What is a community?

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This lesson bundle is a series of activities based on one of the City Island Episodes "Skate Park" in which the characters discuss the rules of the skate park in their neighborhood.

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Rules at the Skate Park | City Island | PBS LearningMedia

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Watt and Windy are excited to go on their first trip to the Skate Park with Lidia. They learn that there are rules they have to follow there so everyone can skate safely and have fun. NOTE: The media gallery PDF assets and Support Materials are also available in Spanish.

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These amazing podcasts tell multicultural stories of people in tough situations. These are a great way to engage students in problem solving for these characters and having them reimagine stories if the characters had followed rules or made different choices.

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Created and produced by parents of young children, WBUR’s Circle Round adapts carefully-selected folktales from around the world into sound- and music-rich radio plays for kids ages 3-103. Each 15 to 25-minute episode explores important issues like kindness, persistence and generosity. And each episode ends with an activity that inspires a deeper conversation between children and grown-ups.

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This story is an excellent way to teach students about the importance of citizenship.  Throughout the reading, the teacher should ask the students if the characters are following the rules.  This is also a great way to talk about predictions.  Students can make predictions throughout the reading to see what they think the characters are going to do.

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This lesson plan incorporates skills such as conflict resolution, abiding by rules, and it also is filled with lots of great SEL skills.

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Let's Work It Out Lesson Plan | ARTHUR | PBS LearningMedia

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In this lesson from the PBS KIDS series ARTHUR, students examine conflicts-what they are, what causes them, and ways they can be resolved. Students watch "Taking Sides" and talk about what the characters do, say, and assume to make the conflict worse.

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This can serve as a wonderful informal formative assessment. Students go on an interactive ride with Rosie and they have to identify rules and come up with ones that Rosie might need in specific situations.

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Riding with Rosie | Rosie's Rules | PBS LearningMedia

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Drive around & be a community helper with Rosie! NOTE: Interactive and Supports are available in Spanish.

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This lesson could very easily be applied to this particular topic.  Students can draw pictures of people following or disobeying rules, and other students would need to use the visuals to help them understand what is going on the picture and what they would or would not do differently if they were the character in the story.

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In this K-2 lesson, students will examine how illustrations contribute to the telling of a story. Through picture books (without words), students will discuss and interpret details about the characters, setting, and plot. Students will create illustrations to accompany a text and then write text to…

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This is a wonderful animated program who has a main character that gets into all sorts of trouble. Each episode has her in different environments and tackling tough tasks. This website has many episodes of this show as well as activity bundles that go with each episode.

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Rosie's Rules is a new PBS KIDS® animated comedy series for preschoolers starring 5-year-old Rosie Fuentes, a Mexican-American girl just beginning to learn about the wow-mazing world.

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This unit lesson plan does a wonderful job of explaining the consequences of rule following and rule disobeying in various environments. It also has some wonderful visual and multimedia resources.

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This is a problem-based learning (PBL) for first grade social studies about the importance of rules. Through this project students will learn about rules in the classroom, school, and community. Then to create a list of rules for the classroom, the students will work in groups to create a video or a…

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Citizenship and rule following tend to go hand in hand. This video talks about what it means to be a good citizen. One major part of being a good citizen is following rules.

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This wonderful story written by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Kevin Hawkens charms its readers by asking them to think what they would do if there was a lion in the library. There are no specific rules for this type of situation. I would give my class some silly examples of people or animals that are in different places and they would have to come up with their own rules.

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This hilarious game by Scholastic is a wonderful way to test your students' knowledge of school rules. Students can be put into teams and they can try to guess as many of the answers correctly as possible. This can be done as an informal formative assessment.

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K.C&G.1 Understand that
people work together to
create and follow rules.

K.C&G.1.1 Explain why people follow rules in the classroom, school, and community.

K.C&G.1.2 Exemplify ways people follow rules in the classroom, school, and community.

K.C&G.1.3 Identify the consequences of following or not following rules in the classroom, school, and
community.

K.C&G.1.4 Use a procedure for how people can effectively work together to improve classrooms and
communities.

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This article shines a light on some great ways to teach children our government.

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

There are plenty of opportunities for teaching young children how to take action on issues that are important to them.

©The Macomb Daily/Ray Skowronek

In December, Dane Best, a 9-year-old boy in a small Colorado town, convinced local legislators to overturn a century-old law banning snowball fights. He and his classmates wrote letters, and he presented his arguments at the town board meeting. Dane engaged in civic action, and he prevailed.

The importance of teaching civics in innovative and experiential ways is evident for middle and high school students. Teachers construct new, action-oriented ways to teach civics, and several states have enacted laws to beef up civics, or have made its study a graduation requirement. But participation in our democracy is ripe with possibility for younger children too.

There are a variety of ways that elementary teachers can bring civics concepts into the classroom.

Ask, "What Do I Believe?"

Provide students with an opportunity to identify issues they care about and help them research the topic and reflect on what they can do about it.

Discussing the concepts of fair and unfair engages young children quickly. Address current events that impact young people, or talk about a school or classroom rule that students want to change. Brainstorming about school or classroom rules is a way to encourage students to consider what they believe and why.

Lead students in a process to identify solutions by first defining the problem and then coming up with a list of possible ideas to resolve it. Test out those solutions ("Would this work? Can we do it?") and choose one to try.

Make a Speech

Start with an opinion continuum, where you ask children to express their opinions about a current event topic. ("Should kids be allowed to sit where they want at lunch?")

Have students position themselves along the continuum (agree, disagree, not sure) and talk with each other.

Ask students to write three sentences about why they are standing where they are. Younger students can share their answers aloud.

Turn each of the three points into a few sentences that they practice with each other. These sentences become the foundation for their speech.

After students identify issues that are important to them, they can deliver speeches about those issues. Speech writing and delivery can meet academic goals with practice in written and verbal expression and making arguments. At the same time, writing a speech helps students discover their passion and voice.

For example, Mikva Challenge's Project Soapbox asks students to identify a topic and create a two-minute speech about it. The Kid President series offers another example of how young students might create speeches.

After writing and delivering their speeches, students can have discussions with each other about their positions and explore areas of agreement and disagreement. This sets the foundation for civil discourse, a central component of discussing controversial issues.

Holding a primary preceding the election and having students write and deliver speeches.

Holding debates between candidates.

Having students act as reporters and write articles about the candidates.

Having candidates create campaign ads that other students assess.

Bring Elections to Life

Use mock and real elections to teach students about the electoral process. Expand on a school's student elections by using some key elements from real elections, such as:

These activities not only make the elections more rigorous and real, but also serve to diminish the risk of the election being a popularity contest.

Find Resources

There are many excellent children's books that encourage civic engagement with the goal of improving society. Books like Grace for President highlight civic actions. Through the eyes of an elderly African American woman and her ancestors, we see the history of voting rights and the way that activism made a difference in Lillian's Right to Vote. Dave Eggers's book What Can a Citizen Do? gives simple actions children can take to engage in their communities.

Useful books do not need to focus exclusively on civic action; children can also learn from books centered around issues they care about. For example, Dreamers is a beautiful book that explains the value and opportunity of immigration in a way children can understand. Separate Is Never Equal traces the real-life story of a girl who wasn't allowed to go to school because she was Mexican. As a result, her family was involved in a lawsuit that helped end school segregation in California.

Take Action

After students reflect on and explore issues they care about using some of these strategies, they may want to take action. Deciding on actions that are the right size for the particular age group is key. Project-based learning can engage the class in a project that takes action on an issue that's important to them.

Children will carry civics lessons into adulthood-their impact can last a lifetime. The takeaways are not only about government and democracy but also how we treat one another, communicate, instill empathy, and fight for justice. If we impart those values when children are young, they can use them to improve their community, society, and world.

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There are plenty of opportunities for teaching young children how to take action on issues that are important to them.

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Teaching students about the people that work in a school is a great stepping stone to teaching them about our government. Everyone has a different and important role.

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This is a wonderful story that celebrates diversity and empowers children to be good citizens.

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📚 Kids Book Read Aloud: "What Can A Citizen Do?" by Dave Eggers

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This wonderful story gives students a new way of thinking about how every action that they do can have a big impact.

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What If Everybody Did That? | Social Skills for Kids | Read Aloud

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This video is a very effective way of introducing students to the concept of people having rights and responsibilities.

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Rights and Responsibilities - BrainPOP Jr.

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Why are rules necessary?

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Cause and Effect

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People may follow
rules in order to avoid
negative
consequences or to
earn rewards.

When people follow
rules, classrooms,
schools, and
communities may
function more
efficiently.

Rules can help people
to be safe and
communities to
maintain order.

People may follow
rules differently in
different places.

Obeying rules can
provide safety in the
classroom, school,
home, and
neighborhood.

Disobeying rules can
have different
consequences
depending on the
setting.

Disobeying rules often
has negative
consequences.

Following rules can
help people be safe
and communities
maintain order.

There are often
benefits when rules
are followed.

Procedures for
behavior can help
people work together
effectively.

An orderly way of
doing things can help
keep people safe.

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Why do people decide to follow rules?

What are the effects when people follow rules in classrooms, schools, and communities?

How can rules help people to be safe and help communities to maintain order?

How does location affect the types of rules that are created and enforced?

What are some of the consequences of disobeying rules?

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Symbols
Interpretation
Responsibility
Consequences
Working Together
Character Traits
Community
Choice
Structure
Organization
Equity

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Negative and positive consequences
Benefit
Efficiency
Safety
Maintaining Order
Community Improvement
Social Responsibility