Grade 5 ELA Children’s Rights Lessons

Subject: ELA

CC5.1 – Compose and create a range of visual, multimedia, oral, and written texts that explore

• identity (e.g., What Should I Do)
• community (e.g., This is Our Planet)
• social responsibility (e.g. Teamwork) and express personal thoughts shaped through inquiry.

Indicators: 

(a) Create spoken, written, and other representations that include:

• a clear and specific message
• a logical and coherent organization of ideas
• a competent use of language and conventions.

(b) Express and explain findings on a topic, question, problem, or issue in an appropriate visual, multimedia, oral, and written format using inquiry.

• Students must be able to write (jot notes can be used on the personal reflection)
• Students must know how to be respectful during sensitive topics covered in the lesson
• Students must know how to be respectful of art materials 
• Students must be able to cut and paste
• Students must know how to use scissors carefully

Equipment/Materials for

• Day 1 of the Lesson
  • The book I Have the Right to Be a Child
  • Formative Assessment: Personal Reflection Worksheet
  • One pencil for each student to write with

• Day 2 of the Lesson
  • Sticky notes
  • Pencils
  • Brainstorm template 
  • Sharpies (for teacher)
  • Large pieces of paper 
  • The book I Have the Right to Be a Child 

• Day 3 of the Lesson
  • The book I Have the Right to Be a Child
  • Each student’s personal reflection worksheet
  • Two packages of multi-colored construction paper
  • One pair of scissors for each student
  • Coloring materials for each student: either pencil crayons, crayons, markers
  • One pencil for each student
  • One glue stick for each student

Advanced Preparation

• Day 1 of the Lesson
  • Have one personal reflection printed off for each student
  • Ensure each student has a pencil at their desks
  • Have the book I Have the Right to Be a Child prior to the lesson
• Day 2 of the Lesson 
  • Have the large pieces of paper with the titles “My Rights at Home”, “My Rights at School”, and “My Rights in My Community”. 
  • Hang these in different corners of the room before class. 
• Day 3 of the Lesson
  • Handout the personal reflections prior to the class
  • Have all of the art materials set up on the students desks prior to the class

Set: (10 min)

  Day 1 

• The class will start off with a discussion on rights

• What are rights? *Rights are rules about what people are allowed to do or to have. Every person in the world has rights. You have rights*
• Who has rights? *everyone*
• Can you think of some rights that you might have? 

(write these down on the board)

• The teacher can write an example on the board such as: I have the right to speak 

• Everyone has rights and it is important to remember that

Day 2

• In this class, students will be learning how to fill out a brainstorm map alongside the teachers. 
• The teacher will begin to ask students if they have ever used/seen a brainstorm map before. Ask them:
  • If they have used one before?
  • What are they used for? (organization)
  • If it was helpful to organize their thoughts?
• The class will then watch a slideshow/video on how to fill out a brainstorm template. 
• After the video, ask students to answer these questions by raising their hand:
  • What are brainstorms used for?
  • How do you help organize your thoughts?

  Day 3 

• Start the class off the same way, with a discussion after handing out their reflection papers from last class.

• What are rights?
• What rights do they remember from the book? (write on the board)

• Now the class will be starting the visual side of this lesson. Hand out paper, get their pencil crayons and markers out.

Development: (30 min)

 Day 1 

• After the discussion about rights, the class will now settle so the teachers can read the book.
• The teachers will now read the book at the front of the classroom,
• Once the book is done, ask students what they noticed about the rights?

• Did you know this was a right?
• Which rights stood out to you? Why?

•  Ask them to think about their own rights that might not have been in the book (keep to themselves)
• We will then hand out a personal reflection that asks about their rights at their home, school, and community
• If students feel more comfortable, you can do an example on the board for all three sections

• Home: I have the right to access food and water
• School: I have the right to free education 
• Community: I have the right to feel safe 

• Ask students to quietly work on their personal reflections (make sure their names are on it) and hand them in to the C table when they are done
• There will be crossword sheets and coloring pages if they finish early!

Day 2

• After the class has learnt about how to brainstorm, they will now participate in a class activity. 
• The teacher will hand out 3 sticky notes to each student. Remind students not to draw on them yet. 
• Have a short discussion on the “Rights” from the book I Have The Right to be a Child and ask them if they can remember what rights they might have at home, school, and in their community. 
  • If they need help: home – right to access nutritious foods, school – right to free education, community: right to feel safe 
• The class will then begin looking around the classroom at the 3 different white boards places around the classroom named as “Home”, “School” and “Community”. The students will then be filling out on the sticky notes different rights that feel important to them, and then placing them on the whiteboard they think it fits on.
• After this is complete, bring the three whiteboards to the front of the class to display. Go through the rights, reading them out loud to the class. Feel free to move any that seem fit for a different category, or if they fit in more than one (can create another column for ones that fit in all 3)
• The class will then be working on their own brainstorming template to help create their art piece for the next week. 
  • Let students know that next week they will be creating an art piece to go along with a right that they pick/is most important to them. For example, they can create a watermelon with the right “I have the right to access nutritious foods”
    • You can do a mock run of the brainstorm template with the whole class to help them know what they need to write down. Use the right “I have the right to be a child”. 

Day 3

•  Ask the students to pick a right from the book that stood out to them the most. (make sure all students pick something different) 
• To avoid all students having the same right, write down a list of rights from the book on the board so they have options. 

• I have the right to clean drinking water
• I have the right to free schooling
• I have the right to learn
• I have the right to health care 
• I have the right to speak my mind
• Add more from the book

• The class will now begin working on their art piece to compliment their right that they chose. (draw their favorite food such as a watermelon and write inside of it “I have the right to have enough food to eat and water to drink”
• Remind students to put their names on the back. They will have 25-30 minutes to complete this
• If students finish early they can work on the crosswords or the coloring pages

Closure: (10 minutes)

• Day 1 of the Lesson
  • The lesson will conclude with the students sharing one right that they noted down in their personal reflection from their home, their school, and their community with the person sitting beside them.
• Day 2 of the Lesson 
  • The lesson will conclude with the students sharing their brainstorm worksheets with the person beside them. They can discuss how they envision their art component to look and how it will relate to their right that they have chosen. 
  • Students can share it with the whole class if there is time. Ask all students to hand this in to the C table once they are finished.
• Day 3 of the Lesson
  • The students will clean up their desks and put all of the art supplies away. The students will make sure that there is no paper on the ground or around their desks. The students’ art components can be posted on the bulletin board.