1

Emily Epstein

Citizenship
&
Civic
Responsibility
2nd Grade
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Table of Contents

Content

Outline 3

Unit

Rationale 4

Unit

Objectives. 5

Lesson

1. 7

Lesson

2. 10

Lesson

3. 13

Lesson

4. 17

Lesson

5. 20

Unit

Closure

23

Assessment

. 23
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Bibliography

24
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Content Outline

In order to teach this unit, teachers need to know qualities of a good

citizen, basic rights and responsibilities of citizens of the United States, and

basic information about Utahs state law buildings and landmarks (i.e.

courthouse, governors mansion, capitol building). Teachers should also be

able to explain what the Constitution is and how the Bill of Rights applies to

people in our country. More information on teaching citizenship and qualities

of a good citizen can be found here:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr008.shtml (Hopkins, 2015). This

unit may also require teachers to know a basic timeline of the American

Revolution to relate events from the past to current events, and show

similarities and differences in civics over the past few centuries.

Unit Vocabulary
Constitution
Government
Citizen
Citizenship
Responsibility
Right
Symbols
Landmarks
Capitol
Declaration
Allegiance
Law
Amendment

Unit Rationale
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Citizenship and civic responsibility are extremely important for students

to learn about. Both teach them about being a contributing member of the

community, how to voice an opinion in our legislative system, the rights that

they have, and their responsibility to themselves and people around them.

This unit also helps students develop their individual identities and builds on

our classroom community. Through the unit we are able to see where each

student, each classroom, each school district, city, state, etc., is part of the

whole.
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Unit Objectives

2nd Grade Social Studies Standard 2: Students will recognize and

practice civic responsibility in the community, state, and nation.

Objective 1: Examine civic responsibility and demonstrate good

citizenship.

a. Describe the characteristics of a good citizen through the

examples of historic figures and ordinary citizens.

b. Explain the benefits of being a U.S. citizen (responsibilities,

freedoms, opportunities, voting in free elections)

Objective 3: Investigate and show how communities, state, and nation

are united by symbols that represent citizenship in our nation.

a. Explain the significance of various community, state, and

national celebrations (e.g. Memorial Day, Independence Day,

Thanksgiving)
b. Identify community and state symbols, documents, and

landmarks (e.g. city hall, county courthouse, state capitol,

Utah State constitution, flag)

c. Identify and explain the significance of various national

symbols, documents, and landmarks (e.g. Declaration of

Independence, Constitution, Pledge of Allegiance, national

monuments, national capitol building).

2nd Grade English Language Arts:

Reading: Informational Text Standard 4: Determine the meaning of words and

phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area.

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Reading: Informational Text Standard 5: Know and use various texts features

to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

Writing: Standard 7: Participate in shared research and writing projects.

Writing: Standard 8: Recall information from experiences or gather

information from provided sources to answer a question.

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1LESSON PLAN 1

Name: Emily Epstein

Date: TBD

Subject: Social Studies

Length of Lesson: 70 min

Grade Level: Second

Objective:

Social Studies Standard 2: Students will recognize and practice civic

responsibility in the community, state, and nation.

Objective 1: Examine civic responsibility and demonstrate good

citizenship.

Writing: Standard 8: Recall information from experiences or gather

information from provided sources to answer a question.

Language Objectives:

Students will use oral language to communicate with group members, and use unit

vocabulary when creating their graphic organizers related to being a good citizen.

ELL Considerations:

Review important vocabulary words from the text.

Start a class discussion beforehand to address questions.
Have students work with partners and/or groups
Allow students to ask questions throughout the lesson

Prep/Materials:

What if Everybody Did That? By Ellen Javernick

Posters
Markers
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Grouping Strategy
Graphic Organizer

Time Lesson Steps

0-5 min Preview text and address important vocabulary
words. Ask students what they already know about
being a good citizen and have them share with a
partner.

5-15 min Read What if Everybody Did That.

Stop for questions
Encourage connections between book and
personal experiences
15-20 min Place students in groups for graphic organizing

activity, pass out materials including worksheet and

markers. Provide instructions for activity.

20-35 min Students will be working in groups to create a

graphic organizer with qualities of a good citizen.

35-50 min Each group will present their collective list of good

citizen qualities to the class and there should only be

about 5-6 groups.

50-60 min As a class, we will narrow the lists from each group

to a top five for our classroom. Typically, qualities of

a good citizen include honesty, compassion, respect,

responsibility, courage, etc

60-70 min Students will complete an exit ticket or ending

activity in which they write why it is important to

practice good citizenship.

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Assessment: Students will complete an exit ticket or ending activity in which

they write why it is important to practice good citizenship.

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2LESSON PLAN 2

Name: Emily Epstein

Date: TBD

Subject: Social Studies

Length of Lesson: 45 min

Grade Level: Second

Objective:

Social Studies Standard 2: Students will recognize and practice civic

responsibility in the community, state, and nation.

Objective 1: Examine civic responsibility and demonstrate good

citizenship.

b. Explain the benefits of being a U.S. citizen (responsibilities,

freedoms, opportunities, voting in free elections)

Reading: Informational Text Standard 4: Determine the meaning of words and

phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area.

Language Objectives:

Students will use oral language to communicate with peers, and a great deal of attention

will be spent on the academic vocabulary of the lesson (rights and responsibilities).

ELL Considerations:

Review important vocabulary words.

Consider turning on subtitles for Kid President video.
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Start a class discussion beforehand to address questions.

Have students work with partners and/or groups
Allow students to ask questions throughout the lesson

Prep/Materials:

Rights and Responsibilities Sort

How to Change the World (Kid President): https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=4z7gDsSKUmU
Large Butcher Paper
Markers
Smart Board

Time Lesson Steps

0-7 min Introduce the topic of the day: rights and
responsibilities. Play How to Change the World video
by Kid President to get students excited about
citizenship and engaged in the lesson.

7-17 min Use the Smart Board to write definitions for right and
responsibility, and then ask students for examples.
Students will write these definitions in their Social
Studies notebooks.
Have students think, pair, share their
examples of responsibilities for higher
engagement
17-20 min After making a basic list of examples, explain that

the class will be making their own list of rights and

responsibilities to followed by our classroom

community.
20-35 min Split the large butcher paper into two columns (one
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for rights and one for responsibilities)

Use class input to decide on final terms

If there are disagreements, have students vote
Revisit definitions of rights and responsibilities

often to make sure students are placing each

idea in the right column.

35-45 min Hang up the list in a visible spot in the classroom.

Recite the list with the class and have students

explain why it is important.

Assessment: Students will take out a piece of paper and write down the right

or responsibility that is most important to them and give at least one reason

why. This is a formative assessment.

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3LESSON PLAN 3

Name: Emily Epstein

Date: TBD

Subject: Social Studies

Length of Lesson: 80 min

Grade Level: Second

Objective:

Social Studies Standard 2: Students will recognize and practice civic

responsibility in the community, state, and nation.

Objective 3: Investigate and show how communities, state, and nation

are united by symbols that represent citizenship in our nation.

Reading: Informational Text Standard 5: Know and use various texts features

to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

Writing: Standard 7: Participate in shared research and writing projects.

Writing: Standard 8: Recall information from experiences or gather

information from provided sources to answer a question.

Language Objectives:

Students will make connections between local and federal symbols, as well as new

academic vocabulary including but limited to: city hall, courthouse, mansion, capitol

building, etc.

ELL Considerations:

Review important vocabulary words

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Use grouping strategy

Start a class discussion beforehand to address questions
Have students work with partners and/or groups
Allow students to ask questions throughout the lesson

Prep/Materials:

Virtual Tour of Utah State Capitol: https://utahstatecapitol.utah.gov/virtual-tour

Slideshow of City Hall, Courthouse, Gov. Mansion, Utah Flag, Beehive State Symbol,

and Pioneer Day Celebration

Utah Flag Coloring Page
Colored Paper
Printed Images of slideshow
Short expository text about each landmark/symbol mentioned above

Time Lesson Steps

0-5 min Begin with a lesson introduction by talking about
Federal Gov. symbols and narrowing the focus to
Utah symbols. For example, showing a photo of the
federal capitol building and then showing the Utah
State Capitol building.

5-20 min Review slideshow with photos of Salt Lake City,

Utahs city hall, courthouse, governors
mansion, Utah State Capitol and Utah State
Flag.
Save the Capitol Building for last
20-30 min Take virtual tour of Utah State Capitol Building

online, stopping at student directed points. Read

most important facts in the text provided, showing

that expository text can be summarized. Write these

facts down in a bulleted list.

30-35 min The list created in the previous step will be an

example of the activity students will complete. Split

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students into groups and provide each group with

colored paper and a section of expository text face

down.
35-55 min Each group will be given their own state symbol or

building. For example, a group may be responsible

for city hall. This group will read through their short

informational text about city hall and write down the

most important points on their sheet of paper. They

will use the photo of city hall as a reference point.

Other groups will complete the same activity

with various buildings.

55-75 min Each group will present their information to the class

using the SmartBoard and Doc Cam. They will also

show the class the picture of their building to create

a visual connection.
75-80 min Summarize lesson by having students raise hands

and explain one fact they have learned about the

state of Utah and its symbols.

Assessment: Summarize lesson by having students raise hands and explain

one fact they have learned about the state of Utah and its symbols.
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4LESSON PLAN 4

Name: Emily Epstein

Date: TBD

Subject: Social Studies

Length of Lesson: 65 min

Grade Level: Second

Objective:

Social Studies Standard 2: Students will recognize and practice civic

responsibility in the community, state, and nation.

Objective 3: Investigate and show how communities, state, and nation

are united by symbols that represent citizenship in our nation.

d. Identify and explain the significance of various national

symbols, documents, and landmarks.

Writing: Standard 7: Participate in shared research and writing projects.

Language Objectives:

Students will use oral language to communicate with peers, and a great deal of attention

will be spent on the academic vocabulary of the lesson including national documents

(Declaration of Independence, Constitution).

ELL Considerations:

Review important vocabulary words

Leave ample time for explanations
Start a class discussion beforehand to address questions
Have students work with partners and/or groups
Allow students to ask questions throughout the lesson
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Prep/Materials:

SmartBoard
Declaration of Independence Resource
Bill of Rights Video (Disney) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2CRoVuBz3Q
Constitution Summary
Copy of Bill of Rights for each student

Time Lesson Steps

0-10 min Lesson Introduction: Find out what they already
know about the Declaration of Independence,
Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Create a KWL Chart
or Venn diagram.

10-17 min Display the Declaration of Independence on

the SmartBoard and read excerpts. Talk about
visiting it in Washington, D.C.
17-25 min Explain the purpose of the Constitution and the

history behind it. Briefly review the organization of

the Constitution and the idea of amendments.

Amendment will be an important vocabulary word.

25-35 min Spend the majority of the time on The Bill of Rights.

Revisit knowledge from the rights and

responsibilities lesson. Watch Bill of Rights Disney,

which uses clips from Disney movies to display each

of the Rights in the Bill of Rights.

35-40 min Split students into six groups, with about 4-5

students in each group. Use a grouping strategy to

place students of all levels in various groups. Provide

each group with a copy of the Bill of Rights.

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40-50 min Each group will be assigned one of the 10 rights in

the Bill of Rights and will have to create a skit to

represent it. They will each have 10 minutes to

create and refine their skits.

50-65 min Skits will be presented to the class and will also

count as the assessment for this lesson.

Assessment: Students will create skits based on the Bill of Rights to connect

to the content.
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5LESSON PLAN 5

Name: Emily Epstein

Date: TBD

Subject: Social Studies

Length of Lesson: 55 min

Grade Level: Second

Objective:

Social Studies Standard 2: Students will recognize and practice civic

responsibility in the community, state, and nation.

Objective 3: Investigate and show how communities, state, and nation

are united by symbols that represent citizenship in our nation.

Writing: Standard 7: Participate in shared research and writing projects.

Writing: Standard 8: Recall information from experiences or gather

information from provided sources to answer a question.

Language Objectives:

Students will use academic language that they have used throughout the unit and apply it

to this lesson. Students will also use their language skills in groups and whole class

discussion.

ELL Considerations:

Review important vocabulary words

Leave ample time for explanations
Start a class discussion beforehand to address questions
Have students work with partners and/or groups
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Allow students to ask questions throughout the lesson

Prep/Materials:

SmartBoard
If the World Were a Village: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtYjUv2x65g
Three Column Chart
Markers
Butcher Paper
Smart Board

Time Lesson Steps

0-5 min Ask students to remind the class what we have been
focusing on in Social Studies, revisiting the Bill of
Rights and the state of Utah symbols. Facilitate a
class discussion.

5-10 min Watch the If the World Were a Village video to show
demographics throughout the world and to create perspective.
Debrief the video and take students initial thoughts on it.

10-15 min Explain that as a class we will be creating our own

COUNTRY. How do we want people to live? To treat

each other? What rights should they have? What

responsibilities? What will we name our country? Will

we have a president?
15-20 min Students will have five minutes to brainstorm their

own ideas and write bullet points that they want to

share with the class.

20-23 min Students have the opportunity to discuss their ideas

with the partner they have sitting at their table, and

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to see if any of their ideas match the other students

ideas.

23-45 min A large butcher paper will be displayed in the front of

the classroom and split into three sections:

Citizenship
Quality of Life
Government

As a class we will go through each category, and get

ideas from multiple students. Once we have come to

a consensus about these ideas we will choose a

name for our country.

45-55 min I will explain that as the year goes on and we learn

more, we can add more detail to our country. It is a

lesson that can grow over time. Students will be

encouraged to bring more ideas to class.

Assessment: This will be an informal assessment in which students draw

what our classroom country would look like keeping in mind the 3-column

poster we created. Details should come from the organizer we made as a

class.

Extensions: Students who finish activities in the unit early may complete a

Utah Flag coloring sheet, writing prompt, or volunteer ideas for our

classroom country.
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Unit Closure

To end the unit, we will review all of the qualities of the classroom country

we created. Then, the class will name our country. Once our country is

named, each student will create an illustration of what our classroom country

looks like and will also keep in mind the values we addressed. I will put all of

the students illustrations together to create a mural that represents the

community building in our classroom and the variety of perspectives we

have. If a student would rather write than draw, he/she can write a poem

relating to our country and present it to the class. Students who do not feel

comfortable sharing will not have to share with the whole class, but will be

encouraged to share with a peer.

Assessment

For the summative assessment, students will write about our classroom

country using the drawing they created in the previous lesson. This writing

should be informational. Students will be expected to touch on points from

each section of our notes: citizenship, quality of life, and government. Since

it is second grade I am not expecting a lengthy writing piece, but enough

that I can see my students understand rights, responsibilities, and symbols

that represent a nation. After reading these pieces I will be able to tell if the

students grasped these Social Studies standards.

 Bibliography

Bill of Rights Disney [Video file]. (2013, April 02). In Youtube. Retrieved November 19, 2016.

Hopkins, G. (2015). Education World: Professional Development. Retrieved November 20,

2016, from http://www.educationworld.com

How to Change the World (A work in progress) [Video file]. (2013, December 19). In Youtube.

Retrieved November 19, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z7gDsSKUmU

If the World Were a Village of 100 People [Video file]. (2010, May 17). In YouTube. Retrieved

November 19, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtYjUv2x65g

Utah State Capitol Virtual Tour. (2016). Retrieved November 20, 2016, from

https://utahstatecapitol.utah.gov/virtual-tour