Rules and Responsibilities: An Alien Approach to Law

Rules and Responsibilities: An Alien Approach to Law

Katherine Zuzula
Elementary School Teacher
Richmond, Kentucky
89003

INTRODUCTION: This unit is designed to create an awareness of the importance of laws and rules in our society. It consists of ten activities to be used with elementary school children, grades one through four.

The activities focus on the language arts approach for vocabulary development and creative writing. Creative expression is encouraged through listening, speaking, writing and drawing activities. Each activity requires 30 - 45 minutes for completion, but may be modified to accommodate the various grade levels.

The students are introduced to a creature from another planet who does not understand what laws are and why they are necessary. It is the task of the students, through the language arts activities, to ac- quaint the creature with the importance of laws. An emphasis on home, school and community rules is stressed. The characteristics of good citizens are discussed.

The following activities are included in this unit:

1. Introduction of the Creature
2. Home for ALIEN
3. What is a law? Do We Need Laws?
4. ALIEN Develops a New Vocabulary
5. Classroom Rules
6. Home Rules
7. Community Rules
8. Funny Law Day
9. A Silhouette of a Good Citizen
10. Farewell to ALIEN

ACTIVITY 1: Introduction of the Creature

PURPOSE:

To introduce a creature from another planet
To introduce new vocabulary words
To classify words into categories
To name the creature

MATERIALS: "A creature," word cards, a nametag, tape, chart paper

PROCEDURE:

1. A strange creature arrived in our classroom last night.

Why do you think it came to our earth?
What do you think it can learn from us?
How are we going to communicate with it?
What can we do to make it feel welcome?

2. On a sheet of paper have the following narrative written: A creature from another planet has arrived in our classroom. It comes from an environment which is chaotic and disorderly. The creature wants to observe us so that it may learn how harmony and order is achieved on our planet earth. It wants to be a friend, not an enemy to us. The creature is anxious to learn about laws, how they influence our behavior and why they are necessary.

3. Write the underlined words from the above story on cards. (chaotic, disorderly, harmony, order, friend, enemy, laws, behavior, necessary)

4. Discuss the meanings of the words.

5. The words on cards are to be classified into two categories.

6. On the chalkboard are two faces. Under the smiley face we will put the words which describe positive interaction between people and under the sad face we will put words which describe negative interaction.

7. The student participates by saying the words on the cards and by putting them under the correct heading on the board.

8. Our creature wants a name to be used while it is on earth. He wants to learn about laws and he requests that we give him a name which will describe the process of learning about laws.

9. The teacher introduces the name ALIEN and the word which each beginning letter represents.

A pply
L earn
I nvestigate Laws! Laws! Laws!
E valuate
N eed 10. The word ALIEN is written on a nametag and given to the creature. ACTIVITY 2: Home for ALIEN

PURPOSE:

To construct a learning center as a home for ALIEN
To create an awareness of law-related topics discussed in newspapers, magazines and the media.

MATERIALS: A table, bulletin board, wall space, drawing pa- per, crayons, construction paper, scissors, glue, yarn.

PROCEDURE:

1. This is the second day that ALIEN is with us. He has decided that he would like to have a home in our classroom, so that he could stay on earth for a while.

2. An area with a table and with bulletin board space is to be considered as a home for ALIEN. Space should be provided to display students' creations and for law-related articles which the students will bring in.

3. The students are given a piece of drawing paper, scissors and art supplies to create a "Welcome" sign for ALIEN to hang in his new home.

4. The students are encouraged to decorate ALIEN's home with books, magazine and newspaper articles dealing with law related topics and any other type of stimuli which will develop an interest in law related education.

ACTIVITY 3: What is a Law? Do We Need Laws?

PURPOSE:

To define what a law is
To discuss why laws are necessary
To discuss what a society without laws would be like
To classify pictures

MATERIALS: Chart paper, markers, drawing paper, crayons, tape

PROCEDURE:

1. ALIEN has never heard the word law before. He wants us to explain to him what a law is.

2. Raise your hand and tell me what you think a law is.

3. Teacher writes students' responses on a piece of chart paper titled: A law is …

4. Now ALIEN wants to know why laws are so important in our society i.e. home, school, community.

5. On the second sheet of paper the teacher writes the students' responses to: Laws are important because ...

6. ALIEN wants us to describe what we think earth would be like without laws.

7. On the third sheet of chart paper the teacher writes the students' responses to: What if there were no laws?

8. The students are given a piece of drawing paper and instructed to draw a picture depicting a situation where a law is being obeyed or disobeyed.

9. The pictures are then given to ALIEN.

10. The teacher states: ALIEN is not familiar enough yet with the concept of whether or not a law is being obeyed or disobeyed just from looking at your pictures. He needs your help. Please raise your hand and describe your picture to ALIEN and the class. If your picture describes a law being obeyed, put it on the board under the smiley face. If a law is being disobeyed, put it under the sad face.

11. The pictures are displayed in the learning center.

ACTIVITY 4: ALIEN Develops a New Vocabulary

PURPOSE:

To develop vocabulary

MATERIALS: Word cards, sentence strips

PROCEDURE:

1. ALIEN would like to learn some new words to take back to his planet. He would like us to introduce some new words to him and use them in a sentence to be sure that he really understands the meaning of them.

2. The teacher has the following words written on cards: laws, rules, responsibility, safety, rights, protection authority, power, justice.

3. The words are identified and discussed.

4. Sentences with a blank space or two are written on strips for the students to read.

5. The students are instructed to read the sentence, choose a word card off the board and fill in the blank space in the sentence.

6. Examples of sentences are:

a. (Laws) are necessary so that we will have order in our society.

b. We have (rules) to follow at home, school and in our community.

c. It is our (responsibility) to obey laws and rules.

d. As citizens of the United States, our (rights) are protected by laws.

e. Laws provide (protection) for us and our property.

f. Our (safety) is insured if laws are obeyed.

g. (Justice) is provided for all by the development of laws.

h. Lawmakers have the (power) and authority to design laws which will provide a peaceful environment for us.

7. ALIEN is so happy that we shared some new words with him.

8. If the student correctly fills in the blank and reads the sentence properly, he will give the sentence strip to ALIEN.

9. ALIEN will keep the sentence in his home so that he may look them over. In our free time we may go to ALIEN's home and review the sentences with him.

ACTIVITY 5: Classroom Rules

PURPOSE:

To develop classroom rules

MATERIALS: Chart paper, markers

PROCEDURE:

1. ALIEN is very impressed by our orderly classroom. He says that creatures on his planet could be good students if they had classroom rules to follow like we do. He wants us to show him how classroom rules are developed and what happens if classroom rules are not followed. He wants to take a copy of our classroom rules back to his planet with him.

2. The students develop classroom rules which are dictated to the teacher and written on a large sheet of chart paper.

3. On a second sheet of paper, the consequences for inappropriate behavior are listed.

ACTIVITY 6: Home Rules

PURPOSE:

To discuss rules which are followed at home

MATERIALS: Construction paper houses, crayons

PROCEDURE:

1. Since ALIEN cannot visit each one of our homes, he would like each one of us to share one very important rule which we follow at home. Because he has a limited vocabulary, he would like us to complete this sentence by drawing a picture: "An important rule which I must follow at home is . . . ".

2. The teacher writes the sentence starter on the board.

3. The teacher then writes the response of each child on the top of the drawing on their paper house.

4. The drawings are stapled together to form a booklet with the sentence starter as the title of the book. "An important rule which I must follow at home is . . .

5. The book is given to ALIEN to look at.

6. The classroom rules are shared with ALIEN.

7. ALIEN hangs the classroom rules in his home.

ACTIVITY 7: Community Rules

PURPOSE:

To provide a guest speaker to discuss city laws and their importance To utilize a community resource person
To provide media coverage (a newspaper article and a picture) about the guest speaker and the importance of law-related education in elementary classroom.

MATERIALS: A guest speaker such as a judge, attorney, state representative

PROCEDURE:

1. ALIEN wonders who is responsible for making laws and representing the people in your community. For that reason, we have a very special guest speaker who will speak to you and ALIEN about laws, how they are made and the consequences for people who disobey laws.

2. ALIEN is introduced to the guest speaker.

3. A question and answer period follows the guest speaker.

4. The class writes an article about the guest speaker to be submitted to the city newspaper and the school newspaper.

ACTIVITY 8: Funny Law Day

PURPOSE:

Creative Expression

PROCEDURE:

1. ALIEN thinks that it would be a fun experience to be a lawmaker. ALIEN wants to know what kind of a new law you would create for your home, school or community if you had the authority to do so.

We will divide the class into three groups. The first group will create five new school laws (rules), the second group will create five new home rules and the third group will create five new laws (rules) to be followed in the community. The laws may be funny or serious in nature.

2.The five new laws from each category are each written on a piece of chart paper.

3. After the laws on each sheet of chart paper are discussed with the students, they are given the opportunity to vote on two laws from each category (home, school, community).

4. The two laws from each category that receive the most votes are the new laws to be enacted for a day.

5. A day may be determined as "Funny Law Day" in the classroom where the children will be expected to obey the two new laws which they created for the classroom. Examples: Everyone must wear yellow clothing on Wednesday. Every student must address each other by Miss or Mrs. on Friday.

ACTIVITY 9: A Silhouette of a Good Citizen

PURPOSE:

To discuss the characteristics of a good citizen
To discuss the responsibilities of a law abiding
To stress the important role that each of us plays in maintaining an orderly society.

MATERIALS: A silhouette of each child, writing paper cut in the shape of each silhouette, pencils, paper frames

PROCEDURE: 1. ALIEN wants to take back a remembrance of each one of you in the class. Since he does not have a camera, we will give him a silhouette of our profile to remember us by.

2. With our silhouette we will include a composition of how we think a good citizen behaves. He wants to use our writings as a model of what a good citizen is with the students on his planet.

3. We will each compose a story to be written on our silhouette.

4. The story starter will be: "A model citizen..."

5. After we complete our composition, we will read them aloud to ALIEN and the class.

6. We will put each of the silhouettes with the stories in a frame and give them to ALIEN to take back with him to his planet.

ACTIVITY 10: To Bid Farewell to ALIEN

MATERIALS: Drawing paper, crayons

PROCEDURE: Today ALIEN is leaving us to return back to his planet. He has learned so much about laws and good citizenship from each and every one of you. He would like each of you to make a poster for him to take back with him to share with the other creatures on his planet. He wants you to make a slogan using the word Law or Laws in it. You are then to draw a picture illustrating your slogan. ALIEN will hang these posters up in his home and take them back with him when he departs.