G5 English- The Idea of Rights in Different Ways

Grade 5 students are quickly coming to an end of their How We Organize Ourselves unit. During this unit, students have been guided by the central idea: “As active citizens in society, we understand social norms and laws and live together in harmony within local and global context”. This started with defining important terms, including citizens, society, norms, and rights. We explored the idea of rights in different ways such as animal rights, human rights and student rights.

Students have been finishing the novel Number the Stars, a historical fiction story where Jews in World War 2 were having their rights taken away by Nazi Germany. Students developed their reading skills and habits by practicing related vocabulary, annotating and responding to a variety of questions related to the novel and its themes.

In addition, students have been spending a great deal of class time preparing for organized debates, their unit summative. As a class, we looked closely at the purpose and structure of debates, and assigned topics and roles for every student. Sample topics have been those such as, “Animal testing should be banned” and “Grade 5 students should be able to bring technology to the classroom”. This has been a challenging yet rewarding experience, as students work on a variety of self-management, research and social skills.