Fun citizenship project

So my school is in the process of becoming authorized as an IB PYP school. If your saying "HUNH?" right now, PYP stands for Primary Years Programme. And basically it means we have a global focus to our teaching, technically we shouldn't have block scheduling (although our county requires it so we have to get a little creative), and standardized testing doesn't exist (these PYP people are in lala land because we definitely give those tests). Anywhoo, this is a project I incoporate into my citizenship unit that gets the kids to think about giving back to their community, and puts their lifestyle into perspective as far as availability of free education, clean water, and general good health goes. I start by reading this book:

I got it from the Scholastic book fair last year and it is perfect because it is written and illustrated by a class of students in Missouri. Each page discusses the students' dream for our world (ex. everyone can go to school) and gives facts related to that dream. It also then tells the students what they can do to help make that dream come true. After reading the book, I have the students brainstorm their own dreams for our world. They choose one, and create their own page to add to the book. Here are a few examples:

 Because it is early in the year when I do this, I don't have them add in the research piece, but I'm thinking about saving the projects for the end of the year and having them then add some research and a "what you can do to help" section. Not sure about that yet.

In other news, I sat in on an interview this week for a new second grade teacher and we had success! I felt really good about her interview and took her to meet the team and take a tour of the school afterwards. She accepted the position and will start at school on Monday! Yay!