Forming the Foundation of Government in the Classroom, School, and Community
Session 2: Our Rights and Responsibilities

Materials

• Chart paper, markers

Instructional Activities

1. Briefly review the session “The Importance of Rules.”
   
   
2. Discuss what rights the students have in the classroom. Make a list of rights for the classroom, and entitle it Our Bill of Rights.
   
   
3. Discuss our how in our community, people have rights or freedoms, such as the right to choose jobs or the freedom to attend a church. List a citizen’s rights on a T-chart.
   
   

   Rights	Responsibilities

   
   
   
4. Explain that with these rights/freedoms come responsibilities. In other words, people need to respect other people’s rights/freedoms in society just like in the classroom. People have the responsibilities of taking care of themselves, respecting other people’s rights, and obeying the laws in our community just like in the classroom. On the other side of the T-Chart, write the corresponding responsibilities for each right/freedom.
   
   
5. Explain to students that outside of school in our community, rules are called laws. They are very similar to rules, except that rules may vary from school to school or home to home, but all United States citizens have to follow the same laws. The laws protect our rights/freedoms that we have as U.S. citizens. For example, discuss the law that says people may not take things that belong to other people (stealing). This law protects our property. People have a responsibility as citizens to follow that law and respect other people’s property—not steal it.
   
   
6. For homework, ask students to write down three laws that people must follow within their community.