• Good citizenship will make for a classroom full of great children.kids image by Marzanna Syncerz from Fotolia.com
  
  Citizenship is a theme that teachers can focus on to underscore the importance of treating others well. Teachers can provide hands-on activities to help the students gain a better understanding of the various components of citizenship: honesty, courage, responsibility, compassion and respect. Preparation and a few supplies are all you need to get students of varying age groups thinking about good citizenship.
  
  

Share a Story

• Tell the students you want them each to share a story about one of the five themes of citizenship (honesty, courage, responsibility, compassion and respect). The story needs to involve something that once happened to them, such as a time they told the truth and it was hard or a story about being brave. Student have 15 minutes to think of the story to share and write down their thoughts. The students must come to the front of the class or stand up at their desk to share their story. After each student shares, have a group discussion about the five themes and discuss why each one is important. This activity is perfect for younger students. For older students, you might put them into groups of four or five for a role-playing activity. Assign each group a theme and give them 15 to 30 minutes to create a skit about the theme.
  
  

Picture Collage

• Give each student a magazine, pencil, glue, construction paper and crayons. The student must find pictures in the magazine of people showing good citizenship, such as someone helping an elderly person cross a street or the picture of a child sharing a toy. Older students can cut the pictures out and glue them to the construction paper. Allow the students at least 30 minutes to gather their pictures and thoughts. Let each student explain one of the pictures and open it up for a discussion with the class.
  
  

Responsibility Activity

• Older students can participate in a responsibility activity by thinking of things they do that represent responsibility, compassion or respect. For example, offering to pump an elderly person's gas at the gas station. Tell the students to think of things they have done, or could do, to show their responsibility. Everyone needs at least three items under the list. Younger students might make a list of responsible choices they made that day at school. Have a group discussion about responsibility and what is expected from each student on a daily basis.