What Makes a Good Citizen? Citizenship for Kids

Good citizens are actively involved in their community and the betterment of their fellow citizens. They take pride in where they live and strive to make it a better place. We all want to be known as good citizens, and with some thought and effort, anyone can be one.

In the classroom, good citizenship starts on the first day of school. Teaching those concepts, talking about what it takes to be a good citizen, and practicing those skills often happens organically. Still, there are times when you also need good citizenship lesson plans for a bit of direct instruction. 

This product is designed to teach elementary students the importance of being a good citizen and showing good citizenship. For this activity, students will

• Take turns choosing a card, reading the scenario, and acting it out.
• Determine if the citizen in the scenario is making a good or poor choice
• Record their answer on the recording sheet by writing “yes” for a good choice and “no” for a poor choice.

We’ve also created an upper level option for this activity as well. Using this format, students will pull a card, then write a full script for the scenario described, and then act it out for the class.

This product includes 

• 20 story scenario cards  featuring characters showing bad citizenship
• 2 recording sheetsdoe different age groups of learners.

Citizenship Lesson Plans – Elementary Application

A team of dedicated, experienced educators created this resource to support your Citizenship lesson plans.

In addition to individual student work time, use this activity to enhance learning through guided counseling groups, whole class lessons, or remote learning assignments. 

If you have a mixture of above and below-level learners, check out these suggestions for keeping students on track with the concepts: 

🆘 Support Struggling Students

Help students who need help understanding the concepts by

• Reading the text aloud, discussing the scenario, and having students verbally retell the story.
• Provide sentence frames to complete the task.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

• Encourage fast finishers to extend their learning by reading books about good citizens in history or writing their own stories showing good citizens.

👋 Exit Ticket 

Use these cards as a formative assessment after your lesson. Pick a random assortment of cards and project them on the board for the whole class to see. Students can record their answers on paper, sticky notes, or in notebooks. 

Plan lessons for all ability levels with our 10 Best Scaffolding Strategies! 

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the Color or Blackline version of this resource.

Print on cardstock for added durability and longevity. Place all pieces in a folder or large envelope for easy access. 

To keep the cards out of pockets or under desks, punch a hole in each corner to place them on a binder ring. 

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and Teach Starter Collaborator.

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more activities and resources that cut down on lesson planning time:  

teaching resource Managing Anger Scenario Cards Explore ways to manage anger in a variety of real-life situations with this set of 16 scenario cards. teaching resource Rule or Law? SCOOT Activity Differentiate between rules and laws with a free game of Rule or Law Scoot! teaching resource Calming Strategies A-Z Poster Help students find coping methods with our classroom display poster highlighting 26 effective strategies for handling intense emotions.