What Do Good Citizens Do? 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. However, there are additional, specific roles and responsibilities that need to be met by citizens of the United States. 

This product is designed to teach elementary students the roles and responsibilities of good citizens. For this activity, students will read different scenarios and write to show how that person or persons is exhibiting good citizenship.

This product includes a 7-flap flip book template highlighting the different citizenship responsibilities, including

• Voting
• Obeying Laws
• Showing Respect
• Volunteering
• Being Honest
• Being Fair
• Being Responsible

Responsibilities of Citizens – Upper Elementary 

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.

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 PDF or Google Slides version of this resource.

Print the flip books as a single-sided packet and staple them together for easier distribution. Students will take apart and cut out each flap before assembling their books.

This resource was created by Beth Hindi, a teacher in Texas and Teach Starter collaborator.