ACTIVITY TWO

This activity is a nice activity to use at the start of the school year. It can be drawn out over several days.

Purpose

The purpose of this activity is to have students appreciate the importance of rules and laws within a society and to recognize the process by which these laws are created and implemented.

Materials

A Carp for Kimiko by Virginia Kroll
The Rules and Laws I Follow handout
Could It Really Be A Law? Handout
Vocabulary Match handout
Visual aid bulletin board
The Allen Parker Slave Narrative (excerpt from Chapter 2

Procedures

1. Read the book A Carp for Kimiko by Virginia Kroll aloud to the students.

2. Lead the students in a discussion focusing on building and activating prior knowledge about rules and laws. Use this book as reference. Talk about the kite rule Kimiko has to face on Children's Day in Japan. Get student feedback on whether or not they think i'šs fair and why or why not. Talk about consequences for breaking rules.

3. Read an excerpt from The Allen Parker Slave Narrative (Chapter 2).
(Tell students this is a continuation of the excerpt read during Activity 1.)

"If the 'Pattie Rollers' (the men who patrolled the roads) caught him before he reached the home plantation, he would be tied to the nearest tree, what few clothes he had on would be taken off, and he would be given thirty-nine lashes on his bare back."

4. Point out that if slaves ran away, they were breaking the law. Discuss the consequences slaves faced for breaking this law. Ask whether or not they think such a punishment is fair and if not, ask what type of punishment may be considered fair for breaking such a rule. Do we still punish people for breaking rules with a whip? Why not? What are the consequences for breaking rules today?

5. This topic opens up opportunities to go into philosophical discussions about rules and laws as well. Was Allen Parker wrong to run away? Is it ever OK to break rules? If so, when? Why is it OK to break rules sometimes and not others? How do you know when it is OK to break rules?

6. Pass out The Rules and Laws I Follow handout. Have the students classify the responses in one of three categories ­ School Rules, Home Rules, and Society Rules.

7. Put students in groups. Let them look at some old and current laws for your county. Give them time to write down a couple that they think are outdated and a couple that are still valid today. Have the class share their findings.

8. Lead class discussion focusing on the importance laws and rules to govern.

9. Put the children into groups of two or three. Be sure to place a good reader in each group. Give each group a newspaper. Have them scan the newspaper for instances that rules were broken and what the consequences were for breaking the rules.

10. Discuss the idea that obeying rules is a responsibility of a good citizen. Let children lead by allowing them to give examples of how the earth might look or how people might act if there were no rules. Point out how rules can help or hurt individuals.