Home-school student, Paula, shares some of her 

Citizen of Humanity Project

Lesson Two: What are needs and wants? Reference: Thinking Global: Global Perspectives in the Lower Primary classroom By Rebecca Reid-Nguyen. Overview: This activity helps students come to an understanding about the things all people must have in order to be healthy and safe, and the non-essential things or wants. Material: Large pieces of paper and pens Suggested activities: Brainstorm the things people needs in order to grow up healthy and safe. List them on the board or large piece of paper Discuss the difference between needs and wants. Needs are the things that we have to have and not having them will affect how we grow and live. Wants are the things that are nice to have but we can still be healthy and safe without them. Decide which items on the list are needs and which are wants. Try ranking the needs and wants from the most important to the least important Make a display of needs using the heading “ All people need….” Illustrate with pictures or a collage. Look at the United Nations list of the Rights of the Child and compare the class list to these. The UNICEF site is a good one with pictorial explanation of the Rights. Further lesson ideas can be found in Thinking Global: Global Perspectives in the Lower Primary Classroom pp. 124-28. Lesson Four: I am , you are, we are. Last night we did an activity about racism. We used potatoes. Mum’s potato person was called Eric. Ben’s potato person was called Xavier. My potato person was called Boof. Boof is sort of an oval shape. He had 2 eyes, 1 nose, a mouth and 2 ears. When he was born he had a lot of birth marks and freckles. On his 3rd birthday somebody shoved a vacuum cleaner plug in his ear and it made him have a long line dimple. He couldn’t pull it out because he had no limbs. He is now 4 and healthy. I will not let mum and dad cook him for tea. I learned to not judge a book by its cover. You should get to know someone and find out everyone is different. Lesson Five: Groups I Belong to. Big Wig Theatre Group White Skinned People               Home Schooled Kids            Australian Citizen Girls     The Lindisfarne Sailing Club                     Right Handed People Lesson Six: Fairness and Harmony. Explore scenarios 1: The class has been given a geography test. Kim has been given 10 minutes extra and is allowed to use a dictionary. Kim has recently arrived in Australia and has difficulty speaking, reading and writing in English. About the geography test I reckon it is FAIR that the teachers are letting Kim have 10 minutes extra and is allowed to use the dictionary. I reckon it’s FAIR because he/she hasn’t been in Australia very long and they need more time to figure out what the words mean and still find them in the dictionary. 2: The teacher lets Robert, who is on crutches, leave the class and go to lunch 10 minutes before any other students. It’s FAIR that the teacher lets Robert leave 10 minutes before everyone else. He’s on crutches and people should be more nice and caring towards him. The school maybe big and might be stairs so be FAIR people and let him go 10 minutes earlier. 3: The school has introduced a new school policy. Under no circumstances are students allowed to wear hats or any head gear in the classroom. It’s FAIR that no child(ren) should wear head gear unless a parent or guardian says they can wear them. If they have a religious or cancer related excuse from wearing a piece of head gear then let them. Their are NO rights when people say “NO” to religious people and their outfits just because they are different or a school says “NO” because that is racism. Lesson Eight: Human Rights in the News. My mummy and I looked through some newspapers from past weeks. We looked for stories, ads, etc about HUMAN RIGHTS. We found articles about war, African orphans, poverty and cultural meetings.  We found a story that shows how people are affected when their rights, or others, are ignored. The stories told us about Jewish people are being treated in an awful manner. Everyone should be free and equal, they should be allowed to be any religion and they should not be treated wrong. Lesson Nine: Bill of Rights. 1: Every person is equal. Treat people the way you would want to be treated. 2: Everyone has the right to be safe. Use commonsense. Do not endanger yourself or others. 3: Everyone has the right to respect. Nobody should be made fun of. 4: Everyone has the right to democratic justice. Differences will be sorted out by the family. 5: Everyone has the right to make choices about their education and what they study. 6: Everyone shares duties and responsibilities. 7: Everyone has the right to privacy. 8: Everyone has the right to be heard. Listen, pay attention, acknowledge.