Grade 4-5

What are the learning goals?

The learning outcomes of the workshop at the grade 4 & 5 levels are to have children:

1. Understand the meaning behind the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child (UNCRC) and World Children’s Day, focusing on the right to be healthy,
safe, heard and be myself. They will explore how children’s rights are respected
in Canada and around the world.
2. Discuss ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ and how they relate to ‘rights’.
3. Explore what the words ‘rights’ and ‘responsibility’ mean, how they are related to
child rights and identify the people who are responsible for child rights.
4. Advocate for children’s rights and activate children’s expression through their
ideas/drawings/messages about what rights are important to them – and to
share them with important people responsible for their rights

Learning about child rights meets several BC Curriculum Connections for grade 4 and grade 5 (Source: UNICEF).

List of Activities:

Activity 1: Needs & Rights at Home (Create a Bulletin Board or Wall)
Activity 2: We are all born free
Activity 3: A child’s rights and wants
Activity 4 COVID & Me
Activity 5: The Arch of Rights – Hands Across Rights and Responsibilities
Activity 6: Just a Kid – Kids Demanding their Rights
Activity 7: Rights Radio
Activity 8: Child Rights Photo Exhibition
Activity 9: Write a Postcard to the Mayor
Activity 10: Child Rights Leadership Cards

Activity 11: Become a Researcher

Materials you need:

Child rights activities

There are overwhelming numbers of great resources from different agencies in Canada and around the world. Here are a few suggested activities that might work for your students based on each learning goal listed above. We encourage you to choose the ones that will work best in your classroom and with your students.

Quick energizer – Children’s rights word cloud

  • Ask students to come up with as many words as they can about children’s rights
    and the rights they think children have. Add these words to an online Word Cloud
    Generator (e.g. worditout.com; wordle.net or wordclouds.com) and project
    it while it creates your Word Cloud.

Learning Outcome 1 – Understand the right to be healthy, safe, heard and be
myself.

Key Activities:

Activity 1: Needs & Rights at Home (Create a Bulletin Board or Wall)
Activity 2: We are all born free

Learning Outcome 2: Discuss wants, needs, and rights.

Share key points (foundational knowledge) about child rights, the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child, and how we can come together to celebrate
World Children’s Day in our class. Hang a copy of the Child Friendly Poster on the
UNCRC on the wall to remind students about their rights.

An easy way to think about Child Rights is to say and act out the ‘4 Bs’: “All
children have the right to:”

  • Be Healthy >> Action: Strong arms
  • Be Safe >> Action: Hug yourself
  • Be Heard >> Action: Hand over ears
  • Be Yourself >> Action: Thumb pointing to yourself

Check out this demonstration video.

Key Activities:

Activity 3: A child’s rights and wants
Activity 4 COVID & Me

Learning Outcome 3: Explore rights and responsibilities

Key Activities:

Activity 5: The Arch of Rights – Hands Across Rights and Responsibilities

Learning Goal 4: Advocating and expressing my ideas and exploring what rights look like in different places

Key Activities:

Activity 6: Just a Kid – Kids Demanding their Rights
Activity 7: Rights Radio
Activity 8: Child Rights Photo Exhibition
Activity 9: Write a Postcard to the Mayor
Activity 10: Child Rights Leadership Cards

Activity 11: Become a Researcher

This outline is also available in Arabic – Grade 4 & 5 Arabic