Civics in the Classroom: Citizenship Challenge Elementary Education Guide

TAKE THE CITIZENSHIP CHALLENGE WITH YOUR STUDENTS To become a Canadian citizen, newcomers to the country must pass a citizenship test. Newcomers need a score of at least 75% to pass the test. Historica Canada has created the Citizenship Challenge quiz so you can test your knowledge about the country and find out if you would pass the real citizenship test! ACTIVITY 6: PREPARING YOUR STUDENTS FOR THE CITIZENSHIP CHALLENGE 1. Learn more about key topics in civics education as a class. Dedicate one week to each of the key topics from the list below. That topic becomes the theme for that week. The teacher can offer mini lessons on the weekly topic, or direct students to online resources so they can conduct their own investigations. • Symbols of Canada • The Rights and Responsibilities of Canadian Citizenship • How Canadians Govern Themselves • Canadian Geography • Canadian History • Who Are Canadians? (e.g., Indigenous peoples, French Canadians, later immigrants to Canada) 2. As a class, recap what you’ve learned about the weekly theme at the end of each week. Have the teacher write down key points about the theme on chart paper that can be posted in the classroom. 3. Test what you’ve learned by taking the Citizenship Challenge! 3. Next, develop a plan to better protect and/or rehabilitate the chosen community space. The plan should include clear ideas (e.g., better signage) and a plan of action that could be forwarded to a city councillor for feedback and possible implementation. You may want to work in collaboration with your teacher to develop an action plan. See below for an example. 4. Does your plan of action work toward any of the UN Sustainable Development Goals? Which goals does it help and in which ways does it help them? EXTENSION: ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP Helping protect Canada’s natural environment is one way you can be an active citizen, but there are many others. Change in your school or community might come from governments, but it can also come from people just like you, doing things within the school or community. As a class, come up with a list of 7 to 10 things you can do to make your school or community a better place (e.g., creating a new group in your school, writing a blog, petitions). TEA Register your classroom for the Citizenship Challenge. Select the elementary (grades 4–6) level quiz, and have your students take the 20-question Challenge online. You can administer the Challenge and check your students’ scores from your teacher account. Visit www. citizenshipchallenge.ca to register your class. EXTENSION: EXPLORING MORE CANADIAN CIVICS After taking the Citizenship Challenge, consider where you lacked knowledge. Undertake your own mini-inquiries to learn more about the questions from the Challenge that you weren’t sure about. The teacher can help by directing students to appropriate resources. 8 ACTIVITY 5 CONTINUED Canada Day on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Canada (Dreamstime/Wangkun Jia/20297613). Happy Canada Day and the Flag (Dreamstime/Juan Moyano/72989886). Issue: Goal: Trash on the green space in front of our school Clean up the trash and encourage people to stop littering Write to the principal and school board, asking them to place more garbage and recycling bins in front of the school Create “no littering” signs and put them up in front of the school Create a “Greener is cleaner” campaign and encourage people to take the initiative to keep the shared space clean Organize a weekly clean-up of the space: • Choose one day a week to go out for 30 minutes as a class • Ask your school custodian for garbage bags and plastic gloves • Have your teacher supervise your class during your clean-up • Break into teams and see who can clean up the most trash in 30 minutes Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: