Last updated: June 29, 2015
Lesson Plan
Fair is Fair! Lesson Plan
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- Grade Level:
- Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade
- Subject:
- Literacy and Language Arts
- Lesson Duration:
- 30 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 1.SL.1, 1.SL.1.a, 2.SL.2
- Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words.
Objective
Students will identify ways to treat others fairly.
Students will practice kindness by saying "please" and "thank you."
Students will apply concepts of fairness by sharing material to make Allen the Eagle puppet.
Background
Abstract legal concepts of segregation and Brown v. Board of Education to lower level elementary students are hard to teach. However, young elementary students understand the concept of fairness. Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site created “Fair is Fair!” to teach Pre-Kindergarten to Second grade students about the U.S. Supreme Court case that ended segregation in public schools by using concrete examples of fairness.
In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education to end segregation in public schools. The decision over turned almost 60 years of legal precedent that allowed segregation to be practiced across the nation. Brown v. Board of Education established a new legal precedent that created more inclusive classrooms and opened the doorway to the Civil Rights Movement.
Preparation
- Print out copies of Allen the Eagle document
- Prepare projector, computer, etc for students to view "Fair is Fair!" YouTube video.
- Create discussion board or anchor chart to record student answers or to present guiding questions (optional)
- Craft supplies suggested: glue, scissors, feathers, crayons, or markers
Materials
Use to make a copy for each student on card stock paper, if possible.
Lesson Hook/Preview
Fair is Fair! Video
https://www.nps.gov/brvb/learn/education/classrooms/educationvideos.htm
Procedure
Step 1: Play Fair is Fair video (12 minutes)
Step 2: Discuss the video. Allow students to describe the main ideas of the story and identify why being fair is important. Some possible issues to address are:
- What does it mean to be fair?
- How can you show fairness? (Give examples of fairness.)
- What happens when rules are unfair?
- Have you been treated unfairly? How did you feel?
- What does "segregation" mean? Why is it unfair?
- Why does the National Park Service remember the Supreme Court case that ended segregation?
- How does being polite and saying nice words to others help make things fairer?
Step 3: Hand out copies of the Allen the Eagle puppet to each student. Provide students with scissors and cut out the Allen the Eagle puppet, but only provide and handful of scissors to force the students to practice kindness and fairness by sharing and saying "please" and "thank you." Students will have to share other supplies, such as markers, colored pencils, crayons, and other craft decorations to create their own unique Allen the Eagle puppet. Students will demonstrate concepts of fairness by sharing material and saying "please" and "thank you."
Vocabulary
U.S. Supreme Court
fair/fairness
segregation