Lake Forest Third Graders Explore Citizenship

The information below comes from Lake Forest Elementary School District 67.

What does it mean to be a citizen?  

Third graders at Everett School have been exploring this topic in their Information Literacy Class with Ms. Susie Oh.  

Citizenship is an embedded theme woven in the third grade curriculum this year. Using Google Docs, students brainstormed what citizenship means to them and explored ways to display citizenship in their everyday lives.  They worked in collaborative groups to create a product that shows what they can do to help make our community a better place.  Some groups made a video using iMovie with an iPad while others made an online poster with Glogster.  There were other groups that created their own songs and poems about citizenship as well.  

To get a deeper understanding of citizenship, students are now researching what it means to be a global citizen.  In order to have a better grasp of this and to have a discussion with someone who exemplifies characteristics of a global citizen, Ms. Oh contacted Erik Winkler. Erik is a Programming and Training Specialist with the Peace Corps in Barranquilla, Colombia.  A graduate of Lake Forest High School, Erik was first interested in the Peace Corps after finishing college and got a teaching position in Nicaragua.  He was asked by the Peace Corps to return to share his services in Colombia and now trains volunteers who come through the Peace Corps.  

The goal is to help our third graders have a richer understanding of the world around them and to appreciate a different culture and its people.  

There had special Skype session with Erik on Tuesday, March 19 in the Information Learning Center at Everett School.