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Fifth Grade

"I think community means a friendly neighborhood that every one knows each other and are friends."

"I think a community is all the people that live in a town and work together. They all have jobs so they can help their family and their city to survive."

"I think a community is a group of people working together like Portland is a community."

This is the year that many students study how our country was built, our government and civic virtue. Other great ideas for this grade are:

What does it mean to be a citizen
Buddy system
New school buddy
Peer mediator
Safety patrol
Volunteering in and out of the classroom and school

Fifth graders at Lewis Elementary School in Portland, OR learn about the principles of civic virture and are challenged to demonstrate acts of civic virtue. Civic virtue is the idea that citizens must help one another. The following packet is distributed to the students to help guide them in this process. When students participate in an act of civic virtue, such as volunteering at the local animal shelter, then they fill out a "Civic Virtue" form and share it. The class celebrates one another's acts of kindness.

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade is a typical grade to begin really looking at other countries more in-depth. Make current affairs a part of this study. Continue to focus on building a classroom and school community. Continue looking at various activists, ideas of human rights, and how people make a difference in our world, our country, our state, our town and our school.

Other ideas for your school:

Community garden
Buddies
Planting trees in honor of a volunteer
Helping out around the school
Grow plants and vegetables and give them away
Collect jackets for the community
Raise money for a child in need
Food drive
Recycle
Community helpers
Invite people of the community to come in a talk
- Police office
- Firefighter
- Parents of children
- People in the school

From Mrs. Keefer & Mrs. Gould's 5th grade classrooms.