Page 14 - FIS World

Picture top and right: Students writing their comments on the “Peace Wall”
Children’s Rights
Grade 3 Students Teach Their Peers
“Do you know you have rights?” two Grade 3 students asked the Ele- mentary School peers sitting in the auditorium. It was the October grade level assembly led by Grade 3 stu- dents. Unsure murmurings of some ‘yes’ and some ‘no’ replies came from the audience. “Well, we’re here to tell you all about them”, said the young presenters. The students explained that this year celebrates the 25th anni- versary of the United Nations Conven- tion on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), an agreement between countries, which sets out the basic rights all children should have.
The class worked their way through the alphabet sharing their under- standing of children’s rights.
“A: All children have rights,” one Grade 3 class shouted out to the group. “B: Both boys and girls,” they continued.
“U: Understand Your Rights,” added another Grade 3 class, “There are lots of books and organizations that can help you learn more about your rights.”
Appreciating that children have rights was one of the main learning objectives when this unit was designed by the teachers with the PYP co-ordinator. Factors that affect these rights, and our collective responsibility for upholding these rights, were fur- ther objectives. These were discussed throughout the unit, and, of course, in the assembly.
The storybook, If The World Were A Village of 100 People by David J Smith, was the subject of the next part of the assembly, introduced by the other Grade 3 classes. The classes shared their global perspective of how life in other nations is often very different from their own.
During their research, students dis- covered how war and conflict is a huge contributing factor towards the viola- tion of children’s rights. As UN World Peace Day fell in the middle of this unit of inquiry, students and teachers alike, felt it was another opportunity given, to take action. They used the tempo- rary fencing around the construction site as a “pop-up” peace wall. If Berlin, New York and London have pop-up
12 FIS World February 2015