Citizenship at key stages 1 and 2    (Year 1-6)

• With another adult, role-play a situation where one person describes something to the other, eg what they like to do during the lunch hour. The 'listener' demonstrates poor listening, eg by moving around, interrupting, making a noise, looking away, talking to somebody else. Ask the children to offer ideas about all the things they saw the 'listener' do wrong. List their ideas on a board. Ask them what the listener should have done instead to show good listening, and make another list.
• In pairs, children tell their partner a story or talk about something they did at the weekend. The listener then repeats this back to the speaker or draws a picture of it.

• In pairs, the children take one of the class ground rules and write examples of how it could apply in the playground, eg be kind to each other - by inviting someone to join in your game. They find three examples of that ground rule being followed in the playground and photograph these with a digital camera. In class the children then discuss, sort and prioritise the photos, eg which photos should be displayed in class and which in the entrance hall (for parents and the whole school to see).

• Place the children in mixed ability groups of around five. Remind them of the agreed ground rules for discussion and listening. Select a chairperson and a scribe for each group, according to ability. Give each group a photo of a piece of playground equipment, eg a skipping rope, a large hoop. The children make a list of questions they could ask another child about how to make best use of that equipment in the playground, eg What is this for? How many people can play with it at a time? What are the safety rules for playing with this? They report back to the class, sharing their questions, as well as considering the group processes, eg Did everybody listen to each other? How did you decide and agree questions in your group?

• Structure a 'draw and write' activity about the children's views on eating lunch in the dinner hall, eg what they like and don't like about the lunch (including choices and menu, and how they collect the food), and the arrangements for entering and leaving the hall. The results of the activity could lead to a class discussion in a class council or circle time about ways to improve the experience of eating lunch in school.

• Present to the children a range of playground scenarios involving a problem, eg
• two of your friends are not in the playground today, and you haven't got anybody to play with
• you want to play a game today that needs a particular piece of equipment, and somebody else is using it
• you bumped into somebody by accident in a game of football, and they told the supervisor that you pushed them
• the person sitting next to you at lunchtime spills some water over your food
• In pairs, the children use puppets to develop solutions to these problems and play them out. Each pair then plays out the solutions to the other children, who can suggest other approaches that the puppets can try out. The children can then be involved in monitoring or observing how well the strategies work in real playground situations.

• In pairs, the children construct a 'telephone', using empty food cans with string knotted through a hole in the end. Sitting back to back and a little way apart, they take turns to talk down the line to each other. Ask them to experiment by changing the loudness, pitch or tone of their voice. Discuss the best way to speak and to give and receive messages. What helps, what hinders, what is missing? Draw out the importance of body language and facial expressions in effective communication.

• In pairs, the children think of a simple sad or happy playground story and mime it to their partner, who has to guess the story. Repeat the exercise, asking children to use another story and to use facial expressions and body language that contradict their words, eg smiling when miming how sad they feel. Discuss how the children felt, and how easy it was for them to guess what their partner was miming. Remind the children of stories they have read or listened to that involve body language, eg the smiling crocodile. Emphasise that what we do in conversation matters as much as what we say.

• Help the children select a play activity that they think could be improved or a problem that needs to be resolved, eg no one uses the climbing frame; there are not enough hoops to play with; the year 6 children do not like sharing the benches. In randomly mixed groups of four or five, the children observe what happens during break time. As a group, they then discuss what they observed and develop suggestions for improving the situation, such as by devising new instructions or rules or finding a new game or activity and writing instructions for it, eg a new game for the climbing frame, or the climbing frame is changed or removed; a rota is introduced for the hoops, or more hoops are bought; a discussion with year 6 children about sharing the benches, or a time limit is set on how long children can sit on the bench. They then try out their ideas with the rest of the class, possibly in a PE session, and record feedback from questions, eg Did you understand the instructions/rules/new game? Do you like the idea? Each group then shares its ideas and findings with the rest of the class. A secret ballot is held to decide on the best idea. This is then put to the school council to take forward.
• When the groups are happy with their idea or activity, they design an instruction card on the computer and print it out. The cards could be laminated and used as a playtime resource by the class or school.

• The children sit opposite a partner in a 'carousel' (inner circle facing outwards, outer circle facing inwards). Either provide them with a question for discussion or a problem to solve, or allow the children to select the issue they would like to discuss, eg
• Lots of you think that one person in the class took another person's best pen at lunchtime. How should you deal with it?
• There is not enough space on the playground in winter for football and other ball games to take place at the same time. What can we do about it?
• They discuss the problem in pairs, and report back two key points from their discussion. As a class, compile a list of suggestions from the outcomes of the discussions. The children could then vote on the suggestions, or a debate could be held about the most appropriate one.
• Alternatively, the class could debate a wider issue, eg all year 5 and 6 children should attend a modern foreign languages lesson each Saturday morning. The children then vote on the motion.

• In randomly mixed groups, the children work on a 'real' issue connected with the school, eg the whole school may have worked on raising funds to purchase equipment for wet lunchtimes and playtimes. The children develop criteria for judging the appropriateness of the idea, eg the criteria for equipment for wet playtime include the cost, packaging, storage, durability, sustainability and interest level. Using a range of sources, eg catalogues, the internet, they research different options and set a notional budget, and then prioritise how the money should be spent. The children consult on their ideas with the class or others in the school community (or both) and record their findings. Each group presents its ideas to the class or school council to take forward. The next task could be to draw up guidelines for use of the equipment, to ensure that it lasts and is well used.
• Throughout all these tasks, group processes can be explored and discussed, eg groups elect their own chair, scribe and spokesperson.
• After each of the tasks the children need to reflect on how the task went and how they used their skills of communication and participation. This could be done through a questionnaire that explores how well the children felt they listened, how well they felt they were listened to, the range of ways they reached their decisions and the ways people put their point across that helped others to change their minds.