Nonfiction Book

Title: Children’s Rights

Author: Courtney Farrell

Published in 2010 by Abdo Consulting Group, Inc.

To puchase at Amazon, click here

 

This is a great nonfiction book that gives an international perspective of how children are treated across the world, bring to mind child labor, child marriages, and the educational rights of children. Hopefully this can help students analyze the conditions some children around the world face and whether they are fair. This can also be incorporated in a discussion about how in this country, some of those practices are not allowed. This book addresses some of the more extreme practices of child abuse and make connections to some other forms of mistreatment of children such as violence, forced work, and denial of educational opportunities. Hopefully, this book will inspire students to examine how these injustices exist in our country today.  I can incorporate this into a social studies lesson by learning about different cultures in the world and how children are treated in those parts of the world. This book allows students to look at child mistreatment from a broad perspective and think about ways to advocate for child rights around the world.  This book mentions some advanced subjects such as human trafficking that may not be appropriate for all school environments depending on the level of sheltering the school might prefer. Some more censored books with that also relays the mention of international human rights are, are “Our rights, how kids are changing the world” by Janet Wilson, “I have the right to be a child” by Alain Serres, “We are all born free.” By Amnesty International.

Excerpt:

Core Integration:

 

Social Studies:

• Students will be learning about the bill of rights as well as the rights in the Washington State Constitution and think about how these rights such as how not being deprived of life, liberty, or property and what it means. Students will think about how these rights protect us thin this country and what these rights mean in making sure children
• Students can think about questions such as, “Why do we have laws in Washington about human rights?” How do you think these laws help protect child and human rights in this state? What are our ideals and values in this state? How do our laws support those values?
• Students can compare and contrast culture and laws in in our city compared to our state, compared to our nation, and then compared other countries and reflect upon the differences in child treatment within those communities.
• This can also be incorporated into a lesson on Washington’s economic system and the role labor plays. Students can think of some of the motivations for child labor in other countries and think about how maybe those goals can be accomplished without using child labor.

 

• Students can do a research project about an issue affecting children in this country or around the world. Some possible topics can be child labor and marriage, child neglect and abuse, or human trafficking. Students can brainstorm ways in groups or as a class to be an advocate in improving these issues.

 

 

Writing extension: Students can brainstorm some of their own values and write down some laws they think should be created and why.

 

Health Education Standards

 

NHES Standards:

 

Standard 1

Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health

• 5.3

Describe ways in which safe and healthy school and community environments can promote personal health

 

• 5.4

Describe ways to prevent common childhood injuries and health problems

 

Standard 8

Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health

• 5.1

Express opinions and give accurate information about health issues

 

Washington Health Education Standards:

Wellness:

Analyzing influences: Identify how culture influences health decisions and behaviors. H2.W4.4

Decision making: Predict potential short term outcomes of a health-related decision. H5.W7.3

 

Social Studies Standards:

Civics:

1.1.1

• Understands the key ideal of rights set forth in Article 1 of the Washington State Constitution

 

• Explains that personal rights include not being deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law (section three).
• Explains that every person has the right to freely speak, write, and publish on all subjects (section five).
• Explains how the right to religious choice protects people’s freedom (section eleven).

1.1.2

• Evaluates the effectiveness of a law or policy by explaining how it promotes ideals

 

Social Studies Skills

 

5.2.1

• Creates and uses a research question to conduct research on an issue or event

 

5.4.2

• Prepares a list of resources, including the title, author, and type of source, date published, and publisher for each source

Geography:

3.1.2

• Understands the physical, political, and cultural characteristics of places, regions, and people in the Pacific Northwest including the difference between cities, states, and countries

Economics:

2.2.1

• Understand the basic elements of Washington State’s economic system, including agriculture, businesses, industry, natural resources, and labor