Students should refer to the homework sheet completed in Lesson One: What Are Our Common Values? Attachment One: Core Democratic Values in Our Home. Ask each student volunteer to name one of the rules in his/her home. Label a chart with the title “Rules at Home.” List the rules down the left side of the chart. After each student names a rule, write a tally in the first column of the number of students who have that same rule at home. Continue until all the family rules are reflected on the chart.

With the students’ help, write the Core Democratic Values in the columns of the chart. Discuss each of the family rules on the chart in relation to the CDVs. Place check marks in the boxes to show which CDVs are supported in which rules. For example, the first rule may be “Clean up after yourself.” The students may decide that this rule supports the CDVs of Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness and Common Good. See Attachment One: Rules and Core Democratic Values for format.

On another chart paper, with the label “Rules in the Classroom,” list the CDVs as headings, then have the students write each classroom rule under all the CDVs it supports. For example, “keep your hands to yourself” may be written under the following categories: Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness and Justice. When all the classroom rules have been classified, discuss whether all of the CDVs are represented in the rules. If not, discuss whether you need to write additional rules to cover those. Discuss any rules that do not fit in any category and decide together whether those rules are good rules.

As a class, make changes to the classroom rules, as needed. Then as a class, write a statement about the importance of these rules and their willingness to follow them. Ask students to sign the statement saying that they understand the rules (similar to a signing of the declaration of independence).

Day Two

Divide the class into small working groups. Give each student group printed copies of the rules for the whole school. In each group, the students read through the rules and discuss their connections to the CDVs. Students use pencils to mark in the margins by each rule what CDV is supported by the rule (if any).

Challenge the students to think about how they can illustrate on a mural students in the school following these rules. Tell the students that you want them to label each illustration with the Core Democratic Value it represents rather than the specific rule. They may illustrate students in the classroom, on the playground or working together on a community project. Let students decide which rules they will depict, but direct the dividing of responsibilities so all of the CDVs are represented in the final mural. Each student or student pair should have responsibility for one illustration. The final mural may be organized by Core Democratic Values or by location (classroom/playground/community).

Provide time and materials for students to create the mural. Materials may include crayons, markers, paints, magazines, collage materials, etc. Label the mural with the heading “What Core Democratic Values Look Like in our School.”

Look at the finished mural with the class. Ask students to point out illustrations that depict acts of philanthropy. Talk about why acting philanthropically is good for the school community.