Good Citizens & Local Landmarks: A Field Trip

We started our history/social studies lessons this year with a focus on good citizenship. My son quickly latched on to the idea of being a good citizen and he eagerly made connections between citizenship and practicing our faith.
First we read a book by Virginia L. Kroll called Good Citizen Sarah. It was a big hit! Noah was convinced that the book was really about his friend Sarah and the fact that the main character also had a friend named Noah was further proof. This line of thought made it very real to him. He began looking for ways to be a good citizen just like the children in the book.
However, I needed him to understand that there's more to being a good citizen than just doing nice things for others in our community. He needed to really understand the word citizen and how it applies to us. So, next we read Being a Good Citizen: A Kids' Guide to Community Involvement by Rachelle Kreisman. In chapter 3, Kreisman suggests children should visit museums and town landmarks as a way to increase their involvement in their local community (part of being a good citizen is being involved).
With this in mind, we set out to visit two local landmarks in our city. First we visited The Freedom Walkway, a memorial to our local heroes of the Civil Rights Movement.

We learned about the Friendship 9 and the sacrifices they made to ensure everyone could be truly free. It was a big eye opener for my almost 5 year old. He had never before considered that there was a time when not everyone was truly free. [It also tied in nicely with our bible lessons for the week about Moses & the exodus from Egypt.] We finished our journey with the Friendship 9 with drinks at the local lunch counter where they staged their protest.

Next, we visited a local historic home open to the public: The White Home.
Since the children were becoming a bit unruly we opted not to set them free inside this lovingly restored home. Instead, we settled for exploring the grounds.

We talked about how the White family is responsible for establishing our local library and how grateful we are to have such a large and well-kept library system to visit and make use of each week. Noah even got to practice his new citizenship skills by fixing a fallen sign telling visitors of the gift shop. The sign was nearly as big as he was, but he was determined to be a good citizen, so I watched and smiled. I'm so glad I get to have a part in not only teaching these lessons but watching as he puts them into practice as well.

Each "field trip" lasted 30 minutes or less, but the impact is still being felt days later as we prepare for new lessons and learn more about our community and what it means to be a good citizen. If you haven't taken your children to tour some of the small local landmarks in your community, I encourage you to try. You'll be surprised by all they will learn in the process.