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Justice is defined as one of the four cardinal virtues, it means to give to each one what corresponds or belongs to him. It is the right, the reason, the fairness. It is what one must do according to the right or the reason.
Popularly it is understood as the disposition according to which one is punished or rewarded, according to what each one deserves. It is what regulates equality or fairness in the distribution of something, and it establishes the proportion whereupon it must distribute rewards and punishments.
The child from an early age feels injustice although he does not know how to explain it, he understands when a punishment is excessive or it is not in correspondence with the committed fault and he feels bad for that reason.
The adult has to teach the child to be fair with others, but for that it is necessary that he sets the example with a right treatment towards him and the others.
The children will be taught to establish fair relations with their classmates, both when evaluating their actions and when sharing some things during play and other activities.
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ACTIVITY No 1
"THE FOX AND THE STORK"
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Summary of the activity: First we will narrate a fable, later we will ask questions on the story and finally the children will model figures on the story.
Objectives:
• That the children learn the damages of an unfair conduct towards others.
• To familiarise the children with the notion of justice.
Procedures:
• Conversation
• Narration
• Questions and answers
• Practical Actions
Material Resources: Clay or plasticine to model.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will read to the children the selected fable and he will show them pictures of the characters
"The fox and the stork".
Once there was a fox that made friends with a stork; one good day, he decided to invite her to eat. The guest turned up punctually at the agreed hour (show the picture of the fox and the stork).
"Welcome, come in Lady Stork!” the fox said. "I have prepared an exquisite broth of frog and parsley! Sit down here, please!"
The broth gave off a delicious smell, but it was served in a shallow plate (show a picture of the plate with the offered food).
"Thanks, thanks!”, the stork answered very glad, but she suddenly realised the nasty joke that the fox was playing on her, because with her long beak, no matter how hard she tried, she could not manage to eat due to the shape of the plate (show a picture of the stork with her long beak trying to eat in a shallow plate)
"Don’t you like it? I have specially prepared it for you", said the fox with a malicious smile.
"I’m sorry, but I have suddenly felt a strong headache that has me lost my appetite!” answered the offended stork.
The fox hurried to answer: "A broth good as that....Patience, there will be another occasion!"•
"Perfect! Why don’t you come to my house to eat tomorrow? Then I will be able to correspond to your kind invitation!” the stork proposed.
The fox turned up at the house of the stork. He found that the stork had prepared a very rich fish soup, but she had served it within two containers with long and narrow necks (Show a picture of the containers).
So, while the bird, thanks to her beak, emptied the container, the fox had to go without eating (Show a picture of the fox trying to put his snout in the soup container).
And while the fox returned to its house dying of hunger, he was convinced that he had deserved the lesson, he listened to a little voice within him that said: "You’ve made your bed and now you’ll have to lie in it..."
This was the way in which the stork made justice, because she paid the fox back with his own coin.
2nd Part
The educator will ask the children:
Did you like the story? What have you learned in this story?
Why did the fox say that “you’ve made your bed now you’ll have to lie in it”?
What does it mean that the stork made justice paying the fox back with his own coin?
Did the stork want to punish the fox because of what he did to her?
Would you like it if somebody played a bad joke like this on you?
Is what the fox did to the stork right?
The educator will summarize this part insisting that it was fair for the stork to punish the fox because of what he did to her.
3rd Part
The educator invites the children to model with clay or plasticine the containers of the fox and the stork. They can be accompanied with cut-out cardboard figures of both animals.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They understood the message of the story. |
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They needed help to understand the message of the story. |
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Their answers to the questions demonstrate that they understood the damages that an unfair conduct towards others can cause. |
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They needed help to understand the damages that an unfair conduct towards others can cause. |
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They made comments about the unfair conduct, and they supported the fair conduct. |
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ACTIVITY No 2
"HOW FAIR PEOPLE ACT"
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Summary of the activity: The educator will explain to the children how fair people act, later he will lead a cooperation game, with questions to the children, there will be no competition since everyone will participate to find the correct answers.
Objectives:
• To develop in the children knowledge about what is a fair performance.
• To continue reinforcing the notion of justice.
Procedures:
• Explanation
• Questions and answers
• Game
Material Resources: A deck of cards (one per child) half blue and the other half red, red and blue question cards.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will explain to the children how fair and unfair people act, he will do it using examples so that they can understand better.
Examples:
• Fair people give each one what it corresponds or belongs to him, for example, the teacher who describes the student who worked in a satisfactory way as "Very good"; the one who worked moderately in a regular way as "Satisfactory" and the one that made a bad job as "Poor" is fair when classifying them. But if he gives an S to the student who worked badly, then he is an unfair person because he gave him a mark that he did not deserve.
• Another example is the mother who punishes her two children in the same way, knowing that although they both were playing in the room, only one broke the vase, that mother acted unfairly, nevertheless the mother who warns the child who broke a vase that the next time he should not play ball near things that can be broken has a fair attitude.
• The police that stops the thief because he robbed the purse from an old lady is carrying out a fair act, the judge who punishes him and sends him to jail is making justice, because he who steals what does not belong to him should be punished.
• A father that always brings gifts home and brings a small thing for each son and distributes whatever he brings in equal parts, is a just father.
2nd Part
We will play a cooperation game.
The educator explains to the children that in this game everybody will have to cooperate to answer all the questions well and the winner will be the group in general.
He distributes red and blue cards in equal parts, so that all the children have one.
On the educator’s table there is a card deck with questions, some will be blue and the others red. A child takes a card, if it is blue the children with blue cards will start to answer first.
The educator reads the situation and the question that is in the card and later he gives the floor to the children who have cards of the same color as the question card, one by one in an organized way.
All the children with the same color cards should say something about the question and in this way they complete the answer among all.
Later another child will take a second card, and the children with the same color cards will answer, and so on until they use up all the cards.
After each question the educator summarizes the answer expressing something that the children did not say.
Example of situations and questions:
1.- If you have in front of you two children and only one of them is your friend, and you have only one sweet to offer, What would you do if there is no way to obtain another sweet then?
2. - Juan finds a pencil in the classroom and knows that Pedro lost it. Juan does not like Pedro and he decides to give the pencil to his friend Carmen, although it does not belong to him. Is Juan acting with justice? Why? What would be the right thing todo in that case?
3. - Jose complains that his father is not a fair person, because he punishes him by anything, and his brother is forgiven for everything he does. Is Jose’s father a fair person with his son? Why?
4. - In the school they are going to give prizes away, but the headmaster says that not all the children will get the same prize; because he considers that they must be distributed according to the value of what each student has done, for that reason the best prizes will be for those who have made a greater effort, and who have worked better. Do you think that this is fair? Is the headmaster right? Why?
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They answered the questions correctly. |
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They needed help to answer the questions. |
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Their answers demonstrated that they have acquired notions on how to act with justice. |
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They needed help to know which is the right performance. |
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ACTIVITY No 3
"THE ONE WHO DISTRIBUTES SHOULD NOT TAKE THE BEST PART"
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Summary of the activity: This is a mathematical activity in which the children will have to solve a problem situation.
Objectives:
• To develop in the children feelings of fairness.
• To establish relations between fairness and justice.
Procedures:
• Practical actions
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Comparison
Material Resources: 10 rectangles of paper and 10 figures of children cut and pasted on fine cardboard.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The child is presented with the following problem situation:
In Carmelita’s birthday party there were 10 children and she cut the pie in 10 equal parts, but when she was going to distribute them 10 more children arrived. What would she have to do so that all the children have the same amount of pie? We are going to help Carmelita.
2nd Part
The educator distributes to the children 10 rectangles of paper that represent the pieces of the pie and 20 figures of children and will invite them to distribute the the children and the pies; the educator will ask:
What do we have more, children or pies?
And less?
What would you do so that there is the same amount of children and pies?
What would you do so that each child receives an equal piece of pie and in this way the pie is distributed with justice?
If the children do not do solve the problem on their own, the educator will help them tearing the first rectangle of paper in two equal pieces and he will tell them that Carmelita decided to cut the pie in smaller pieces to share it in equal parts among all the children.
Once the task is done, the children will be asked:
Do you think that Carmelita’s attitude was correct when she cut the pie into more pieces?
What would you have done?
Do you think that if the pie was already cut in 10 parts, there was no reason to worry about those who arrived later and in this way the next time they would arrive earlier?
The educator will summarize the activity emphasizing that the attitude of a fair child is to share with all his friends and to distribute things in equal parts, although they all would receive less.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They knew how to solve the problem. |
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They needed help to solve the problem. |
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They showed feelings of fairness towards their classmates. |
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They made elementary relations between fairness and justice. |
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ACTIVITY No 4
"THE POLICE AND THE THIEVES"
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Summary of the activity: This is a motion game titled "Police and thieves". The children will cross a circuit looking for the thieves, during the route they will run, jump and creep.
Objectives: That the children appreciate the importance of giving justice to those who take what does not belong to them.
Procedures:
• Game
• Practical Actions
• Explanation
Material Resources: A wooden crate of 50 cm. of height, a rope, cards with drawings of a stone, a shrub and thieves (man with mask and a bundle on the shoulder). Materials to make the seals of the "Police Officer" that will be given to the winners.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will explain to the children that there are people who take what does not belong to them and that the work of the police is to find them and to stop them, so that they can be punished.
The game is about the police crossing a circuit looking for clues to catch the thieves and in each section on the way they will find a clue, the one that finds all the clues will be able to catch the thief.
The children will organize themselves in a row and will leave at the educator’s order one by one to cross the circuit, when the first one has finished, the second leaves and so on until everybody has participated.
The circuit will be organized in the following way:
A line on the floor with arrows is drawn to indicate in which direction to run. They will run until they find the first obstacle that will be a wooden crate of 50 cm. of height which they will have to jump, after they jump they will find in front of the crate the first card with the next place where they must go walking (can be a shrub in the garden, etc.), when they arrive at the shrub they will have to crawl below a rope at 50 cm. high and on the other side of the rope they will find a card with a drawing of a stone. Finally, hidden underneath this stone, they will find the thief (a card with a drawing of a thief).
Rules of the game:
1. - The winner will be children who find the thief.
A seal will be given to the winners that distinguish them as " Police Officers".
The educator will explain to them that they have to take care of the people who act correctly, who do not take other people's things, who obey the established laws, and who give the right punishment to those who deserve it.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They understood the importance of the work of the police to punish those who take what does not belong to them. |
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They needed help to understand the importance of the work of the police to punish those who take what does not belong to them. |
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They understood that a bad action asks for a punishment. |
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They stated that they want to act with justice. |
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Summary of the activity: This activity consists of a visit to a nearby monument in which there is a statue of justice. If it is not possible to visit it, we will set up an imaginary visit to a museum and we will show a great photo or a picture of a statue of justice with her bandaged eyes and a balance in the hand.
Objectives:
• To emphasize the representation of justice.
• To relate the image or statue to the notion of justice.
Procedures:
• Conversation
• Visit
Material Resources: Photos or pictures of the image of justice.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator presents the visit, real or imaginary, telling them that they are going to know how we represent justice, and that they have to pay attention to what they are going to see. They have to be reminded of the notion of fairness, freedom, and love for their fellows as integral parts of the action of justice, and also of the punishment when it is disobeyed on purpose.
2nd Part
The visit. During the same the educator will insist that the children pay attention to all details of the statue or the image, because later in the classroom they will talk about what they saw.
3rd Part
A group discussion is held on what was observed in the visit, for this the educator will ask questions such as:
What details drew your attention in the statue (or the image)?
Why do you think that she is blidnfolded?
Why does she have a balance in her hand?
What does the set of the statue mean?
The educator will promote the discussion to help the children to reach conclusions by themselves in which they state:
1. That the justice is blindfolded because justice is applied without seeing who the person is, but only what he has done.
2. That the balance means that it weighs bad and good things, in order to make a fair decision.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They were impressed by the statue or the image of justice. |
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They understood what it means to have bandaged eyes. |
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They related the balance to the notion of the application of a fair decision. |
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They needed help to understand the relations of the symbols with the idea of justice. |
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They showed some knowledge about justice. |
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ACTIVITY No 6
CRITICAL EXPERIENCE FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE BLOCK
"ORDER AND TELL"
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Summary of the activity: The activity consists of the children working with a deck of cards with a sequence of actions that the children will order later to construct a story.
This activity can serve to evaluate the block.
Objectives: To determine what the children have learned on justice and how the right people act.
Procedures:
• Serialization
• Story
Material Resources: Decks of cards.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The children will be given a set of the following cards:
First series of cards
1. - picture of a man with a cap and a mask.
2. - the same man walking in the street.
3. - he stops in front of a window and jumps into it.
4. - he leaves with a full bag.
5. - a policeman sees him and he starts to run.
6. - the policeman follows him running.
7. - he arrests him.
8. - the man behind bars.
Second series of cards
1. - a birthday party.
2. - a girl who is cutting a cake.
3. – the girl distributing the cake to the children.
4. - children eating the cake.
4. - only one child crying and without cake.
Third Series
1. - children playing in the street.
2. - a child throwing the ball against a window.
3. - an old man that sees him doing this.
3. - a broken window.
4. - a lady who leans out of the window.
5. - she points to a child who is not guilty.
6. - the old man that argues with the lady.
7. - the lady apologizing to the accused child.
They are told to put in order the cards; that is, what happened first and what happened next.
Once the children have ordered the pictures they will build a story on what they see in them.
The story will be considered as good, as long as the children guide themselves in a logical and coherent way according to the order that they gave to their pictures.
For example, the logical order of the first series will be:
From the card number 1 to 8 in a consecutive way and the story can be:
"There is a thief that comes walking along the street, he stops next to a window and he jumps to enter the house and to rob it, he leaves with a full bag with the things that he has robbed, but he sees a policeman, he arrests him and they put him in jail for taking what does not belong to him or because he robbed."
Whenever a story is finished the educator will emphasize the subject, in this story it is necessary to stress the fact that the one that takes what does not belong to him must be punished, and the police made justice, because as the stork said to the fox in the story "You’ve made your bed and now you’ll have to lie in it...”.
The educator can create other stories whenever they adjust to the objective that we are working: justice.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They ordered the pictures well. |
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They needed help to order the pictures well. |
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They made up a coherent and logical story according to the order given to the pictures. |
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They needed help to make a coherent and logical story according to the order given to the pictures. |
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They showed knowledge on justice and how fair people act and they did it in an independent way. |
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They could create stories that demonstrated a defined notion of justice. |
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