United Nations Day is an annual event that commemorates the United Nations Charter. Celebrating UN Day is a way to help children understand the greater world, human rights and peace.
The UN Flag
The flag of the United Nations is rich in symbolism. White and blue are the official colors of the UN and the flag consists of only those two colors. The background is blue and the image is white. A wreath of olive branches, a symbol of peace, frames a stylized map of the world, which represents all of the people of the world. The United Nations Cyber School Bus offers printable lesson plans and flag coloring pages.
Other UN Organizations
Since the United Nations has fathered other organizations with more specialized purposes, like the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization, several other flags are based upon a similar design. The other organizations share the color scheme. Some have altered the image of the UN flag and others have created their own white symbol with design elements more appropriate to the functions of their organization.
United Nations Lesson Plans
Of all the weighty topics addressed by the United Nations, peace, poverty, hunger, and discrimination are the ones that are most often addressed in lesson plans for children. The Cyber School Bus program offers downloadable briefing papers, guided discussions for classroom teachers that are easy to adapt to a homeschool environment and web resources for further investigation. Amnesty International also offers lesson plans to help teach children about these issues.
Human Rights Council
A study of the issues addressed by the Human Rights Council can have a profound effect upon children. Human rights for kids in the United States are focused on such issues as spanking in schools and child abuse. On a worldwide scale, though, children are subject to exploitation in factories, child executions, infanticide and fighting in wars as child soldiers. A sensitive issue, studying children’s rights can be upsetting, too. Adolescents of varying maturity levels can be both inspired to action and disturbed by the need of a children’s rights committee.
Most of the lesson plans distributed by Amnesty International are geared toward middle school and above, due to the sensitive nature of the materials.
Lesson Plans for UN Day
Calculating the amount of money and food it would take to end hunger in an area is one example of the math skills used in the available lesson plans. Measuring and mapping irrigation plans is another.
“Discrimination in Literature” is one of the downloadable publications that bring the issue of racial and religious discrimination into the forefront for children. Literature allows children to get personally acquainted with the emotions on both sides of discrimination and can be an effective way to familiarize children with the psychology of racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. The Amnesty International curriculum gives suggestions for literature in several genres and provides discussion questions, writing prompts and additional facts.
In addition to downloadable lesson plans and resources, an “activist toolkit” is available that allows and encourages children to get involved with programs and organizations dedicated to solving some of the issues presented in the lessons. Spend time during UN week learning about some of the issues surrounding poverty, hunger or human rights and then take action, individually or with a group. UN day is designed to give students, teachers and leaders a time to discuss and practice the principles of the United Nations Charter.
This October, when other students are celebrating the fall harvest and even Halloween, yours can be taking part in a worldwide acknowledgement of the founding and functions of the United Nations. Issues like human rights, peace and poverty might seem too huge to be digested by a child. With the stories, guided discussions and lesson plans provided by Amnesty International and the United Nations Cyber School Bus, these topics can be addressed and the importance of the UN can be relayed to children.
Lisa Russell - Lisa Russell is a freelance writer and mom of six daughters. She blogs about their life at lisarussell.org
