2016-17 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

In 5th grade, we began the year in ELA with Mr. Joyner by studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).  We learned how to close read and how to work together in teams, even when we're frustrated!

Each of our teams was assigned several articles from the UDHR and we were asked to close read each article to make sense of it.

​As a team, we identified challenging vocabulary words and used context clues to make sense of the article. On our poster, we explained what the article means in our own words and shared what the challenging vocabulary words mean in kid-friendly words.

We created two sets of drawings to show what keeping the promise of the article looks like in real life and what it doesn't look like.  Deciding on what to draw as a representation of the article was fun and challenging because we had to pick something that would really show what it was all about.

Once we finished our posters, we presented our work to the rest of the class.

Article 2                                                 
Team: Blazing Dragons

​In Our Words: Everyone deserves the same inalienable rights, no matter how different they are in gender, race, age, religion, skin, or color.

UDHR Text: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction can be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

​Article 3                                                 
Team: Blazing Dragons

In Our Words: Everyone has the right to be alive, make choices, and to be protected.

UDHR Text: Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.

​Article 6                                                 
Team: Diamond Eagles

In Our Words: Every human being has the right to be protected by the law no matter where you are.

UDHR Text: Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

​Article 14                                                 
Team: Diamond Eagles
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In Our Words: Every human being has the right to go to another country and have a safe place to be and away from people that would hurt you.

UDHR Text: (1) Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 16                                                 
Team: Flaming Wizards

In Our Words: Everyone has the right to marry without restrictions due to race, where you're from or what you believe. You only have to marry who you want if you would like to get married.

UDHR Text: (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

​Article 17                                              
Team: Flaming Wizards

In Our Words: Everyone has the right to own something alone as well as with other people. No one can take your property unreasonably.

UDHR Text: (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of property.

​Article 20                                                 
Team: Burning Valor

In Our Words: Everyone has the right to freely and peacefully join groups on their own and to take part in protest and gatherings.

UDHR Text: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 23                                                 
Team: Burning Valor
In Our Words: Everybody has the right to join or create a business that they are qualified to, with equal pay without exception of race, color, gender, or religion, and to retire when they please.
UDHR Text: (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 25                                                 
Team: Iron Titans

​In Our Words: Everyone has the right to a good enough living environment with water, food and health care.

UDHR Text: (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. 

Article 26                                                 
Team: Iron Titans
In Our Words: Everyone has the right to get an education and you have to go to elementary school. Technical and professional education is a choice. You have to earn a chance to go to college.

UDHR Text: (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.