Overview
The Make a Difference in a Day resource pack has been created for teachers who want to deliver a drop down day with children focusing on making a difference to a community space that’s important to them.
This free package of resources comprises:
- Set of teachers’ notes;
- PowerPoint slides;
- Pupil workbook;
- Social action activity suggestions;
- Stimulus pictures.
Taken together, the resources lead children through a mini community project focused on an issue identified as a local concern, such as tackling the problem of air pollution caused by traffic, protecting local biodiversity, improving access to community buildings or tackling issues of litter and plastic pollution.
Make a Difference in a Day is designed to be used with either the whole school, a year group, or a single class. It’s primarily pitched at key stage 2 pupils, but can be adapted for younger – or older – pupils.
The production of this resource was made possible through generous funding from the Co-op Community Foundation Community Spaces programme, which encourages and supports young people to identify and improve community spaces near them for the benefit of other young people and the wider community.
Suggested next steps:
- Browse case studies of youth-led action;
- Check out the free online course Social Action in Community Spaces;
- After your drop down experience, progress to the full Make a Difference Challenge.
More Lessons resources
People Who Are Special To Me
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The Government and the Economy
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Conflict: Part 2 – Mediation
In this lesson pupils will discuss the principles of simple mediation strategies and apply these in role play scenarios to explore how people can voice and resolve their differences. The…
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Taking Responsibility (assembly)
During this assembly pupils consider what the word responsibility means. You can find the ‘Taking responsibility’ lesson plan on the KS1 lesson page. The PowerPoint for the lesson is the…
Looking Out For Others
In this lesson pupils will think about kind and unkind behaviour. They will consider how they can help and support each other in order to create a happy class community.…
Plastic Pollution (KS2)
Find out more about the impact of plastic on our oceans. Watch this introductory video and use our free...
More Social Action/Active Citizenship resources
Raising Awareness
During this assembly pupils reflect on how social media can be an important platform for raising awareness of issues that are important to pupils through the example of Martha Payne’s school…
The G7 (Lesson Plan)
During this two lesson resource pupils learn about the G7 and take part in a mock G7 Summit meeting. During the first lesson pupils explore the history and function…
Inspirational People
In this lesson pupils will learn about what it means to be inspirational. They will develop their understanding of the term through looking at real life examples in the media.…
More KS2 (ages 7-11) resources
How Can I Make a Difference?
In this lesson pupils will think about how they can plan a social action project. They will be led through key steps by following the example of the Go-Givers. …
Why Do We Pay Taxes? (Part 1)
Pupils will learn that public services are largely funded through the payment of taxes to the government. To access this content, register for our School Subscription.
How to Design a Questionnaire
A simple guide to the things you need to think about when designing surveys and questionnaires, from making sure the questions are easy to understand, to ensuring you ask the…