Doing Right Out and About
A 40-minute Grade 1 lesson on civic virtues away from school, where nobody in charge is watching.
Doing Right Out and About is a free 40-minute Kindergarten to Grade 2 social studies lesson plan for Common Core standard D2.Civ.7.K-2 — show fairness, honesty and respect in how you take part at school. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the mathematics, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.
- Grade:
- Kindergarten to Grade 2
- Length:
- 40 minutes
- Standard:
- D2.Civ.7.K-2
Kindergarten to Grade 2 · Civics
D2.Civ.7.K-2
Apply civic virtues when participating in school settings.
Objective
Students will be able to name the right action in a public situation and say which virtue it shows.
Students are successful when they can
- Names the action.
- Names the virtue.
- Says why it still counts with nobody watching.
What you need
- Four virtue cards
- Situation cards set on the street, the bus and the shop
- The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan
The lesson
Warm-up — nobody is watching
5 min- Give a situation with an adult present, then the same one alone.
- Ask whether the right answer changes. It does not.
Teach — public places, same virtues
13 min- Take a purse found on the pavement. Name the honest action and the virtue.
- Take a full bus and somebody older. Name the kind action.
- Say the new thing about Grade 1: at school somebody notices, and out here often nobody does.
- Ask why it still matters. Because a street where nobody bothers gets worse for everybody.
- Do one where the right action costs something.
“Nobody would ever know. That is exactly when it counts.”
Guided practice — act and name
12 min- Pairs take six public situations, say what they would do and hold up a virtue card.
- Two of the six have a real cost attached.
- Take feedback on those two.
Independent practice
8 min- Students complete the doing-right page.
- Read each situation aloud.
Close
2 min- Take one situation and the virtue it needs.
What goes wrong, and why
Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.
Thinks rules only apply where an adult can see.
Why: School enforcement is visible and street enforcement is not.
Fix: The same situation twice, watched and unwatched. The right answer does not move.
Names the action with no virtue.
Why: The action is concrete.
Fix: The four cards. Naming it makes it transferable to a new situation.
Chooses the easy action over the right one.
Why: The costly one is genuinely harder.
Fix: Say plainly that it is harder. Pretending otherwise makes the lesson unbelievable.
If they are not there yet
- Two virtue cards rather than four.
- Give the action and name the virtue.
If they finish early
- Find a situation where two virtues conflict.
- Say what makes a virtue hard in public.
- Name a virtue not on the cards.
Exit ticket
You drop a wrapper and nobody sees. What do you do, and which virtue is that?
What to look for: Picking it up, with a named virtue. 'Nobody saw' as a reason to leave it means the warm-up needs repeating.
Printable practice for D2.Civ.7.K-2
Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.
- Doing Right Out and AboutCircle the best answer.
Questions about Doing Right Out and About
How long does the Doing Right Out and About lesson take?
40 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 13 min, guided practice 12 min, independent practice 8 min, close 2 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.
Which standard does Doing Right Out and About teach?
D2.Civ.7.K-2 — D2.Civ.7.K-2, Civics for Kindergarten to Grade 2: “Apply civic virtues when participating in school settings.” In plain terms, show fairness, honesty and respect in how you take part at school.
What do I need to teach this lesson?
Four virtue cards, situation cards set on the street, the bus and the shop and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.
What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?
Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: thinks rules only apply where an adult can see; names the action with no virtue and chooses the easy action over the right one. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.
How do I know whether the lesson worked?
The exit ticket asks: “You drop a wrapper and nobody sees. What do you do, and which virtue is that?.” Picking it up, with a named virtue. 'Nobody saw' as a reason to leave it means the warm-up needs repeating. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.
Is there a worksheet to go with Doing Right Out and About?
Yes — 1 printable D2.Civ.7.K-2 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.
Is Doing Right Out and About free to use?
Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on 7 September 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.
Last reviewed 2026-09-07. Aligned to D2.Civ.7.K-2 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.