Democracy StreetKS2 classroom activities
Democracy Street can be used in the classroom to get your students thinking about connections between Parliamentand their local area. Use the suggestions in this pack to get started!
Discovera parliamentarian
1. Find a street
Use the Democracy Streetapp todiscover streetsthatshare a name with someone who is connected withParliament(aparliamentarian),in the areaaround your school.
2. Research
Ask your studentstofind outsome information aboutthis parliamentarian.They might want to think about whatkind ofjobthey did (e.g.were theya Member of Parliamentor a member ofthe House of Lords)andwhen they worked at Parliament.Did they have aconnection toyour localarea?Whatotherinteresting facts abouttheirlifeand workcan your students discover?
3. Create a factfile
Ask students tocreateafact file,containing keypieces ofinformation from their research.
4. Find a localhero
Ask your studentstofind out whether there are anynearbystreets named after importantlocal figures.Who werethey and what did they achieve?Whywas astreet named after them?Studentscould writea shortbiography of their chosen figure, exploring theirconnection to thelocalarea.
5. Name a street
Ifyourstudents could name a streetafteranyone, who would they nominate? And why?
Designastreetsign
Download the rosette template fromthe webpage. Ask yourstudents to draw something on the rosette that represents theirlocal streetor the parliamentarian they have beenfinding out about.They mightwanttodrawan eventfrom the parliamentarian’s life. Orthey might want todraw something they notice on the street itself.
Take apicture ofthe rosettes and upload themtoyour school’s socialmedia channels (e.g.Twitter)using thehashtag #DemocracySt.ArtistJonAdams mayuse your images as partof a series ofnew artworksthatwillbe displayed in Parliament from16 –22 Novemberduring ParliamentWeek 2015.