New Year’s Resolution

(Key Stage 1: Citizenship)
It’s traditional that on the 1st January we make promises that we will become better people. Some people might promise to tidy their room once a week, others may promise they will do what their parents tell them, while others may promise to help with the shopping.

January 1st is the start of the year and a chance to turn over a new leaf. It’s a chance to make up for the things you didn’t do so well last year and to make life a little better for those around you, animals as well as people.

There are lots of ways you can help animals. If you have a dog, why not promise to walk him or her after school? If a cat lives with you, why not promise to play with him or her whenever they come to see you? If you take care of a hamster, a rat or another small animal, you could promise to let that animal have a good, long run around every day.

These are small ways we can make a big difference to the animals we live with. But if you don’t have a companion animal, there are still lots of ways you can improve the lives of animals. You could promise to donate your pocket money to an animal charity once a month. Or help out at a local animal sanctuary during half term. Or pick up litter near your home to make sure that no animal eats it or gets caught in it.

There are lots more ideas! Make a list of 10 the things you could do to make the life of an animal better.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Now choose one of those ideas and make a promise that you will do this for the whole year. On a sheet of paper, write:

• what your idea is
• why you have chosen to make this New Year’s Resolution
• what it means for you
• what it means for animals

Teachers’ Note

Ask the class to keep a diary to show how well they kept their resolutions, how they felt about sticking to them, and how they improved the life of an animal or of animals in general. You could have monthly updates and at the end of the year, award prizes to those pupils who stuck to their resolutions, or to those who made the biggest difference to the lives of animals.