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COPYRIGHT CONCEPTS
Permission and the Right to Decide

Purpose
To help students understand that as creators, they have the right to decide
if and how they will allow their work to be used.

Key concepts
Property comes in many forms: when we buy a book, we
own that book. Its our property, but we dont own the
right to reproduce that book and then sell it or give it away.
Thats stealing.
Always ask, did we respect the artists permission?
Grades: Appropriate for Grade 2 Time required: 20 minutes

Preparation
Equipment needed:
Computer/TV screen to play video.
Print visuals (page 4 below) to use in the attention activity.
OPTIONAL: If you have access to an iPad/tablet lab, have students take pictures for a
few minutes (or throughout the day) that you can use together. Gather the pictures to
your computer, so they can be accessed easily.
Notes to Presenter:
Download video for this lesson at www.iKeepSafe.org/COPYRIGHT and
www.copyrightinformation.org/iKeepSafe
Attention Activity: My Bicycle
Were going to talk about an interesting, grown up idea for a minutePERMISSION.

Lets pretend I have a bikea beautiful bike! Its covered with . . . [INSERT your choice of descriptors (eg
flowers, smileys, dragon stickers , long, sparkly tassels, a bell and a lamp. It roars like a lion, etc.]

I like to share my bike with friends. Im going to tell you what my friends want to do with my bike, and
you tell me if I should give permission for them to use it:

ANTONIO: May I use your bike. I want to climb up on the roof of my house and ride your bike
off the roof and land it in my swimming pool!
ASK: What should I do? Do I give permission for Antonio to use my bike?
[Yes. No. Maybe. Take discussion. Emphasize the decision:
That sounds crazy and dangerous. And it might ruin my bike. I think Im going to say
no.
Some children will disagree:
If YOU want to share YOUR bike for that, you can, but I want my bike to stay nice.
Emphasize:
Grade: 2
PERMISSION
2
When youre sharing your own bike, you get to decide.

PORTIA: May I use your bike? I need to run back to school. I forgot my backpack.
ASK: Do I share my bike with Portia?
[Yes. No. Maybe. Take discussion. Note that Portias use likely wont hurt the bike and its my
choice if I want to help her out. This is where sharing is nice.]

GRATTO: Hey, I thought Antonios idea was totally sick! I told Antonio I would get him a bike, so
he could ride off the roof into the pool. So thanks for the bike! Im going to share it with
Antonio.
[Show surprise. But I said NO to Antonio! Does Gratto have permission to share my bike? No.
Is that nice? No. Thats going to make me hide my bike and not share it with anyone.]

That was REALLY obvious with the bike, but sometimesespecially with pictures and music and other
files on the Internetits not as easy to see.

TEACHER: Were going to talk more about this, but I want you to see something first . . .

Lesson
REVIEW (OPTIONAL): If time permits, you may want to show the Kindergarten and first grade videos and
have brief discussions to review those concepts.
Look what the [kindergarteners] are learning about. You already know it!
Kindergarten: RESPECT THE PERSON: Give CreditTwo friends learn the importance of
respecting names on artwork (attribution).
Grade 1: Its Great to CreateTwo friends discover the fun and benefit of creative
collaboration.

DISCUSSION
Once youve made something, you get to decide how it will be shared or not shared. Watch this video to
see how one child decides.

PLAY VIDEO (45 seconds): Permission and the Right to Decide

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: [Download here: www.iKeepSafe.org/COPYRIGHT.
Student looks through his photograph collection to decide which photographs he wants to give to
friends, post online, sell to neighbors, or keep for his family.

What was going on in that video? [He was deciding what to do with all of his photos.]
What if you wanted to use one of those photos in a PowerPoint for school? [We would need to ask for
permission or buy them from a place that sells them legally.]

Youre not old enough yet to be selling your pictures online, but pretty soon you will be. And youll
appreciate if the rest of us respect your work by not copying it and doing whatever we want with it.

ACTIVITY (Optional): If you have access to an iPad/tablet lab, have students take pictures for a few
minutes or throughout the daywhatever fits into your other lesson plans. Collect pictures and show
them onscreen to the class. Decide together as a class if each picture would be good to share with
parents, or the principal, or other classes. Ask the person who took the picture if he/she is willing to
share. Allow students to say yes and no.
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NOTE: the concepts of ownership, intellectual property, and sharing of digital files are covered in the
Grade 3 lesson, but may be appropriate to cover with your class, depending on their grasp of this lesson.

Wrap-Up
We are all creators at some level. We hope others will respect our work and follow what we decide
to allow with our photos, art, movies, etc. And we play fair with their work too. We are careful to
acknowledge the work of authors and creators and respect their ownership. We recognize that its
hard work to produce something, and we want to get paid for our work.




2013 Internet Keep Safe Coalition (iKeepSafe). All rights reserved.
This product has been developed, copyrighted, and distributed for incidental, classroom use. Copies and reproductions of this content, in whole or in part, may be
distributed, reproduced or transmitted for incidental, classroom use only. Copyright language and distribution restrictions must be included on all reproductions whether
electronic or hard copy. Send legal inquiries to legal@ikeepsafe.org.

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GRADE 2: VISUALS FOR LESSON

FOLD center line. CUT dotted lines, for 3 separate cards. Show class the picture as you present/read the scenario.



ANTONIO: May I use your bike? I want to climb up on the
roof of my house and ride your bike off the roof and land
it in my swimming pool!

ASK: What should I do? Do I give permission for Antonio to
use my bike? [Yes. No. Maybe. Take discussion.
Emphasize the decision:
That sounds crazy and dangerous. And it might ruin
my bike. I think Im going to say no.
Some children will disagree:
If YOU want to share YOUR bike for that, you can, but
I want my bike to stay nice.
Emphasize:
When youre sharing your own bike, you get to
decide.

PORTIA: May I use your bike? I need to
run back to school. I forgot my
backpack.
ASK: Do I share my bike with Portia?

[Yes. No. Maybe. Take discussion. Note
that Portias use likely wont hurt the
bike and its my choice if I want to help
her out. This is where sharing is nice


GRATTO: Hey, I thought Antonios idea was
totally sick! I told Antonio I would get him
a bike, so he could ride off the roof into
the pool. So thanks for the bike! Im going
to share it with Antonio.
[Show surprise. But I said NO to Antonio!
Does Gratto have permission to share my
bike? No. Is that nice? No. Thats going to
make me hide my bike and not share it
with anyone.]


2013 Internet Keep Safe Coalition (iKeepSafe). All rights reserved.
This product has been developed, copyrighted, and distributed for incidental, classroom use. Copies and reproductions of this content, in whole or in part, may only be distributed, reproduced or transmitted for incidental, classroom use. Copyright
language and distribution restrictions must be included on all reproductions whether electronic or hard copy. Send legal inquiries to legal@ikeepsafe.org.

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