Classroom Activities and Resources for
Teachers
All Grades
American Bar Association Division for Public
Education
www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday/schools/lessons/
Don’t be fooled by the “Law Day” title
of this web page. Many lessons appropriate for Law Day
are also right for Constitution Day. They cover such
topics as Due Process, Equal Protection, Separation of
Powers, Judicial Independence, First Amendment Rights,
etc. Links are also provided to other Law-Related Education
(LRE) websites with additional lessons and resources.
Navigate to this page, http://www.abanet.org/publiced/youth/sia/cartoons/home.html,
and find at your fingertips the Cartoon Gallery for short
lessons related to the cartoons.
Center for Civic Education
http://www.civiced.org
Ready-to-use lessons for kindergarten through twelfth
grade. The lessons were adapted from the Center’s We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution text
and Foundations of Democracy curriculum. “The age-appropriate
plans begin with kindergarten and first/ second grade
lessons, which use stories to approach the concepts of
authority and limited government. Ninth- and tenth-graders
examine the organization of the three branches of government
and the Bill of Rights, while eleventh- and twelfth-graders
explore what the Constitution says about the conflict
between liberty and order and the powers and limits of
the federal government.” - Center for Civic Education
Selected lessons are available to download
to an MP3 player. Notes for the Teacher may be downloaded
as audio
recordings.
Constitutional Rights Foundation
http://www.crf-usa.org/constitution_day/constitution_day_home.htm
Provides free online resources including lessons for
K-12. The K-2 lesson title is The Tired King; Grades
3-5, A Visitor from Outer Space, Mr. Madison Needs
Some Help, Trouble in Gold Flats; Grades 6-8, Rome:
Republic
to Empire and The Federalist Papers; and Grades 9-12,
Aristotle: In Search of the Best Constitution and Diversity
and Equality, and the Constitution and Governance.
Roots
of Freedom
http://www.rootsoffreedom.org
Under the Educational Resources tab, find free resources
for teachers including Framing the Constitution Word
Hunt, The Bill of Rights Word Hunt, Hand motions
for memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution,
The Constitution
at a Glance, and an online Constitution Day Game
for which the level of difficulty and topic may be
selected.
Elementary
Scholastic
http://www.scholastic.com
From the home page, go to Teaching Resources. From
here, you may search by grade level, choosing Pre K-K,
1-2,
3-5, or 6-8, or 1-12. In the Resource Search boc, key
in “Constitution.” Numerous items such as
a U.S. Constitution Timeline and Books for Teaching About
the Constitution are there available to you.
NOTE: The
website also provides lessons and resources for middle
and high school students.
Middle
School
The Bill of Rights Institute
http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/constitutionday
Here is an all-new online module with free activities
for students, including Madison’s Notes Are Missing,
Founder Matching, and Constitution Crossword Puzzle.
Follow a link from this page to two free Constitution
Day lessons for middle school. Also, find Constitution
Cube activities for all types of learners.
NOTE: This
website also provides lessons and resources for high
school students.
High School
ABA Constitution Day Website: Conversations
on the Constitution
http://www.abaconstitution.org
This program is designed to encourage civil discussion
and debate about the meaning of some of the Constitution’s
concepts and clauses that have been the subject of ongoing
constitutional debates. Topics include the Preamble (site
includes a free downloadable Preamble Lesson), cruel
and unusual punishment, war powers, separation of powers,
the advice and consent of the Senate, an establishment
of religion, and unreasonable searches and seizures.
From this site, students may electronically “sign
the Constitution” and see the names of all of the
signers. This is also an interactive test of knowledge
as well as a free downloadable Constitution Day poster
available on the ABA web site.
The National Archives
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/
Find biographies of the 39 delegates who signed the
Constitution; a lesson plan related to the ratification
of the Constitution;
fascinating facts about the Constitution; and information
about a teaching unit from the National Archives and
Records Administration. Also, check the section on
Teaching with Documents: U.S. Constitution Workshop
at http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-workshop/index.html
.
Street Law, Inc.
http://www.streetlaw.org/content.asp?ContentId=182
or
http://www.streetlaw.org
From the home page, select Teaching Materials to be
taken to a page where you will find links to 2007
Resources and Materials as well as to Materials from
Previous
Years.
The materials include Summaries of Cases, annotated
guide to books about the Supreme Court, and an annotated
set
of links to other sites providing information about
the Supreme Court.
General Resources
Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
(FREE)
http://www.free.ed.gov/subjects.cfm?subject_id=19
Click on “See All 26 U.S. Constitution Resources” to
find a variety of documents from the Library of Congress,
the National Archives and Records Administration and
the National Constitution Center. Here you may find an
online, searchable Constitution, The Federalist Papers,
a lesson on encouraging students to vote, and much more.
National
Constitution Center’s Constitution Day
Website
http://www.constitutionday.us
Contains resources for Educators, Students, Government
and Military, and Community Leaders. Resources for
Educators are categorized as “events and activities,” “classroom
resources,” “books,” or “audiovisual
resources.” The resources are also searchable
by grade level or keyword.
Constitution Day, Inc.
http://www.constitutionday.com
This organization is celebrating 11 years of simultaneous
reading of the Preamble across the country on Constitution
Day and this year honors the memory of its founder,
Louise Leigh. General Colin Powell introduces the
activity via
a video available for live streaming or downloading
from this web site. A time chart is also posted on
the web
site to let you know what time to begin the activity
in your area. “Bells Across America” concludes
the program by encouraging the ringing of bells locally
to celebrate the First Amendment. The organization
encourages the wearing of red, white, and blue on
Constitution Day.
The web site contains a lengthy series of Q & A
that teachers may wish to use.
Local
Events & Resources
Nebraska Supreme Court and Nebraska State
Bar Foundation
-Connecting Teachers with Judges and Lawyers for Classroom
Presentations
The Supreme Court and the Bar Foundation will assist
teachers in securing an attorney or judge to visit the
classroom and make a presentation. If you are not acquainted
with a judge to invite to you classroom, contact Janet
Bancroft, jbancroft@nsc.state.ne.us. If you need assistance
finding an attorney for a classroom visit, contact Doris
Huffman, doris@nebarfnd.org.
Nebraska
State Bar Foundation’s
2006 Mock Trial Case
http://www.nebarfnd.org/mocktrial.html
State of Nebraska vs. Willie Flounder is a criminal
case involving an attempted murder charge against a
student
for the shooting of another student. The defendant
claims s/he was legally insane at the time of the incident.
The case points up the problem of bullying and provides
opportunities for discussing ways individuals and schools
may respond.
Nebraska
State Bar Foundation’s
2005 Mock Trial Case
http://www.nebarfnd.org/mocktrial.html
Pat Christianson vs. William Jennings Bryan Public
High School is a First Amendment rights case. It
centers around
the Student Council election at William Jennings
Bryan Public High School where the principal, Dr.
Eddie U.
Cation, has told Pat that she will be allowed to
participate as a candidate for student body president
only if she
eliminates her religious rhetoric from the campaign.
Pat refuses to comply with the school’s mandate
to purge her campaign message of any religious references.
She maintains that her First Amendment rights have
been violated and seeks a resolution by filing a
lawsuit.
Also posted at this site are relevant case law summaries
and suggested additional readings.
The Federal Court
for the District of Nebraska calls attention to
the website of the Administrative Offices
of the U.S. Courts, http://www.uscourts.gov/outreach/resources/constitutionday.html.
Listings include:
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The 2007 37-minute taped discussion
with Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. to be shown
on September 17 at federal courthouses around the
country. Email address to contact local courthouses
is provided to check if event is scheduled in your
locality. |
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Constitution Day Discussion Topics |
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Fast Facts about the Federal Courts |
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Interactive Games |
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Bill of Rights Case Studies and Simulations
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Legal Landmarks. |
UNL College of Law will provide law students
for classroom visits. Contact Community Legal Education
Project (CLEP) Chair Brittani
Lewit at belewit@bigred.unl.edu or
CLEP’s faculty advisor, Alan Frank, at 472-1242 or afrank2@unl.edu.
The
Nebraska Department of Education’s
Constitution Day web page may be found at http://www.nde.state.ne.us/SS/ConstitutionDayResources.htm.
Newspapers in Education, Lincoln
Journal Star. Contact Christina Nevitt
at 402/473-7454
September
17, 2007
