How To Teach Kids

Constitution Day is required by Federal law (Public Law 108-447) to be celebrated by all publicly funded educational institutions on September 17th, the day that the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787.  Before this law was enacted in 2004, the holiday was known as “Citizenship Day”.  Now, it’s known as “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day” to be exact, and this holiday also recognizes those who have become U.S. citizens.

Here is a great assortment of activities and links to videos, lesson plans, games, words to rap, a slide show, a timeline, and informational sites:

 

• Download a Constitution Day video to make a DVD for your classroom or school assembly (or show online).  Video features kids from elementary school through high school.  Great video!
• Art Activity:  For young students, paint large flags using long horizontal stokes that cross midline and use ab pattern for stripes.  For students a little older, do the same but count the 50 stars and 13 stripes as well as pattern and write a sentence or sentences (i.e. This is my flag.) using proper punctuation.
• Create a constitution for the class listing the class rules, and have all the students, the teacher and any aides sign it.
• Constitution Day, Sept. 17th
• Make a Boston Tea Party booklet.  Free printable booklet tells the story of the Boston Tea Party for grades 1-3.
• Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids: Games & Activities for grades K-2.
• Constitution Games, Lessons, & Activities for all grade levels.
• Lesson Plans for Constitution Day for all grade levels.
• Constitution Day Ideas
• Constitution Day Free Lessons to Download for all grade levels.
• The Bill of Rights Match Game for Elementary Level or Secondary Level.
• Constitution Day Rap to download (listed under grades 1 & 2).  After downloading, go to page 11 for the rap.
• Educator & Student Resources for Constitution Day

•  ‘A More Perfect Union’ Slide Show

• Centuries of Citizenship:  A Constitutional Timeline (available in Broadband version & Low Bandwidth version)
• Bill of Rights Online Game
• Hand Motions for memorizing the Preamble
• Constitution Day Resources & Lessons for Middle and High School students.
• Constitutional Fun Facts for kids.  Great for older students.
• Interactive Constitution for older students.
• Constitutional Principles: Representative Government video for High School students.
• The Founders’ Library: Thinking as a Founding Father Lesson Plans for High School students.
• National Constitution Center Resources
• The Bill of Rights
• Printer-friendly Version of Amendments 11-27
• Lesson for this standard:  “Demonstrate understanding of the issues related to the creation and ratification of the United States Constitution and the new Government it established.”

Credit: Free pictures from acobox.com

Christopher Columbus and three ships named the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, are well known and studied by students every year in October in remembrance of Columbus Day.  Columbus made four voyages in search of a western route to the Orient and to discover new territories, and it was the first voyage in which the three famous ships sailed the Atlantic.  Columbus was not the first European to reach America but was actually second, and he miscalculated the longitude in getting to the Orient.  However, he did have beneficial information about the trade winds which greatly helped traveling the Atlantic Ocean, and his travels were the beginning of American colonization.

FREE ONLINE MATERIALS:

• Christopher Columbus:  Easy-to-read story, picture, 8 free printable worksheets & games, and test
• Christopher Columbus from the Mariners’ Museum – History of his life and voyages:

1. First Voyage
2. Second Voyage
3. Third Voyage
4. Fourth Voyage

• Crayola Site:  Columbus Day
• Wikipedia:  Christopher Columbus

CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

• Christopher Columbus:  The Voyage That Changed the World (Sterling Biographies Series) by Emma Carlson Berne.  Good for ages 10-12.  Reveals the thoughts and emotions of Columbus.
• Columbus Day by Vicki Liestman.  Good for ages 6-8.  Presents basic facts in a simple yet very informative way.
• Junie B., First Grader:  Shipwrecked (Junie B. Jones Series #23) by Barbara Park & Denise Brunkus.  Good for ages 6-9.

• What Columbus Found:  It Was Orange, It Was Round by Jane Kurtz

DVD:

• Magnificent Voyage of Christopher Columbus (as seen on Public Television).  Educational and entertaining.

Pictured below is the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain at Union Station:

Credit: Free pictures from acobox.com

Credit: Free pictures from acobox.com
The Constitution begins with three famous words, “We the people,”  and was signed on September 17, 1787  in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It was signed by the Founding Fathers and because of the Constitution, we enjoy many of the rights and freedoms we have today.  Here are some interesting facts:

1. The first national Thanksgiving Day was originally created by George Washington to give thanks for the Constitution.
2. The U.S. Constitution is the oldest and shortest of all the national constitutions.
3. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate.  He was 81 years old at the time.
4. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, the Constitution was moved to Fort Knox for safekeeping.  Now it is at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
5. There have been 27 amendments to the Constitution out of the more than 11,000 that have been introduced in Congress.

Free Lesson Plans:

• Lesson Plans for HS, MS, and Elementary
• “Thinking as a Founding Father” Lesson Plan

Free Online Games:

• Abraham Lincoln’s Crossroads Game
• Bill of Rights Game
• Headed to the White House (student runs for president)
• Voting Rights Game
• “Which Founding Father Were You?”

Free Online Materials:

• Biographies of all the delegates
• Interactive Constitution
• Naturalization Online Test
• Print out the Constitution

Videos:

• America Gets a Constitution Video
  
• Creating the Constitution Video