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.”

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We visited this museum while on vacation, and I was surprised how much we enjoyed it.  It takes a minimum of an hour to go through it, and I’m sure we spent much longer than that. You get to walk through several old mining replicas that are realistic and fun for kids of all ages.  They have a huge rock collection, and those who collect rocks would enjoy this section.  The museum is located in an old mining town in an absolutely beautiful part of Colorado and is well worth the drive to get there!

For those who are interested, you can take a quick online tour of the museum.   You can also read a biography of each of the inductees to the Mining Hall of Fame.

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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

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We visited the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado with our teenage son a few years ago, and he was so impressed with the bridge that a couple of years later he chose it for a school project.  It is truly an awesome experience to walk across the lengthy bridge, look across towards the majestic mountains, look down into the immense canyon, and then ride the “world’s steepest incline railway” deep down into the canyon and look up at the tiny strand of a bridge that you have just walked across.  Pictures do not do it justice!  It is one of those “Wow!” experiences.

Here are a few facts about the bridge:

• History of the bridge
• Facts about the bridge
• Engineering facts

ONLINE VIDEO OF ROYAL GORGE BRIDGE:

• Royal Gorge Bridge & Park Video

SCHOOL PROJECT:

I wish I had taken pictures throughout all the steps of this project, but time was a factor and I didn’t.   Here are some of the few pictures I did take.   I am so glad I took these pictures beforehand because his project disappeared from the classroom and we never got it back.  It got thrown out with the trash by the janitor along with 20 other projects.   Our son received a high grade on this project so at least the teacher did see it!

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SUPPLIES NEEDED:  (and these can vary…be creative)

• A large, very sturdy foam (or wood) sheet to form the base for the project
• Large empty cereal boxes to form the brown walls on either side of the canyon
• Newspapers to make paper mache slopes and texture for the inside of the canyon
• Brown craft paint to cover the paper mache slopes
• Brown construction paper to cover the outside portions of the cereal boxes that are not in the canyon (and any part of the cereal boxes showing that are not part of the canyon) OR brown paint.  We found it easier and quicker to use brown construction paper.
• Popsicle sticks to glue together to make the base for the road part of the bridge
• Flat toothpicks to make the bridge slats over the top of the Popsicle sticks
• Wooden dowel rods and other small wooden pieces from a craft store
• Lightweight craft wire to make the cable wires for the bridge
• Silver Sharpie Permanent Marker or silver spray paint  (for the wooden pieces)
• Heavy duty tape such as duct tape
• Newspapers to make paper mache
• Glue

PROCEDURE:

• If you have never visited Royal Gorge, then I suggest watching the Online Video to give you a better idea of what the bridge looks like.
• Using duct tape or something similar, tape the cereal boxes in place along the two long edges of the thick foam or wooden base.  This forms the canyon.
• Make paper mache out of newspapers, glue and water.  Use paper mache to make the slopes on the inside of the cereal boxes to make the canyon walls.
• Paint the paper mache canyon walls and floor of the canyon with brown craft paint.
• Paint the outside of the cereal boxes with brown paint or cover with brown construction paper.  (we used construction paper)
• Use blue craft paint or blue plastic wrap to form the river at the bottom of the canyon.
• Depending on what wooden pieces you find at the craft or hobby store, look at the picture of the bridge and use your creativity to use items from the hobby shop to approximate the dimensions to scale in your model.  Color the wood with silver to represent the metal parts of the bridge.
• Glue the Popsicle sticks end to end and then lay “slats” made from flat toothpicks (cut in half or thirds) across the sticks to form the part of the bridge that cars drive across.  (This is very time consuming and you might come up with a different idea.)
• Use the craft wire to form the cables on the bridge.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

• Royal Gorge Bridge, “Building World Landmarks” Series, by Margaret Yuan.  Good for ages 7-14.  Describes the techniques and difficulties in building the bridge.
• America’s Top 10 Bridges by Edward Ricciuti.  Good for ages 7-12.  The Royal Gorge Bridge is included in the 10.

COUPON FOR ROYAL GORGE BRIDGE:

• Coupon for $2 off general admission ticket.  Good for up to six people.  Expires 12-31-2011.

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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

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A special exhibit called the Tango Alpha Charlie: Texas Aviation Celebration will be at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum from September 12, 2010, through January 9, 2011. There are educator resources available to go with this exhibit. In the educator’s guide below, there are 11 lessons that tell about the history and science of aviation in Texas.  These lessons are aligned with STEAM and TEKS objectives.  There is also a student log book available too.

• TAC Educator Guide
• Student Flight Log
• About Student Flight Log

There is more information available about the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.

Also, here are great free printable Wright Brothers worksheets along with an easy-t0-read story, pictures, and games.

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• Bob the Builder
• Kids Astronomy
• Online Tests over Presidents
• Worksheets on famous people
  
• Starfall – ABC’s, Phonics, Reading, & Books

Here are more sites with free printable word webs:

• Advanced Word Web lesson sheet
• Basic Word Web Worksheet
• Cluster Word Web Worksheet
• Halloween Word Webs
• Word Web Lesson Sheets

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This site, National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center, contains the following  information:

• 9-11 History
• Exploring 9-11:  The World Before & After
• Timeline of Events
• Origins & Impacts
• Explore the designs and learn about the planning of the museum
• Photo Albums of the Memorial & Museum
• Growing collection of artifacts & oral histories
• Education Resources (see below)

This site, Education Resources for Teachers & Students, contains the following information:

• For high school educators:  a discussion guide and activities to download
• 9-11:  Stories of Survival and loss
• The Spirit of Volunteerism:  9-11 and Beyond  (a short film)
• Teaching Guide with take-home pages to download
• Scholastic Kid Reporter Articles

Video: September 11 Memorial Video Tribute

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• Abraham Lincoln
• Andrew Jackson
• Barack Obama
• Benjamin Franklin
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• George Washington
• James Madison
• James Monroe
• John Adams
• John F. Kennedy
• Ronald Reagan
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Thomas Jefferson

Teachers will need to log in and register their class so students can take the online tests.  Remember there is no cost for anything!

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