The Constitution

Standards:

From the Iowa Common Core Social Studies Standards:

o Understand that primary sources such as artifacts, photographs, and documents

are used to learn about the past

Selected due to the fact that the Constitution is a historical document

which provides information regarding the past

o Understand the need for government and how our government came to be

Selected because the Constitution provides the basis for the United States

governmental structure

From the Core Knowledge Curriculum:

o History and Geography

American History and Geography

American government is based on the Constitution, the highest law

of our land

o Selected, again, to learn about the governmental structure

of the United States – specifically in regards to the

Constitution

Government by the consent of the governed: “We the people”

o Selected because the concept of “consent of the governed”

is an imperative characteristic that provides the basis of the

entire governmental system of the United States

Objectives:

After the second grade students have had a chance to closely examine the Constitution

and look at several children’s books about the Constitution and the people who created it,

students will create a journal entry that reflects upon what they feel are the major

important parts of the United States government and what values created these parts,

using at least four important (i.e. not “the,” “a,” etc.) words located in the Constitution

and less than five punctuation, grammar, or spelling errors.

Resources / Materials:

DVD of SchoolHouse Rock! clip of the Preamble

o If a DVD is not available, the clip is also available at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHp7sMqPL0g (not the best quality but

better than many of the others on YouTube)

A copy of the Constitution

o Can be found at the following link:

http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/constitution/text.html

List of books about the Constitution, writers of the Constitution, colonists, etc. attached

Writers Notebooks / Journals

Learning Plan:

Introduction:

o Today we are going to start our unit about how the government of the United

States was formed. We will be closely examining the Constitution itself, which

was the basis upon which our government was formed, as well as the people who

helped to create the Constitution and government. Throughout today’s class, we

are going to be looking at several books that will help us to understand exactly

what led to the creation of the Constitution. At the end of the class, I’m going to

have you take out your notebooks and write an entry that will demonstrate what

values you believe are contained within the Constitution while using at least four

words actually contained in the Constitution. These words will need to be more

important to the values in the Constitution than just “the” or “a,” a good way will

be to use headings as opposed to the text itself. You will also need to write your

entries with fewer than five punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors, similar to

every other journal entry you have written.

o In order to begin our lesson today, we are going to watch a video about the

Preamble of the Constitution, which is basically the introduction of the document.

Group Practice:

o Now we are going to look at the text of the actual Constitution. I am going to ask

each table group to look at a particular section of the Constitution, called an

Article (for those groups assigned Articles 1 – 3, they will not be required to look

at the entire article, due to the length of these articles in particular). Please grab

your group dictionaries and look up any words that confuse you or that you do not

recognized. The student with the red nametag at your group will record the words

that you have looked up as well as a definition in your own words.

o Before the table groups do this, however, the teacher will work through the

Preamble with the class, as it is fairly short. The following words are encouraged

to be looked up as a class:

Union

Justice

Tranquility

Welfare

Liberty

Posterity

Ordain

o If any of the students are having particular difficulties, the teacher will be

available to answer any questions and define words whose definitions may be

confusing as well.

Individual Practice:

o After the table groups have finished defining the specific words from their article,

each of the students will select at least one book from those provided to read and

use for their journal entries. If the students do not have enough time to complete

this assignment in class, they will be able to work on it throughout any free time

the rest of the day and/or bring the book and journal home to complete for

homework.

Assessment:

The students will turn in their notebooks at the beginning of the next day, so that all

students are turning them in at the same time and the students who brought their

notebooks home do not feel singled out. After all of the notebooks are turned in, they will

be graded based upon the rubric below:

Exceptional Notable Adequate Developing

Number of

“Important”

Words Used

Used at least

four

“important”

words

Used three

“important”

words

Used one or

two

“important”

words

Did not

include any

“important”

words

Vocabulary /

Grammar /

Spelling

There are five

or fewer

errors of the

following:

o Sentence

structure

o Grammar

o Punctuation

o Spelling

There are

between six

and eight

errors of the

following:

o Sentence

structure

o Grammar

o Punctuation

o Spelling

There are

between nine

and eleven

errors of the

following:

o Sentence

structure

o Grammar

o Punctuation

o Spelling

There are

more than

eleven errors

of the

following:

o Sentence

structure

o Grammar

o Punctuation

o Spelling

Differentiation:

For students who need additional time, resources, etc.:

o The students who would like additional time will be able to complete their

assignment in the evening, rather than feeling pressure to complete it during class.

o The students who need additional resources will be able to use the class

computers to find additional information or to find even simpler explanations.

o For the students in the class who are ESL or EL, they will be able to use the

following website to receive very simplified information regarding the

Constitution: http://www.elcivics.com/constitution_civics_1.html

For students who are considered to be high ability:

o For those students who are at a higher reading level, there will be more difficult

books to select.

o For those students who simply do not feel challenged by the assignment, they can

speak with the teacher in order to come up with a personally more challenging

assignment to complete (as this lesson will likely come later in the year, the

students who need a more challenging assignment will know to come to the

teacher and the teacher will know these students as well). The following are some

examples of possible additional assignments:

Take on the role of a colonist or a writer of the Constitution and write a

journal entry about “The Day in the Life of…”

Create a timeline depicting the important events leading up to the creation

of the Constitution, writing of the Constitution, and several years after the

Constitution was written

Create an art project that depicts the meaning of the Constitution in

whatever form the student feels most comfortable with

There will likely need to be additional rubrics created in order to grade the students with

higher ability, but hopefully the teacher will have some rubrics created that will be

specific to those students who need to have adjustments made for the assignment.

Resources:

Iowa Common Core Standards:

"Social Studies - Kindergarten-Grade 2." Iowa.gov. Iowa Department of Education, n.d.

Web. 1 Oct. 2014. <https%3A%2F%2Fwww.educateiowa.gov%2Fpk-

12%2Fiowa-core%2Fsocial-studies%2Fsocial-studies-%25C2%25BB-

kindergarten-grade-2>.

Core Knowledge Curriculum:

"Core Knowledge Sequence: Content and Skill Guidelines for Grades K-8." (n.d.): n.

pag. Core Knowledge. The Core Knowledge Foundation. Web. 1 Oct. 2014.

<http://www.coreknowledge.org/mimik/mimik_uploads/documents/480/CKFSeq

uence_Rev.pdf>.

Places Consulted for Lists of Books:

o "Constitution for Kids -- Best Children's Books for K-8." The Best Children's

Books.org. The Best Children's Books.org, n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.

<http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/Constitution-for-

kids.html#Constitution-for-kids>.

o "Books for Constitution Day." Goodreads. Goodreads, n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.

<http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2401.BOOKS_FOR_CONSTITUTION_D

AY>.

List of Books to Use

If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy

The Founders: The 39 Stories Behind the U.S. Constitution by Dennis Brindell Fradin

The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution by W. Cleon

Skousen

Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz

Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by Benson John Lossing

Constitution Translated for Kids by Cathy Travis

We the People: The Story of Our Constitution by Lynne Cheny

1776 by David McCullough

We, the People by Peter Spier

We the Kids by David Catrow

George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn

Schanzer

Our Constitution Rocks! by Juliette Turner

Constitution Construction by Bentley Boyd

Father of the Constitution: A Story about James Madison

Creating the Constitution: 1787 by Christopher Collier

A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution by Betsy Maestro

The U.S. Constitution and You by Syl Sobel

The Children’s Book of America by William J. Bennett

Our Country’s Founders by William J. Bennett

Wives of the Signers: The Women Behind the Declaration of Independence by David

Barton

Separation of Church and State: What the Founders Meant by David Barton

The Real Thomas Jefferson: The True Story of America’s Philosopher of Freedom by

Andrew M. Allison

The Real George Washington by Andrew M. Allison

The Real Benjamin Franklin by Andrew M. Allison

Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion by David Barton

The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathon Hennessey

This list can be adapted and changed based upon the personalities, reading levels, etc. of the

actual class of students.