In May of 2005 Congress passed a law stating that "every school and college must teach about the Constitution on September 17th, the day the document was adopted in 1787."

The following sites have excellent resources lesson plans, and book lists to help you and your school site prepare meaningful experiences for your students as they celebrate their citizenship and learn more about the American Constitution.

Be sure to check the outstanding video clips available in United Streaming.  If you teach middle school or high school, be sure to visit the interactive lessons in Curriculum Pathways (Contact the Helpdesk for your login or password)

Constitution Day Portals

The following websites have created specific material and collected links to resources developed for Constitution Day celebrations.

• The California Regional Service Learning Network funded the creation of the following website that is filled with recommended lessons, resources, activities, and booklists for Constitution Day.
  Lessons:
  
  Elementary
  Middle School
  High School

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Videos and Live Programming

• United Streaming has many outstanding video clips and projects that are perfect for instruction on Constitution Day. Navigate to http://www.discoveryeducation.com and login.  In the box titled "keyword" type in the word Constitution. Sort by age, grade, or standard. They have 38 video clips with blackline masters and teachers' guides. You'll also find excellent articles and digital copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Two of the videos also include student role playing projects and research. (Gambling and Judicial Review and You the Jury)
   

• There are 12 video clips from Sunnylands' Constitution Project that you can download from the Annenberg Classroom site. Three supreme court justices, Sandra Day-O'Connor, Stephen Breyer, and Anthony Kennedy discuss landmark cases and the role of judges with students from California and Pennsylvania.

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Online Quizzes and Lessons

• The Congress for Kids web site has three short quizzes about general information about how our government works. After students take the quizzes they can take a tour of the federal government. After each section of the tour, there are interactive puzzles for students to test their learning. (Click here for an excellent index of the activities on this site.)

• Scholastic News.Com has an online "Do You Know Your Rights" Game for students to test their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution.

• Scholastic also hosts an online "Constitution Quiz."  (There is a link to a print version as well.)

• Visit Scholastic.com in collaboration with the National Constitution Center for an online scavenger hunt that introduces students to portions of the U.S. Constitution.

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Lesson Plans
Elementary  | Secondary

Elementary

• The Center for Civic Education and the American Association of School Administrators have collaborated to present suggested lessons for each grade level. Some lessons at the lower levels may need some adaptation to meet the needs of your students.
   

• The CA Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools also provides grade level lesson plans for grades 1-12. They are also sponsoring an essay and poster contest.
   

• Ben's guide to the US Government for Kids is a great site with a Free activity book for grades K-6.  Choose one or more pages to copy. For lesson plans and a guided "slide show" by grade level, click on the link to the right, or choose by grade level link:
  Grades K-2 
  Grades 3-5.
   

• Scholastic.Com offers three complete lesson plans for Constitution Day that are especially appropriate for grades 3-8.
   

• Concepts to teach about the Constitution for Grades K-3
  Concepts to teach about the Constitution for Grades 4-7
   

• What's Fair in A Free Country? This site provides outstanding lessons that make the study of the US Constitution relevant for students by addressing real world issues such as what students have a right to say, and what they "can't" say on your campus.
   

• I Have, Who Has Vocabulary Terms for US Government Activity
   

• Scholastic News.Com has an online "Do You Know Your Rights" Game for students to test their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution.
   

• Visit Scholastic.Com for a great Time Line of the Constitution with specific links to Civil Rights, Women's Rights, The Framers of the Constitution, and the Supreme Court.

Middle School/High School

• CongressLink: 7 Lessons to teach the Amendments, including a creative song to help students remember them.
   

• I Have, Who Has Vocabulary Terms for US Government Activity
   

• What's Fair in A Free Country? This site provides outstanding lessons that make the study of the US Constitution relevant for students by addressing real world issues such as what students have a right to say, and what they "can't" say on your campus.
   

• Should we Ratify the Constitution: This project requires students to study and then represent the positions of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists in a debate to decide if we should ratify the Constitution.
   

•  The US Constitution Power Grab Game: While playing this game students will judge the constitutional powers of each branch of the government.
   

• Conflicting Opinions Among the Framers of the Constitution In this lesson students will analyze conflicting points of view held by leading Framers of the Constitution and will present their opinions of the concerns.
   

• Each middle school and high school teacher has a license to access all the standard-based lessons in Curriculum Pathways (SASinSchool.) For your login and password, contact the helpdesk.
   

• For lesson plans and a guided "slide show" by grade level, choose from the following grade level links:
  Grades 6-8 
  Grades 9-12
   

• Visit Scholastic.Com for a great Time Line of the Constitution with specific links to Civil Rights, Women's Rights, The Framers of the Constitution, and the Supreme Court.
   

• Scholastic.Com offers three complete lesson plans for Constitution Day that are especially appropriate for grades 3-8.
   

• Concepts to teach about the Constitution for Grades 4-7
  Concepts to teach about the Constitution for Grades 8-12
   

• The Center for Civic Education and the American Association of School Administrators have collaborated to present suggested lessons for each grade level. Some lessons at the lower levels may need some adaptation to meet the needs of your students.

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Source Documents and Additional Resources

• The National Archives Experience hosts an online exhibit of the Constitution. You can view or download images of the actual documents at their site or read a number of articles regarding the Constitutional Convention and the ratification process, or questions and answers about the Constitution.

• The American Memory Site at the Library of Congress houses an online collection of the majority of the source documents related to the the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. You can view the early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as well as hundreds of documents related to the drafting and ratification of the Constitution.

• Visit the Avalon Project at Yale University for a detailed documentary record of the Constitution of the United States.

• The Interactive Constitution: The National Constitution Center provides this free online tool to search the US Constitution. You can search by KEYWORD, TOPIC, or SUPREME COURT CASES.