Explore the structure and content of the US Constitution in the second lesson of this five-part social studies series. A collection of activities, games, and videos complement a class reading of a document summarizing the US Constitution, with students using their new knowledge to organize their class rules into a formal constitution.

Concepts

the bill of rights, constitutional amendments, the united states constitution, the three branches of government

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Additional Tags

constitution, bill of rights, amendment, articles of the constitution, branches of government, social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Break up the lesson over the course of a couple days, allowing for more attention to be paid to each section of the Constitution
• Allow students to read the Constitution summary section by section in small groups, asking them to come up with questions and comments that can be discussed as a whole class
• Have students complete the included worksheet with a partner or in small groups, encouraging discussions about the Constitutional Amendments

Pros

• Adaptations and extension activities are provided for modifying the lesson to meet the needs of individual classes
• Includes a document that summarizes the Articles of the Constitution and its amendments
• Offers a series of Brain Break activities for maintaining the engagement of students
• A worksheet is provided that asks students to apply the Constituional Amendments to real-life situations

Cons

• Teacher must prepare the card decks for the Preamble Scramble and Constitution Game prior to performing the lesson

Common Core

RI.3.1 RI.4.1 RI.4.4 RI.4.5 RI.5.1 RI.5.4 RI.5.5 RI.6.1 RI.6.4 RI.6.5