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Center for Civic Education
Constitution Day Rap
Engage your class while learning about the US Constitution with this fun primary grade social studies activity. After viewing a picture of the US Constitution, young learners piece together a US flag using stars and...
Center for Civic Education
What Basic Ideas Are in the Preamble to the Constitution?
Introduce young historians to the US Constitution with this upper-elementary social studies lesson plan. Beginning with a general discussion about the role of government in society, students go on to work in small...
Curated OER
Lesson 2: The Constitution: Our Guiding Document
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...
Center for Civic Education
Orb and Effy Learn About Authority
Simplify the teaching of the US Constitution with this primary grade social studies lesson. While reading a fun story about an imaginary place called Bubble Land, children learn about the concept of authority and the importance of...
Judicial Learning Center
The Constitution
Supreme Court justices debate the meaning of the US Constitution, but we expect teachers to explain it to scholars with far less training and experience. A daunting task for sure, but it's not insurmountable with resources that simplify...
Judicial Learning Center
The U.S. Supreme Court
How do Supreme Court justices determine which cases to consider? What happens when the Supreme Court decides not to take a case? The lesson explores important questions and others in the field of criminology. It focuses on the...
Center for Civic Education
What Is Authority?
Young scholars examine the concepts of power and authority as they begin learning about government in this elementary social studies lesson plan. Through a series of readings, discussions, and problem solving activities, children...
Judicial Learning Center
Article III and the Courts
What's the best way to make sense of the Constitution? A helpful lesson contains both the text of Article III and annotation of each of its sections, breaking it down into easy-to-understand parts. It also includes links to a...
George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens
George Washington: Centerpiece of a Nation
A neat Presidents Day activity, this lesson provides a culminating learning experience for upper elementary aged learners. After analyzing George Washington's, "A Display of the United States of America," your learners will conduct...
National Endowment for the Humanities
George Washington: The Precedent President
Everyone knows that George Washington was the first president, but do your scholars know why that was so important? The lesson plan, the third in a sequence of three, allows learners to understand how George Washington set a precedent...
Judicial Learning Center
The Power of Judicial Review
Marbury v. Madison is arguably the most important landmark case in the history of the Supreme Court. A fact-filled lesson provides background information about the case and two others related to the concept of judicial review. Scholars...
City University of New York
Electoral College
A presidential election is a lot like the 2004 World Series, and it's also a lot like choosing an orange in a paper bag. Apply the process of the electoral college to these two analogies with a set of lessons about government...
Music Publishers Association of the United States
I Made It. I Own It. Please Don't Steal It.
Explore the world of copyright law with a variety of activities to instill the importance of respecting creative property. Scholars watch an animated tale then take part in a grand conversation detailing the video's main idea, details,...
National Constitution Center
Fourth of July (Grades 3-5)
Bring history to life for your young scholars with a Fourth of July lesson series. After a class reading of the Declaration of Independence, students translate this pivotal document into layman's terms before working in small...
National Constitution Center
Fourth of July (Grades 9-12)
Class members work to translate the Declaration of Independence into their own words, as well as design a Facebook page within the context of 1776 to raise public awareness about the document and its meaning for citizens.