The United States Constitution

Grade Level: 8 Subject: Social Studies Prepared by: Jamie Menshouse Overview and Purpose: Students are to apply their understanding of the responsibilities and the basic rights of individuals according to the U.S. Constitution by creating their own classroom constitution. Educational Standards KY SS-08-1.1.1 Students will compare purposes and sources of power in the most common forms of government (monarchy, democracy, republic). DOK 2 KY SS-08-1.2.1 Students will identify the three branches of government, describe their functions and analyze and give examples of the ways the U.S. Constitution separates power among the legislative, executive and judicial branches to prevent the concentration of political power and to establish a system of checks and balances. DOK Objectives: Specify skills/information that will be learned Students will reproduce the U.S. Constitution by classifying individual rights and responsibilities into the proper categories and applying them to meet their needs inside the classroom.

Materials Needed: SmartBoard Tablet Computers Paper Pencil

Other Resources: (websites, videos, books, etc.)

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html http://www.constitutionfacts.com/ http://prezi.com/

The American Republic To 1877 (textbook) Give and/or demonstration necessary information Why was the U.S. Constitution written? Name 5 founding fathers of the United States. Who is the father of the constitution? Name the three branches of government. What is the Preamble and why is a part of the constitution? When was the constitution signed? What day was the Bill of Rights ratified? How many articles are in the constitution? Who said Let our government be like that of the solar system. Let the general government be like the sun and the states the planets, repelled yet attracted, and the whole moving regularly and harmoniously in several orbits. ? 10 What is the definition of amendment?
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Verification: Steps to check for student understanding 1 Students will answer guided questions on their handout. 2 Students will place the appropriate answers in the correct boxes. 3 Students will create their own classroom constitution. Activity: Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson Day 1: After reading the Constitution Handbook in The American Republic To 1877, each student will be given a tablet computer and a handout with two web addresses listed and instructions to follow while exploring the websites. Students will look at how the U.S. Constitution is categorized by Articles for each governmental branch. Students will answer guided questions while they browse the sites. Day 2: Once students have searched and answered all of the guided questions, they will participate in a Smart Board activity to practice their understanding. Students will be asked to drag the correct answers to the

appropriate boxes. For example, a box might say Article III and the students will need to find a definition or statement that discusses the Judicial Branch of government. Students will also place the categories of the constitution into the correct order of appearance as another formative assessment. Students will then be placed into groups of four to brainstorm individual rights and responsibilities that they would like to see in the classroom. The groups will begin to divide student roles into branches and draft their own classroom constitution. Each group will need to design their constitution after the United States with all of the roles and responsibilities being categorized within the proper articles and the rights being categorized within the amendments. Students will use their tablets to refer back to the websites to help them while creating their own constitution. Day 3-6: Students will finish drafting a classroom constitution and present it to the rest of the class in the form of a Prezi. The Prezi will be projected onto the Smart Board and students will explain the roles, responsibilities and rights that they decided should be a part of the classroom environment.

Notes An extension of this lesson would be to have students elect a representative from each group to discuss pros and cons of each groups constitution to demonstrate a representative government. The elected officials will vote and adopt a constitution for the classroom.