We the People.... Constitution Day!

So, Constitution Day is upon us again.  We always freak out a little in the primary grades because the Constitution is a lil difficult for little guys to understand,  but this year I am pretty excited about it!   We had a great inservice this summer that did a Constitution Day activity and I am stealing the ideas right out of the session.    

We will be reading We The Kids illustrated by Catrow . 

http://www.amazon.com/We-Kids-Preamble-Constitution-United/dp/0142402761/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379044959&sr=8-1&keywords=we+the+kids

 

It is literally the preamble to the constitution illustrated for kids.   It is cute and provides some really fantastic images for kids to more easily understand pretty difficult concepts.   I have two copies of the book - which is helpful when we get into the activity part of lesson.

Then we will watch the BEST Schoolhouse Rock video ever - The Constitution!  Seriously,  my team walks around singing this for WEEKS after Constitution Day.    We play it several times so the kids have a better idea of order of the words in the Preamble.

I will give students this link -http://const4kids.forums.commonground13.us/?p=19  .  It is a great kids site to explain each phrase of the preamble.   I will then pass out strips of paper with a phrase from the preamble on each.  If you don't want to type it up,  you can find it here free - it ain't pretty,  but it gets the job done! Make enough copies to give one to each group of 8-10 kids.   Divide the class up into groups of 7-10 kids and give the kids who may need some extra help a partner. 

Each child or pair of students will work together to understand what their phase means and create a gesture to go with it.   They will then get with the rest of the group (in my room we really only need two groups...I only have 14 kids,  don't throw anything at me,  I know I am super lucky this year) and get into order by their phrases (this is where having two copies of the book comes in handy,  but they can also use the website or have a copy of the preamble hanging up etc.).   Students will work together to act out the whole preamble for the other groups.   Students will get a lot of practice with this document, and get a much deeper understanding of the vocabulary! 

I am excited to try this out!  I am thinking it will be a great way to start our Constitution week!