It's Constitution Day - Are you ready?

The month of September brings two holidays important to understanding our country's history: Patriot Day and Constitution Day. Mandates require educators to teach their students about both every year. And while Patriot Day is easy to remember, Constitution Day has a tendency to sneak up on us. (Or am I the only one?)

Hopefully you're well planned to teach your students all about the history of our Constitution. But, in case you're in a bit of a last minute scramble, I've put together a list of quality lessons, activities, and other resources for you!

Free Sites

These sites are perfect for collecting your own background information, research, or finding historical documents to share with your class.


1. ConstitutionDay.com. Full of facts about our founding fathers, the Constitution, and the Amendments, this is a great site to keep on file not just for Constitution Day, but when studying our first Presidents. Looking for Constitution Day events happening near you? Find them here!

Image source: http://www.constitutionday.com

2. ConstitutionFacts.com. This site provides a history of Constitution Day, quizzes to test your knowledge, links to a poster challenge for kids, and even a free pocket-sized Constitution book.

Image source: http://www.constitutionday.cc

3. National Archives. Several great resources here including a complete teaching unit, links to original documents, and a simulation showing how the delegates may have felt about signing the Constitution.

Image source: http://www.archives.gov

Lessons and units 

1. "Constitution Day" from Adventures of a Schoolmarm. 78 pages full of resources including nonfiction passages with comprehension questions and answer keys;  Constitution Day Reader's Theater Plays; coloring books; full-page vocabulary posters; three Branches of Government fold-up graphic organizer and more!

2. If you teach upper elementary students, you might be able to use this freebie from Fifth in the Middle. Her "Constitution Day" resource features four differentiated passages, close reading practices, and options for using with interactive notebooks.

3. Simply Skilled in Second's Constitution Day Tab-its resource will "allow you to acknowledge the holiday without taking up a tremendous amount of instructional time." Perfect for teachers with multiple sections and those who use interactive notebooks. Students record what they've learned from the passage under different categories, or tabs.

Extension activities

"Constitution Day" from Miss Giraffe's Class. If you teach early elementary and don't know it already, Miss Giraffe is your best friend. Her resources are simply fabulous!

This cute activity is NO PREP, super simple, and will provide your students with a quick way to show that they've learned about Constitution Day. Miss Giraffe even has a blog post that explains how to use them.

Perfect!

How do you teach your students about Constitution Day? Share your ideas with us!

For additional resources and teaching ideas, visit my blog at everythingjustso.org.