Curated OER
Keep Your Eye On the Prize
High schoolers learn about citizens who were actively involved in the civil rights movement, and the strategies they used to overcome the Jim Crow laws that were so prevalent in the 1960s. They investigate the voting amendments of the US...
Curated OER
Explore the Constitution
Students examine the U.S. Constitution. For this American history lesson, students explore the founders' vision of U.S. government as they participate in readers' theatre, role-playing scenarios, and constitutional analysis activities.
Curated OER
Awwwk…..Jim Crow Laws/ Constitutional?
Learners examine the constitutionality of Jim Crow Laws. In this civil rights lesson, students read excerpts of the U.S. Constitution as well as examples of Jim Crow Laws. Learners select Jim Crow laws and then find out what portions of...
National Endowment for the Humanities
James Madison: Raising an Army—Balancing the States and the Federal Government
To war! To war! Every nation in the history of the world has had to deal with warfare on some level. Scholars go through a series of activities and discussions surrounding the development of the Constitution to help them better...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
History of Immigration From the 1850s to the Present
The Statue of Liberty may embrace the huddled masses of the world, but has American society always joined in? After young historians read a passage about the history of American immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on...
Curated OER
How Congress Works
Students describe role of the U.S. Congress in American government as set forth in the Constitution, and explain why the Framers created a Congress with a House and a Senate and gave them different roles.
Curated OER
Documents and Symbols and American Freedom
Students complete a unit of lessons on the documents, symbols, and famous people involved in the founding of the U.S. government. They create a personal bill of rights, write a found poem, design a flag, conduct research, and role-play...
Curated OER
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Lesson: Immigration
Many of your class members will have heard of Executive Order 9066 and the Japanese internment camps of World War II. Some may even recognize the terms “Issei” and “Nisei,” but few will have heard of Enemy Alien Hearing Boards, of the...
Curated OER
Branches of Government
Students explore the three branches of government. In this government and U.S. history lesson, students listen to a story about a boy who attempts to sponsor a bill to ban cartoons. Students interview three teachers who each represent...
Curated OER
An Introduction to the National Archives
Fifth graders study the national archives through both images AND visiting the site. This is meant to provide them with an understanding of what documents are important to the U.S. and why (i.e. Declaration of Independence, etc...).
DocsTeach
The Amendment Process: Ratifying the 19th Amendment
The process for adding an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is long and arduous, by design. High School historians study a series of documents about the Nineteenth Amendment and, using an interactive program, drag the documents onto a...
Curated OER
A More Perfect Union
Fourth graders complete a unit of lessons on the development of the U.S. government. They examine the main ideas of the Declaration of Independence, develop a class translation of the preamble to the Constitution, create a flow chart,...
Curated OER
Bill of Rights
Students analyze the U.S. Bill of Rights. They conduct research on an amendment of the Bill of Rights, complete a worksheet that matches scenarios to amendments of the Bill of Rights, and write a letter to their Congressperson.
Curated OER
Ohio's U.S. Presidents
Fourth graders investigate the state of Ohio's claim to be the "Mother of Presidents." Nine U.S. presidents were from the state and their contributions and terms of office are examined in this lesson.
Curated OER
Ratification of the Constitution Word Search
In this of United States history word search learning exercise, students locate 25 places, names, and terms pertinent to the Ratification of the Constitution which are hidden within the word puzzle. A word bank is included.
Curated OER
U.S. Constitutional Facts and Figures
In this Constitution worksheet, students fill in the blanks to sentences with facts about numbers in the Constitution. Students fill in 12 blanks.
Curated OER
Looking at Constitutions
Students work in groups to research and examine Constitutions from various countries. In this government and public interests activity, students analyze primary and secondary documents to make a comparison between constitutional...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 4 James Madison: Internal Improvements Balancing Act—Federal/State and Executive/Legislative
Who has the power? The founding fathers asked the same question when the United States was formed. Learners explore issues that arose during Madison’s presidency that raised constitutional questions. Through discovery, discussion, and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The "To Do List" of the Continental Congress
What is on your to-do list today? The second lesson of a three-part series on Lost Heroes of America investigates the laundry list of items in front of the second Continental Congress. Scholars research, analyze, and present information...
NPR
Civil Rights of Japanese-American Internees
Prompted by a viewing of Emiko and Chizu Omori’s Rabbit in the Moon, a documentary about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, high schoolers examine a series of documents, including the Bill of Rights and the UN’s...
Curated OER
U.S. CONSTITUTION: PREAMBLE
In this worksheet of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States, students are given the 14 lines of text to read and evaluate.
Curated OER
American Focus on World Constitutions
Students describe demographic, economic, political and geographic features of the U.S., summarize events leading to the creation of the Constitution and describe the process of amending the Constitution.
Curated OER
Constitution of the United States: Crossword Puzzle
In this United States history worksheet, students use the 16 clues in order to fill in the crossword puzzle with the appropriate answers pertaining to the Constitution of the United States.
Curated OER
Celebrate the Constitution
Learners explore the process of writing our Constitution through an interactive program. They are to put themselves in the place of the statesmen and predict how they felt at the time. They compare the founding fathers.