Creating Laws

"I love it when a plan comes together." Building on the previous activity in this unit, young writers use their graphic organizers to create a draft of their constitution explanatory paragraphs. The teacher models this process for the...

Students study the concept of legislation as it relates to passing a bill in the House of Representatives. In this legislation: passing a bill in the house of representative lesson plan, students identify why and how bills are introduced...

Develop a system of classroom rules created by the kids, for the kids with this three-part lesson series on the US Constitution. After learning about the structure of the Constitution and the government it established, young scholars...

Brainstorming—the art of coming up with endless ideas. Pupils brainstorm how to solve local problems in their counties and eventually narrow their ideas down to one solution as a team.

Consider the possibility of a new U.S. draft with this lesson, which encourages class debate and persuasive arguments. Middle and high schoolers discuss how such a draft might be enacted and how they would feel about it. They write...

Encourage your students to think about how and why people and categorized in terms of social class. They decide what "class" they belong to, and then brainstorm about the indicators that society uses to define class and to categorize...

Students discuss the importance of writing to their representatives. Using the internet, they identify who their representative is and ways they can communicate with them. They review the guidelines in which they need to follow in order...

Pupils working in small groups to compare and contrast the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson with the final version. They list the differences and decide on why the changes were made.

From constructing a colorful paper chain for learners to keep track of their Lenten goals to baskets of plastic eggs filled with suggestions for observing Holy Week, here you'll find a variety of activities and ideas for the forty days...

Learners take on the roles of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government in the United States and work to develop public policy issues and ideas into laws in this engaging and well-designed online interactive.