Did you know that the United States Constitution was adopted after many state constitutions were already in place? Young scholars examine facts about the influence of states through an informative and interesting resource. Groups then rank states based on religious restrictiveness and present their findings to the class.

Concepts

constitutions, revolutions, colonies, the american colonies, patrick henry, the bill of rights, checks and balances

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Differentiate for GATE students by asking them to research and compare the statements in the final activity to additional ones from other states
• Flip the lesson by assigning a portion of the reading as homework

Classroom Considerations

• Covers some sensitive issues for certain class members

Pros

• Builds public speaking skills
• Includes comprehension questions at the end of the reading

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.8.4 SL.11-12.4 RH.6-8.1 RH.6-8.8 RH.9-10.8 RH.11-12.1 WHST.6-8.1.a WHST.9-10.1.a