Overview
President George W. Bush signed Public Law 108-447 on Dec. 8, 2004, officially declaring every Sept. 17 as Constitution Day. The Department of Education issued this mandate: “Every school and college that receives federal money must teach about the Constitution on Sept. 17, the day the document was adopted in 1787.”

Below are one-day activities, by subject area, to help you plan for Constitution Day.

Mathematics

1. This chart contains three time periods and the countries from which people immigrated to the United States. Make a graph of the data and write a paragraph explaining the changes in immigration patterns over the years. Use the countries as the x-axis and the percent as the y-axis. Be sure to title your graph and make a legend. You can do this by hand or you can use a graphing program such as Excel.

   

   Data from Immigration to the United States, http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/article/cohn.immigration.us

2. There were 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Use the data found at
   http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates/bigpicture.html to answer the following questions.

• What percent of the delegates were from northern states? (30 delegates equals 55 percent.) Southern states? (25 delegates equals 45 percent.)

• What percent were male? (100 percent.)

• Pennsylvania had the most delegates. What percent were from Pennsylvania? (15 percent.) From Ohio? (Zero.)

• Four of the delegates were in their 20s. (7 percent.) Five were in their 60s. (9 percent.) One — Benjamin Franklin — was 81. (2 percent.) What percent of the total is each of these ages?

• Eight of the signers also signed the Declaration of Independence. What percent of the signers was that?
  (15 percent.)
  

Science
Ben Franklin was a key figure in our American history. He was also a fine scientist. We all know about the kite and key experiment. He introduced words such as battery, positive and negative, conductor and discharge into science vocabulary. Let’s give a couple of his other science experiments a try.

1. Creating a spark — Make a chart with three columns: What you touch, what it’s made out of (wood, metal or plastic) and what happened. Then walk across a rug while dragging your feet. Try this with different types of shoes.

   Answer the following questions based on your findings:
   • What material that you touched created a spark?
   • Did different shoes make a difference in what caused a spark?

2. Creating static — Run water so that it flows evenly with no breaks. Run a comb through your hair to get it charged with static electricity. Put it near the running water. What is the result?

   Try it with the water running fast. Try it with the water running very slowly so that there are breaks in the water. What do you discover?

For complete lesson plans on these and many other subject area lessons about Ben Franklin, go to http://www.benfranklin300.com/_edu_pdf/BF300Plans_Middle7.pdf.

Social Studies

1. How Much Do You Know? Students can find out how much they know about the Constitution by taking the quizzes at http://congressforkids.net/quiz.htm. In addition, they can choose the “Tour of Federal Government” link to learn more.

2. Save the Bill of Rights: This interactive game helps you find the missing Constitution amendments that have been lost in a computer crash. Go to http://www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/ForKids.

3. Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government: You can find the following printable puzzles at http://bensguide.gpo.gov/6-8/games/print.html.
   • Ben’s Mystery Word Puzzle
   • Constitution Crossword
   • Complete Ben’s Words of Wisdom
   • Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court Word Search
   • Preamble Scramble
   • President’s Anagrams
   • Signers of the Constitution Word Search

Language Arts
The National Constitution Center offers an extensive Web site that includes links for exploring the Constitution. Go to http://www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/BasicGoverningPrinciples for the following language arts activities.

1. Have students analyze the basic components and concepts of the United States Constitution from the Web site. Then create a “class constitution” to be used to maintain discipline and order throughout the school year.

2. Two issues required compromise by the framers of the Constitution: slavery and federalism. What was controversial about these issues? Ask students to write the pros and cons of each issue and describe what compromises were made in the Constitution. They can learn more by choosing the links for “Popular Sovereignty,” “Federalism” and “Individual Rights.”

Art

1. Students can make a bulletin board quilt by working in groups to create a quilt square that shows the main ideas of the Constitution. Have them label their quilt square. Their ideas could include these topics:
   • Government by the people (voting)
   • Rule of law (individual rights)
   • Executive branch
   • Judicial branch
   • Legislative branch
   • Federalism (state, local and national responsibilities)
   • Judicial review (Supreme Court)

2. Go to http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/christy to see the painting “The Scene at the Signing of the Constitution” by Howard Chandler Christy. Ask the students to look carefully at the painting and answer the following questions:
   • There seem to be two main focuses in the painting. Where are they? (Washington and Franklin.)
   • What part does lighting play in this painting? (Brings out the focuses of the painting.)
   • What part does positioning play in this painting? (Washington is on the main stage and Franklin is in the centermost position.)
   • What does body language say about Washington and Franklin? (Washington looks authoritative and Franklin seems conspiratorial and comfortable.)

   A complete explanation of the painting can be found by selecting the link found in the picture’s caption.

Music
Students can write their own rap song about one of the freedoms offered to them by the Bill of Rights, e.g., freedom of speech. Raps are talk songs. They are not sung; they are spoken. They have a very heavy beat and a lot of rhyme. To write a rap song about an American freedom, have the students choose a topic and study it. Remind them that their song must be positive and must not promote violence or hatred.

Physical Education
Share with the students that when the Founding Fathers were putting together the Constitution, they had a debate over how to put together the lawmaking body (Congress). Some wanted each of the states to be equal in power; others wanted more populated states to have a bigger voice. To demonstrate the concept of the fairness of each of these models, have the class play “Constitution Kickball,” as follows.

Virginia Plan

1. Divide the students into two teams by a 5-to-1 ratio, with the larger team kicking first and the smaller team playing in the field.

2. The larger team gets five points for every run scored, rather than the usual one point. Play as usual until there are five outs (instead of the usual three) and switch sides.

3. When the smaller team in the field kicks, they only get one point for every run scored (typical scoring). Play continues until there are three outs (as usual).

4. After the players on each side have had a chance to kick, call the students together. This first game was like the Virginia Plan for Congress, which would set up the lawmaking body with more power to the more populated states. The team that played offense first was like the more populated states and was given more value because of its size. Was this game fair?

New Jersey Plan

1. Have the same teams play again, but this time keep score traditionally — both teams get one point per run as usual and three outs.

2. After one inning, stop again and call the students together. This second game was like the New Jersey Plan for Congress, where all states had the same power. With many players on the one team, was it fair for the other team this way? Tell the students that the Founding Fathers decided that a compromise was the fairest way and divided Congress into two groups: a House of Representatives (where bigger states have more representatives) and a Senate (where all the states are equal in power).