With Constitution Day on Monday, I thought I would share with you two GREAT books that not only look at writing but also focus on this historical document!
The first is "We The Kids" illustrated by David Catrow. The text for this is the preamble to the Constitution, but the illustrations help students to understand the difficult words and concepts contained within. I have posted a 6 Traits lesson plan for this book on my wiki.
The second is Shh! We're Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz with illustrations by Tomie dePaola. This is a great book for grades 4-6 and Jean Fritz does a first rate job showing the personalities of our Founding Fathers and telling the story of the creation of this document with trivia mixed in. In addition to tradition writing activities like creating a class constitution or Bill of Rights, this book is an excellent piece of literature to begin discussing voice.
One final note for older students, there is an excellent lesson plan in the September issue of Social Education from the National Council for the Social Studies on The Founder's Library. The lesson is based on a permanent exhibit at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and has students examine the ideas and writings that influenced the Founding Fathers. A great lesson for examining historical documents but also for referencing the power of prior knowledge.
1 comment:
Hi Theresa,
Well now that I'm able to blog I hope to write often. I only wish I could blog from the computer at home. That would make life so much easier. I have already used some of activities we learned over the summer. I especially liked putting three items in the envelop and having another student pick the envelop and write about that person. The students enjoyed that activity also. Now we are working on ELEVEN. The students love it. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Sue L.
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