Constitution Day

Constitution Day

The Oklahoma Council for Social Studies recognized the importance of students to understand the meaning of our Constitution and its history, and its contemporary impact on their lives. For this reason we are pleased that the United States Congress has set aside September 17th as a day of commemoration and classroom instruction aimed at commemorating the anniversary of the signing of this guiding document in our nation's government. Below is a listing online resources and organizations which may assist teachers in the implementation of this national legislation. (Thanks to our State Director of Social Studies, Kelly Curtright, for providing these resources.)

	National Constitution Center: http://www.constitutionday.us Provides background on the day and a bank of resources, including a tool kit which enables a school, federal agency or any organization to set up a kiosk for Constitution Day where citizens can sign the Constitution or decide to abstain. The tool kit is accompanied by education materials and easy to follow how-to instructions.
	Constitution Center: http://www.constitutioncenter.org Elementary, middle and high school lesson plans.
	Bill of Rights Institute: http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/ Constitution lesson plans: one for high school and one for middle school . A biographical essay about James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, that includes an audio component, A Founders Gallery that features images of the Founders , Lesson plan about the Bill of Rights that includes a short video, Media-focused lesson plan on the First Amendment.
	The National Archives Experience: http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_q_and_a.html

Questions and Answers about the Constitution by Sol Bloom, National Archives;
Information about each of the 39 signers.

	The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/constitution/
	The Constitution for Kids: http://www.usconstitution.net/constkidsK.html
	The Library of Congress: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/constitu/const-l1.html
	The Center for Civic Education: http://www.civiced.org/index.php
	Justice Learning: http://justicel.bootnetworks.com/constitutionday.asp
	The Constitution Rights Foundation: http://www.crf-usa.org/constitution_day/constitution_day_home.htm

      The Constitutional Rights Foundation presents a series of free online lessons,
      resources from the CRF catalog, and Internet links to help educators design
      their own Constitution Day program.

The Dirkson Congressional Center : http://www.congresslink.org

100 Milestone Documents: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/content.php?flash=true&page=milestone

100 Milestone Documents is A National Initiative on American History, Civics, and Service.We invite all Americans to participate in a series of events and programs to get us thinking, talking and teaching about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in our democracy. At the heart of this initiative are 100 milestone documents of American history. These documents reflect our diversity and our unity, our past and our future, and mostly our commitment as a nation to continue to strive to "form a more perfect union." We want everyone-students, teachers, parents, and the general public-to read these milestone documents, consider their meaning, discuss them, and decide which are the most significant and why. This initiative creates a number of ways to do that-through classroom activities and competitions, and votes.