Does a public school have the right to restrict what t-shirts students wear? Discover what happened when this question was brought to the Supreme Court, and review other major cases in United States history involving judicial review....

Social media and United States history combine as your young historians design a Facebook page for two major defendants of landmark Supreme Court cases. The resource includes a detailed rubric for research and page design, as well as a...

The United States is built on the presumption of equality—yet we have not passed the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Using video clips featuring historians, a museum tour, and an interview with Ruth Bader Ginsberg, learners...

The right to vote was hard-won after decades of organizing by women and their allies. Using a series of video clips featuring women's historians, class members consider the efforts behind the Nineteenth Amendment. Possible extension...

A instructional activity all about Susan B. Anthony showcases the Civil Rights leader's contributions towards equality. A Susan B. Anthony coin sparks engagement. Scholars take part in a discussion that sheds light on what being an agent...

How does a trial begin without a lawyer for the defendant? The 1963 Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright serves as the backdrop for the study of the rights of the accused. Scholars use a short video along with paired discussion and...

Ever wish your class could travel back in time and witness the making of the Constitution firsthand? This plan makes the classroom come pretty close. Eighth graders simulate the process of creating a constitution and design their own...

To war! To war! Every nation in the history of the world has had to deal with warfare on some level. Scholars go through a series of activities and discussions surrounding the development of the Constitution to help them better...

How much power is too much power for the federal government? Scholars use primary documents and constitutional research in groups to analyze the creation of the Second National Bank under James Madison. This is the second lesson of a...

Why didn't the Emancipation Proclamation free all slaves? Young historians study primary source documents including Lincoln's proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Groups also investigate the three...

Your young historians will read excerpts from three parts of the United States Constitution—Article One, the Thirteenth Amendment, and the Fourteenth Amendment—and discuss how they each address the issue of slavery. 

Youngsters examine selected amendments to the Constitution to determine how voting requirements in the US have changed from the colonial days to the present.

Your learners will take a trip through history as they peruse through historic digitalized newspapers, reading real articles from such historical periods in the United States as the Temperance movement...

Travel back to 1787 as young scholars investigate the creation of the US Constitution. After first working in small groups to create sets of classroom rules, students go on to read a summary of the Constitution and watch a short video...

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...

Research, role-playing, and reflection are the three “R’s” that form the basis of an examination of Cyberbullying. Although based on the Criminal Code of Canada, the included scenarios and case studies provide valuable resources for a...

Eighty-eight years after women earned the right to vote, a women ran for president. Young analysts consider the role women play in politics, how they are portrayed, the standards they are held to, and if they are still treated unfairly...

A discussion of the Supreme Court’s Opinion of Tinker v. Des Moines generates a discussion of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment. Although the key elements of this activity are based on a video that is not included, the...

Provide your class with an opportunity to investigate an important historical document. Without identifying the document, distribute copies of the original Bill of Rights, as transcribed by John Beckley, Clerk of the House of...

How did Ku Klux Klan develop and flourish in the US? How did the government respond to acts of terrorism conducted by the KKK following the Civil War? How does the government respond to acts of terrorism today? This resource...

Sit back, relax, and transport to 1787! This lesson on the Constitution begins with guided imagery of the Constitutional Convention. The class reads A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution in an...

The contributions of African-Americans to the American Revolution are the focus of this Social Studies and language arts activity. After reading and discussing Linda Crotta Brennan’s The Black Regiment of the American Revolution, class...

Divided the class into pairs, each group is assigned one of the amendments. They use the internet to research current cases and issues involving their amendment. They are then lead into the introduction to some of the basic concepts of...

Help your 11th and 12th graders gain a deeper understanding of Supreme Court decisions and law. The activities include role-play, research, and script writing that all focus on search and seizure laws pertaining to one particular case...