Provide your class with an opportunity to investigate an important historical document.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...

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...

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

Beginning with an exercise of favoritism to engage learners, progressing through image and primary source analysis of the Nineteenth Amendment and the Seneca Falls Declaration, and culminating in a look at a political cartoon called...

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...

Students research the First Amendment and what it says about the right to peaceably assemble as well as read in particular about those who were arrested or removed from an area for being disruptive during a protest on the War in Iraq....

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...

After watching a documentary on the Supreme Court case Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, class members research how the First Amendment and free speech issues influence judicial elections and then conduct a mock judicial election.

Learners use the newspaper as a tool to make connections about what the five freedoms guarantee in the First Amendment. In this first amendment lesson plan, students analyze events in the newspaper to form conclusions about the freedoms...

Students receive a list of banned books from which they choose one to read. They read their chosen book and write a paper that includes a discussion of the First Amendment and its guarantees and the reason(s) why they believe their book...

Does a Christmas display on government property violate the Constitution? Learners study the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and learn about the landmark Supreme Court case Lynch v. Donnelly through watching a...

Twelfth graders explore the First Amendment and the rights that are protected by the First Amendment. They discuss how the First Amendment is important to their daily lives. Students research the amendment and complete a concept map.

Students analyze the historical implications of the First Amendment of 1791 and the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868, upon American Indians and African Americans. They consider the applicability of the 14th Amendment to African Americans in...

Imagine being an ex-slave after the Civil War and not understanding if you were considered a citizen of the United States. Scholars analyze the early Supreme Court battles in civil rights cases and especially the Fourteenth Amendment....

What a cool worksheet! The full set of our Constitutional Amendments are included in this resource which helps learners know how to answer 10 questions intended to build an understanding of constitutional and unconstitutional actions.

Kids who take the Regents Exam really need to know a lot of information. This is a wonderful exam review tool that includes 26 pages of questions, charts, and suggested readings to help upper graders pass the test. It focuses on all...

Working in groups, middle and high schoolers describe and discuss photographs depicting working conditions experienced by child laborers in the 19th century. They then write a persuasive paragraph supporting an amendment to regulate the...

Students, using a New York Times article as a springboard for discussion, investigate and debate the complex issues of First Amendments Rights and censorship for Hate Groups using Websites for propaganda.

Twelfth graders list, describe, and illustrate the specific rights guaranteed to individuals and how they are secured. Then they examine landmark Supreme Court cases, such as, Airport Commissioner vs. Jews for Jesus, New Jersey vs. TLO,...

Fifth graders research, examine and study about the three branches of the government and the contents of the Constitution including both the Articles and the Amendments. They create their own classroom constitution at the end of the unit.

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. 

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...

Do you have a search warrant? Scholars investigate the concept of illegal search and seizure through the eyes of the Supreme Court case Mapp v. Ohio. A short video clip along with paired group work opens discussion on the concept of how...

High schoolers engage in the democratic process and to learn how a bill become a law. Then they write a bill they would like as law in their classroom. Students also form committees that will review the list of bills to determine if they...