Teacher Resources

• Vocabulary Cards 
• Primary source image of the Bill of Rights  
• Teacher Resources
• Explore #2 Station instructions 
• Elementary Principles and Virtues 
• Bill of Rights Visual Guide 
• Sample Class Constitution Plans 
• Lesson Rubrics 
• Teacher Slide Deck
• Lesson Video

Student Resources

• Handout A: Vocabulary Graphic Organizer 
• Handout B: Lesson Reading
• Handout C: Constitution Organizer 
• Handout D: Bill of Rights Organizer 
• Handout E: Justice Plan 
• Handout F: My Class Constitution Plan 
• Handout G: Lesson Reflection 

This lesson is designed around inquiry questions. There is one essential question, and several guiding questions around which the content is based. The lesson takes place in 5 stages:  

• Anticipate- Students build background knowledge needed to be successful in the lesson 
• Engage- Students are ‘hooked” into the lesson 
• Explore- Students grapple with the main content of the unit (usually 2-3 parts) 
• Assess- Students demonstrate their knowledge through a performance assessment  
• Reflect- Students reflect on their learning in the lesson 

The sections below provide a brief overview of the unit’s structure. It offers a snapshot of the organization and flow of the entire unit. 

The following detailed sections break down the five stages of the lesson. Each stage is discussed thoroughly with actionable steps to guide you through the teaching process effectively. 

Anticipate

Vocabulary “Snowball” Fight

In the Anticipate section, students will investigate essential vocabulary for the unit, then participate in a fun, gross motor activating game. If students know and understand these keywords, participation in the activities and assessments will be easier. These words will be used throughout the lesson, and students are likely to hear them in other cross-curricular contexts and their daily lives as well.   

• Glossary Term(s):  term(s) that can be used during this part of the lesson for pre-teach opportunities: 
  • Justice 
  • Constitution 
  • Bill of Rights 
  • Congress 
  • Power  

To begin, equip students with a writing utensil and copy of Handout A: Vocabulary Graphic Organizer for this activity. You can assign students to work independently, in pairs, or in groups.     

Before sending students to work on their own, review the worksheet and your expectations for each section. Encourage students to be descriptive and thorough. 

Optional: You may choose to provide your students with the definitions and illustrations in the teacher resource Vocabulary Cards. Or use them to allow students to self-correct when time expires. 

Teacher Note: Two additional word rows are available on the vocabulary worksheet so that you can personalize this activity for your classroom or challenge early finishers.   

When 10-15 minutes have elapsed, or students have completed the activity, return students to their normal seats. Have students clear everything away except a piece of paper and a pencil. Have students zip up backpacks, close drawers around the room, remove items from walkways, and anything else needed to make the room as clean and clear as possible.  

Assign each student a word, definition, or illustration to draw from the glossary terms list, or their Anticipate Student Vocabulary Worksheet. Instruct students to write their word, definition, or draw their illustration on their piece of paper. Double up on words, definitions, and illustrations as needed to equal the number of students in your classroom. For instance, there are five words, which will create 15 assignments. If you have 20 students in your classroom, you could add additional student assignments so that there is an extra word, definition, and illustration for the word “justice” and an extra word and definition for the word “constitution.” This would create 6 groups of 3 and one group of 2 for the next part of the activity.   

Scaffolding note: Writing the vocabulary word alone is a simpler task that can be assigned to particular students or to more evenly distribute the workload you can opt to add more challenge. Ask students to create a sentence using the word or a pronunciation guide in addition to writing the vocabulary word.  

Have students write down their assigned word, definition, or illustration then put their pencil away, and crumple up their paper into a “snowball”. You may want to verify at this point students have the correct word, definition, or illustration on their paper before moving on to the next step. 

Then, line up students on opposite sides of the classroom dodgeball-style, holding their “snowball.” 

Tell students they will have 30 seconds to throw “snowballs” at the other team. The idea is to keep the snowballs on the other team’s side, not hit each other. When you call time, every student needs to immediately stop and find a snowball to hold. Then they will find their teams of three with a word, definition, and illustration that match.   

Scaffolding note: If your students can’t handle the excitement of a snowball fight or the idea makes you nervous, you can always throw the “snowballs” into a bin and then redistribute them to the students in a random order and then have the students match up.    

Engage

Fair or Unfair Game

Students will play a game called “Fair or Unfair” to activate their innate sense of justice. This is excellent for getting students’ minds to think about the rights of others and justice in a way they are familiar with and prepares them for thinking about what rights are. 

To begin, review the definition of justice from the Anticipate activity before or during this activity. You can accomplish this by referring to the Vocabulary Card for justice or asking students to look again at Handout A.  

Fair or Unfair Game

Before class begins, create a real or imaginary line across the classroom, labelling one side “fair” and the other “unfair”, then have a place in the classroom (rug, corner, board area, etc.) labelled “it depends”.   

Tell students, “We are going to play a game called “Fair or Unfair”. I will give you a scenario then you will move around the room to demonstrate your answer: fair, unfair, or it depends. There are no right or wrong answers! Be prepared to give a reason for your answer with every choice you make.”  

Read a scenario from the list (you can also create some of your own specific to your school, city, or student population) then wait for students to choose their position in the room to represent their answer. 

Choose one student from each position (fair, unfair, it depends) to share opinion. Be sure to praise students who can support their opinion and push students to consider differing opinions on some scenarios and build consensus around others. For instance, you might ask students to reflect on how handing down clothes might be considered both fair and unfair from different perspectives. 

Repeat as many scenarios as you would like. Skip any that you feel will not resonate with your students and add any scenarios that might relate to your students or community.  

Student Scenarios 

• Your mom gives your old clothes to your younger brother or sister  
• Your computer breaks and you are unable to buy a new one  
• All the swings are taken at recess  
• You fail your spelling test because you only spell 3 words correctly  
• You wake up late and don’t get to eat breakfast  
• Your family receives a ticket for speeding  
• Your baby cousin won’t give you a hug  
• Your older sibling gets to stay up 2 hours later than you 
• Your whole class gets assigned seats at lunch because a few students left behind their trash 
• The bakery gives a free sample to the family ahead of yours, not you 
• Every kid in school gets to go to the behavior incentive ice cream party 

Historical Scenarios  

• You are unable to pay a debt, so you must work to pay back the amount doing a job you don’t like  
• Some people are not allowed to vote because they don’t own land  
• A grocery store won’t let you buy food because you aren’t wearing shoes  
• Rosa Parks is arrested for not following the rules on the bus 
• Anne Hutchinson has to leave her home with her family because her religious beliefs are different than everyone else’s 
• Abigail Adams asks her husband, John Adams, to “remember the ladies” when he is helping to create a new government  
• Women like Molly Pitcher aren’t allowed to fight in the Revolutionary War 
• Harriet Tubman is not given any money for helping the army during the Civil War 
• Sitting Bull refuses to leave his people’s homeland without fighting 
• After not being paid for their service, George Washington’s soldiers develop a plan to revolt 
• John Adams defends British troops accused of murder in the Boston Massacre 
• Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in the Confederacy 
• A court case called Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) states that Blacks cannot be citizens 

To conclude the activity, ask students to reflect on their choices with the following questions in discussion or as part of a writing assignment.  

• Which scenario had the most people disagree or answer “it depends”?  
• Which scenario made it the hardest to choose? 
• Are you surprised by the scenario had the most people agree/disagree on the answer? Why or why not? 
• Did your classmate’s explanation of their answers ever change your mind? 

 

Explore 

In the Explore section of the lesson, students will dive into the content goals of the lesson learning about the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. 

Explore 1: How does the Constitution assign and limit power to government? (30-45 minutes)

In this Explore activity, students expand their knowledge by reading more about the Constitution and how it outlines the structure of government. Students complete the organizer in groups or independently and then reflect in writing. 

• Glossary term(s):  term(s) that can be used during this part of the lesson for pre-teach opportunities: 
  • Executive 
  • Legislative 
  • Judicial 
  • Constitution 
  • Preamble 

Constitution Organizer

To begin, distribute a copy of Handout B: Lesson Reading, Handout C: Constitution Organizer, and writing utensils to students. Then, prepare to view the Lesson Video together on a shared screen. 

As the video plays, stop the video occasionally to highlight important points, or summarize with your students. Model for your students how to reflect on what they are learning, and actively listen. You can invite students to share their reflections as well.  

Then, move students into your chosen groupings to read Handout B and work on Handout C. Use the teacher support document: Modes of Reading to select a reading method for this activity.  

Scaffolding note: For younger learners or learners that need additional support, allow students to fill in what they can on their organizer during a short work session. Then, use a class discussion to fill in the gaps. Use the short answer questions on the organizer for guided discussion rather than written response.   

Formative Assessment Task 1: Writing Task 

Last, students reflect on their work to answer the guiding question in writing: How does the U.S. Constitution assign and limit power? Place the prompt in a location all students can see. Ensure each student has access to a writing utensil and plain paper, or access to a digital writing tool and their completed copy of Handout C from the previous activity to support their writing. 

Scaffolding note: It can be helpful to provide sentence stems or writing supports for students, such as:  

• The U.S. Constitution assigns powers to government like _______. It limits powers like ______. 
• Powers are assigned or limited in the U.S. Constitution. Examples of this are _______.  
• Wonder-aloud: I wonder if we have information to answer this question on Handout C? Oh look, I see some powers in the government branches chart. We can find some limits in our answers to question 4. 
• Provide a T-chart for students to complete with bullet points. 

U.S. Constitution
Government Powers Assigned	Government Powers Limited

1-point rubric 

Evidence of Mastery	Expectations	Room for Growth
	Organization  Writing has a clear message and can be understood easily.
	Content  Writing is historically and factually accurate.
	Writing Quality  Writing is neat and easy to read. It uses capital letters and periods in all sentences.

 

Explore #2: What are the rights and responsibilities of citizens in the United States? (30-45 minutes)

In this Explore activity, students will investigate the Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments through a stations activity. 

• Glossary term(s):  term(s) that can be used during this part of the lesson for pre-teach opportunities: 
  • Congress 
  • Bill of Rights 
  • Amendment 
  • Right 

Bill of Rights Stations

Before class begins, prepare for stations. You will need: 

• A place for students to view the primary source image of the Bill of Rights in the room (digitally or on paper). Copies of the Bill of Rights Visual Guide. Each student will need a copy. 
• Three distinct work areas in the classroom labeled with station signs and supplied with station instructions. 

To begin the lesson, distribute Handout D: Bill of Rights Organizer for students to record information and their responses during the stations. Before releasing students to begin stations, review the handout, your expectations for each section, and your behavior expectations for the activity. 

Scaffolding note: This lesson is written to be stations but could also be an independent or partner activity in one location depending on the skill and disposition of your learners. 

Station 1 

In the first station, students view Bill of Rights Primary Source.  You may also want to provide this readable version. At this station they are prompted to notice and wonder about the primary source and jot down their reflections.    

• I notice- the cursive writing, the “f” in congress, the larger words  
• I wonder- Who wrote this? Why is it so lightly written? 

Scaffolding note: Students who may need more support can be offered altered questions, shortened responses, or additional prompts such as:  

• What does this remind you of?  
• Have you seen this document before? 
• What words can you read? 

Station 2 

In the second station, students investigate the Bill of Rights in simpler terms with the Bill of Rights Visual Guide Ask students to look at all the rights before they record their responses.   

• Each square of the Bill of Rights Visual Guide represents an amendment, or addition, to the Constitution. Name one or two amendments you have never heard of before today.  
  • Responses will vary. This gives teachers an opportunity to understand more about students prior knowledge of the Bill of Rights.
    
• Explain what you think the Amendment you identified means in your own words. 
  • Responses will vary.   

Station 3 

In the third station students use the Bill of Rights Visual Guide again. This time they annotate their copy of the Bill of Rights Visual Guide. Students highlight the right that the amendment is protecting. For example, the first amendment protects the right of religious freedom. Students highlight the word “religion.”  

• Some amendments protect multiple rights. Choose one amendment of this type and explain how the rights are connected.
  • Responses could include amendments 4, 5, 6 and 8. For example, the Fourth Amendment protects against some searches and seizures. Students may consider this amendment protects private property. 

• Why do you think the Ninth Amendment is so open-ended? 
• How does the Tenth Amendment help reinforce the idea of consent of the governed?  
  • Teacher Note: Provide Elementary Principles and Virtues, if needed. 

Formative Assessment: Stations Reflection

For the final step of the activity, students return to their seats to reflect on what they learned and write a final reflection at the bottom of Handout D. The handout prompts students to think back the content of Explore #1 on the Constitution. 

• The Bill of Rights shows that the Constitution is flexible. New Amendments, or additions, can be made. Why do you think the Founders created a system to amend the Constitution?  
• Identify the 3 most important rights, in your opinion.

 The rubric is provided to give feedback to students on their writing on Handout D. 

1-point rubric 

Evidence of Mastery	Expectations	Room for Growth
	Organization  Writing has a clear message and can be understood easily.
	Content  Writing is historically and factually accurate.
	Writing Quality  Writing is neat and easy to read. It uses capital letters and periods in all sentences.

 

Explore #3: How can I ensure justice in my classroom through my own actions? (30-45 minutes)

In this Explore activity, students will participate in a classroom discussion to create shared meaning from the learning experiences so far. Then, they will create, rehearse and perform a short skit to illustrate personal application of the concepts they have learned. Finally, students create a written justice plan describing how they can ensure justice in their classroom. 

• Glossary term(s):  term(s) that can be used during this part of the lesson for pre-teach opportunities: 
  • Justice 
  • Character  

Justice at School Skits

To begin, facilitate whole group discussion using the discussion questions. Utilize visual prompts using the teacher slide deck. As students contribute to the class conversation, refine and expand their ideas to create shared meaning. For example, if a student shares that the students should be nice to each other, a teacher might say “Yes, we should be nice to each other! The Founders had another word for this idea though. Let’s look at the Principles and Virtues and see what word they might have used.”  

Discussion Questions:  

• If the rights of the Bill of Rights are important to us and to others, how should that shape our behavior toward others?  
• Remind students of the idea of justice: Upholding of what is right and fair and respecting the rights and dignity of all. Does this describe how we should treat others?   

Then, arrange students into groups of 2-4 students. In their groups, give students 5 minutes to brainstorm some places and situations at school where they can ensure justice by upholding what is right and fair and respecting the rights of others.  

It may be helpful to encourage students to focus on First Amendment rights. For example:

• Freedom of Speech- allowing everyone to speak in group work.  
• Freedom of Religion- not teasing others for being different.  
• Limit on unfair punishment- don’t blame others to get them in trouble.  

Give the students another 5 minutes to create a 30-second skit portraying students ensuring justice in their school. The time allotted for planning and performing the skit is purposefully short. Encourage students to communicate their point quickly and use speech and movement to illustrate their ideas. 

Choose 3-5 skits to be performed or allow all students to act out their skit if time allows.  

Scaffolding note: A teacher may want to assign roles (director, actor, screenwriter), or create a guideline that all students have to act or speak. You may also want to ask students to state their right and scenario before they begin to act out their skit. 

Formative Assessment: Individual Justice Plan

Once the skits have been performed, students create their own individual justice plan, with specific examples of how they can act justly at school. 

Provide students with their own Handout E: Justice Plan. Then, allow students 10-15 minutes to complete the plan. If time allows, choose 3-5 students to read portions of their justice plan aloud to share with the class. 

Scaffolding note: Students who may need more support can be offered sentence stems, altered questions, or shortened responses for the honor plan. 

Assess

Class Constitutional Convention and Bill of Rights

As the capstone activity to this lesson, students create a Class Constitution and Bill of Rights. This class constitution activity is unique from others because it invites students to individually propose constitution plans, then practice building consensus around their classmates plans through voting.  

Part 1: Student Proposals  

As students worked through the pieces of this lesson, they worked on lesson handouts. Students may want these to reference as they create their own classroom constitution plans.  

To begin the activity, play lesson video and/or read the lesson text again. This time draw attention to the compromises needed to create the Constitution and Bill of Rights (Great compromise, three-fifths compromise, etc.) through modelling and think-aloud.    

Then, tell students that they will be creating a classroom constitution. Provide students with a copy of the Handout F: My Class Constitution Plan and review your expectations and directions for each section. Give students class time to work on their constitution plan or assign for homework. Each plan should outline distribution of power, limits of power, responsibility of the individual and 3 most important rights.  

Teacher Note: For this activity to be maximumly effective, it is important for the activity to have real-world stakes. Ideally, the students will be creating a classroom constitution they will truly use day-to-day. If this is not possible, be sure to share your plan with your students. You might choose to use a portion of the plan like a process for changing seats or deciding who gets to leave first for lunch or recess.   

Scaffolding note: You may want to consider providing the students with options to choose from like the table below, or sample plans to model from if they need more support. Three sample plans are available or you may want to create your own.  

 

Powers	Responsibilities	Rights
Determining the schedule   Veto  Constitution changes  Classroom rewards and   consequences	Grading   Planning lessons   Cleaning the classroom   Arranging desks   Taking attendance  Class pet  Answering door	Respect   Being heard   Voicing concerns   Property   Safety  Right to Teach  Right to Learn

 

Part 2: Viewing Proposals 

Once students have completed their proposals, prepare for students to review their classmates’ proposals.  

To begin, hang student plans around the room and provide students with sticker dots, small post-it notes, or markers.  

Then frame the activity for students by saying: Some representatives proposed plans for the Constitution such as the New Jersey Plan and Virginia Plan. Then, debate and compromise happened to arrive at the finished document. We are going to create our own classroom constitution and bill of rights. We first need to familiarize ourselves with all of your plans.  

Instruct students to walk around the room with a partner reviewing and discussing each proposal. Prompt students to consider which would work best for the classroom and would represent their interests. Then, each student should mark their 3 top class constitution plans. 

Scaffolding note: It can help to pair struggling and strong readers for this activity to balance each other’s strengths and diversify perspectives.  

Part 3: Consensus Building  

Once students have completed their walk-around the room indicating their favorite plans, lead the class in a consensus building exercise.   

Choose the top 3-5 plans, as voted on by the class and read aloud Parts 1 and 2 describing each plan’s powers, limits, and rights of the individual. 

Ask the class if they can agree on one plan to adopt as presented for the class. If so, skip to part 4. If not (and this is much more likely) tell them that now you will lead them in a discussion to produce a compromise document, as the Founders did.  

Ask the class to identify any commonalities that all the plans have in common. Agree that those things should be in the plan. Record on the class board or chart paper.  

Then, begin the process of refinement of the other pieces through debate and compromise. If your school has a behavior matrix or character education program, elements of those might be used to moderate discussion here. BRI also offers self-paced eLearning badges for teachers. Check out the Socratic and Advanced Socratic badges for more on supporting classroom dialog here.  

Once you have decided on three to five powers and responsibilities that will be in place for your class, vote on them as a class by calling for a “yea” or “nay” from each person. If there is a 2/3 majority, this becomes your new class constitution.  

Ask at the end: How does this plan help us all understand what is fair and unfair? How does that understanding help us establish justice in our classroom? Does it help ensure justice for you?  

Teacher Note: In this part of the discussion, try to help students see how the rules they are establishing create a standard of justice. The rules the students create will help them understand what is and is not fair. They are establishing justice in a limited sense. 

Part 4: Bill of Rights 

Continue the discussion by adding a Bill of Rights. Explain to students “After the constitutional convention, Congress added a Bill of Rights. What should be in our Bill of Rights?”   

Reference the proposals posted around the room again. This time read aloud part 3 of each plan that describes the rights of citizens. Ask students to affirm that the rights these proposals have in common should be included in the class bill of rights.  

Then use debate and compromise to settle on 10 total citizen rights for your class bill of rights.  

Once you have decided on your class bill of rights, vote on them as a class by calling for a “yea” or “nay” from each person. If there is a 2/3 majority, the motion is approved, and it becomes your new class bill of rights.  

Scaffolding Note: To extend your students learning or challenge select students, this would be an excellent opportunity to create a preamble for your classroom constitution, if time allows. Such as: 

“We the Students of ____________’s class, in order to _________________________, ___________________________, and ___________________________do hereby ordain and establish this constitution based on the principles of Justice,              __________________ (noun) and ______________________ (noun).” 

Reflect

To conclude the lesson, have students independently reflect on their experience during the class constitutional convention. Then, have students take an active role in reinforcing their knowledge by creating and answering quiz questions based on recent learning materials. The activity not only bolsters students’ understanding and retention of the material but also enhances their skills in critical thinking, question crafting, and peer teaching.  

Class Constitution Reflection

To begin, each student should independently complete Handout G: Lesson Reflection after the lesson is complete.  

Scaffolding note: If students require more support in reflection, you can lead the group. Start by reading the first question aloud, model an appropriate response, then allow students to answer on their own paper. Repeat with each question until the reflection is complete.  

Quiz Game 

Then prepare students for the group reflection. You will need: Index cards or strips of paper; Pens or pencils; Whiteboard or a digital platform; Optional: buzzer system for game 

Begin by briefly explaining the activity’s purpose and how it will operate. Emphasize the importance of creating thoughtful, clear questions that reflect a deep understanding of the material. 

Conduct a quick review of the key concepts that have been covered in the current lesson. This can be done through a brief lecture, a slide presentation, or an interactive discussion. 

Divide students into small groups of 3-4. 

• Each group receives index cards and pens. Instruct them to write one quiz question related to the lesson material on each card. Encourage a mix of question types (e.g., multiple choice, true/false, short answer). 
• Encourage creativity and depth in question creation, ensuring they also write the correct answers on the back of the cards. 

Collect all the question cards from each group. 

• Quickly sort them into categories or mix them up for a random question game and assign points to questions.  

Begin the quiz game. Teams select categories and answer questions. Use a buzzer system for an authentic game show feel. 

If using a random question game: Students or teams take turns drawing a question card from a central pile and answering. Points are awarded for correct answers. 

After the game, lead a brief discussion. Ask students about the experience of creating and answering each other’s questions. 

• Discuss which questions were challenging and why, what they learned from others, and how this activity helped reinforce their understanding of the material.