How will you Celebrate Constitution Day with your Students ?

September 17 is Constitution Day in the United States.  This year the holiday will be celebrated on September 16 since the 17^th is on a Saturday. It is an event that recognizes the adoption of the United States Constitution It is normally observed on September 17, the day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia.  The holiday was first established in 2004.

As a result of the emotional comments made by the Khan family at the recent Democratic National Convention, the Constitution of the United States become the number one book sold on Amazon.com. As part of the US citizenship exam, new citizens must learn about the Constitution and what it stands for. However, many of us who were born and raised here, know little about the Constitution.

There are a number of web sites that classroom teachers use to download lessons plans and printable worksheets for their students.  The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has an excellent site with lots of materials for teachers. Go to https://constitutionday.aclu.org./ another web site- apples 4teachers.org also offer a wealth of no cost materials for classroom use. The site address is

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/constitution-day/printables/

A third site that has useful materials can be found at Education World. The site is

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson347.shtml.

This is an election year. Don’t miss an opportunity to spend some quality time with you students about the heart of our democracy, The Constitution of the United States.

C.2016 J. Margolis