Constitution Day Resources

All schools that receive federal funding are required by Congress to hold a "Constitution Day" on September 17 or the closest school day. This year we will celebrate Constitution Day on Monday, September 17, 2007.   To help you prepare, we’ve found some sites which relate to the U.S. Constitution. Use the lesson plans and activities below to get your students thinking about how the Constitution affects them as well as all American citizens.

The National Constitution Center provides a variety of educator resources for classroom use including a free poster and lesson plans.

Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids includes lesson plans for K-12 classrooms.

Constitution Day Educational Materials provided by the Justice Learning Center has learning materials for K-12 on a variety of topics within the Constitution.

The Bill of Rights Institute's Constitution Day Page most links require Acrobat Reader.

Constitution Reference Material provided by Constitution Day, Inc., a nonprofit organization which supports the celebration of the Constitution.

Centuries of Citizenship: A Constitutional Timeline marks key dates and events from our Constitutional history in an online experience provided by the National Constitution Center.

Interactive Constitution allows students and teachers to search the Constitution by keyword, topic or Supreme Court Case.  The site is based on The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda Monk copyright 2003.

From the Library of Congress Learning Page, In Congress Assembled provides 3 lesson plans for middle and high school students as well as one for elementary.  The lessons do not suggest teaching strategies although the primary source documents along with suggested focus questions may be used in a variety of ways.  The readings essential to the lesson are provided online.

The National Endowment for Humanities Constitution Day Page, created by the staff of EDSITEment and We the People, provides tools for K-12 to celebrate Constitution Day and assist in deepening student understanding of the Constitution.

To Form a More Perfect Union: The Work of the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention is a narrative on the events and history of the drafting of the Constitution provided by the Library of Congress.

The National Archives:  The Charters of Freedom - The Constitution is part of the National Archives Expereince and includes the document, questions and answers about the Constitution and links to other sites.

The U.S. Constitution Web Portal provided by California State University Fullerton Department of Education provides links for grades 4-12. (This is an older site and says it has not been updated in several years however, there are many good links that are still active.)