Next week we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Constitution Day in honor of the day in 1787 when our founding document was signed in Philadelphia.
In 2004, when Congress created Constitution Day, it also passed a law mandating that all publicly funded education institutions provide educational programming on the history of the U.S. Constitution on September 17th. However, many public schools across the nation are unaware of this federal requirement to observe Constitution Day and there are few resources available to help teachers develop requisite lesson plans.
To help remedy this problem, the ACLU has developed an innovative and interactive program that provides a fun and exciting learning opportunity for students on Constitution Day and beyond. The program is designed to appeal to students in middle school and complement their U.S. history and American government classes.
If you are an educator, a parent, or an interested student, take a minute and check out ConstitutionDay.ACLU.org.
As you poke around the website, you’ll find lots of different trivia activities and other games that are both fun and educational. For teachers, there’s an entire section with curriculum materials designed just for you. We’re even sponsoring an art contest with $25,000 in prizes! There will be even more activities added to the website for Constitution Week starting next Monday, but the site has plenty going on right now if you want to check it out before unveiling to your students on September 17th.
Even if you’re too old for the online games (or too scared that your 7th grader will trounce you on the trivia) you can still take part in a petition drive we’ve started to make Constitution Day a federal holiday. We think our founding document is worthy of a day off from school and work, and if you agree you can sign our petition here.
As with all of our education programming, the ACLU’s Constitution Day offerings are offered free of charge. So check them out today, pass them along to your students or your children, and above all make sure to celebrate Constitution Day in style this year!
To stay up to date on Constitution day news, follow along on Twitter @Consti2tionday and like the ACLU's Constitution Day page on Facebook.
