On May 24, 2005, the U.S. Department of Education released a Notice of Implementation (for the full text, visit: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2005-2/052405b.html), announcing that all educational institutions receiving federal funding must provide an educational program pertaining to the United States Constitution on September 17 of each year. This date in history marks the actual signing of our Constitution. However, when September 17 falls on a weekend or holiday, such as this year, programming must be held during the preceding or following week. In order to avoid a scheduling conflict with programming for September 16th, Mexican Independence Day, we recommend observing Constitution Day early in the week of September 11th or during the week of the 18th. The intent of the law is to help our students gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of our Constitution. Teachers can choose to use any of the resources listed below, the materials they currently have and/or the activities that they will receive in school mail.

Below please find information about the law and resources for middle and high schools. In addition, each school will receive a lesson plan from the Bill of Rights to support classroom instruction. Secondary materials will be sent via school mail to each Social Studies department chairperson for distribution to their departments. These materials will be sent during the week of September 11th.

• Center for Education in Law and Democracy (CELD)
  Looking for a meaningful way to observe Constitution Day in your classroom? Consider the lessons provided by CELD."Exploring the Purposes of Government: A lesson on the Preamble" for elementary and middle school at: http://www.lawanddemocracy.org/const.day.06.html
  
• Bill of Rights Institute
  Find lessons for MS and HS here!
  Hardcopies of these lessons were sent to department chairs to distribute the week of August 29th.  The mission of the Bill of Rights Institute is to educate young people about the words and ideas of America's Founders, the liberties guaranteed in our Founding documents, and how our Founding principles affect and shape a free society. They have compiled a number of resources for Constitution Day, including a lesson plan for high school, middle school and elementary.  Visit them online at: http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/Instructional/Resources/ConstitutionDay/index.htm
• Center for Civic Education http://www.civiced.org/byrd/2006
  Find lessons for elementary here and secondary!
  Hard copies of the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade lesson were sent to the social studies contact person the week of September 11th.  Please find additional lesson plans for all grade levels from the CCE's web site, producers of the We The People and Project Citizen curricula.
• Teaching With Documents: U.S. Constitution Workshop
  The National Archives celebrates the Constitution throughout September and offers a variety of resources for educators. What better way to teach about the Constitution than with the original source?
  
• Bill of Rights in Action (archives), from the Constitutional Rights Foundation at http://www.crf-usa.org/lessons.html
  Many lessons on U.S. history, world history, and government from Bill of Rights in Action, CRF's quarterly curricular newsletter.
• Constitution Day Resources
  This site, from the National Constitution Center, will provide background info on the legislation and more resources for teachers:  http://www.constitutioncenter.org/constitutionday/
  If you don't already have a Spanish version of the Constitution, they also have a translation on their web site: http://www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/TheU.S.Constitution/Enespanol.shtml
• Resources on the Constitution from FREE
  This compilation of resources from Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) - a working group of more than 50 Federal agencies including the department of Education that formed in 1997 to make hundreds of Federally supported teaching and learning resources easier to find - features tools for learning about the U.S. Constitution. You will find many high quality links to lessons and activities regarding the 55 delegates who gathered in Philadelphia in May 1787 to rewrite the Articles of Confederation (some of which are listed below).
  http://www.ed.gov/free/constitution/index.html
  
• Centuries of Citizenship: A Constitutional Timeline
  An interactive timeline of events marking more than 200 years of our constitutional history. These events tell the evolving story of our Constitution & the role it continues to play in our lives. See headlines, hear debates, explore maps & graphs. (NCC) http://www.constitutioncenter.org/timeline/
• Interactive Constitution
  Lets you search the Constitution & find relevant passages & explanations. Discover how the Constitution relates to more than 300 topics, from civil rights to school prayer, including Supreme Court decisions. (NCC) http://www.constitutioncenter.org/constitution/
• United States Constitution
  Includes notes Washington wrote on his copy of the Constitution, his diary at the Constitutional Convention, an essay on Madison's role in the Constitutional Convention, Madison's notes on the debates, Jefferson's letter to Madison expressing his opinions on the new Constitution & his belief
  that a Bill of Rights was needed, & more. (LOC) http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Constitution.html
  
  

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