David Catrow's We The Kids

The September Book of the Month is:

David Catrow's Book We The Kids, is an illustrated version of the preamble to the United States' Constitution. This book was chosen for September because September 17th is Constitution Day. Working alone or with partners, we are going to visit a variety of places on online to learn about the Constitution and its history.

Task #1. Definitions!

What was it we just read? Let's reread the preamble.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

When we need to find the meanings of words we do not know, the best place to start is a dictionary. Using either the library's dictionaries, or Merriam Webster (a free online dictionary)
look up the following words and record their definitions.

1. domestic
2. tranquility
3. welfare
4. posterity
5. ordain
6. establish

Task #2. Background!

Part 1. Learn about how the U.S. Constitution works and its history at the Constitution for Kids website. Answer the following questions:

1. True or False: The U.S. Constitution is the highest law in the United States.

2. What is a change to the Constitution called?

3. What are the three branches of government the Constitution created?

4. How many U.S. Senators serve in the Senate at any one time? What is the reason for this number?

Part II. Use the Constitution Center's Interactive Timeline to explore the history of the United States' Constitution.

1. Under the heading "A New Constitution" find out how many of the 13 states ratified (or voted in favor of) the new Constitution?

2. In what year was the Bill of Rights created?

3. On what date did women win their struggle and gain the right to vote? Which amendment guarantees this vote?

Task #3. Explore primary documents.

Primary documents are documents that come directly from the time period being studied. Use the National Archives website to look at the original copy of the Constitution. After exploring the Constitution, click here to sign the Declaration of Independence and print a copy to bring home.

Task #4. Create!

The September Book of the Month, We The Kids, explains the preamble to the Constitution through a series of pictures. Using PowerPoint, we will create our own versions of the preamble. With your group take digital pictures and/or download images from Google's Image Search to explain each line of the preamble. We will share our presentations with our classmates and some projects will be selected to decorate our media center.