NCDPI – AIG Instructional Resource: Background Information
Resource Title: The US Constitution: Where Did These Ideas Come From Anyway?
Subject Area/Grade Level (s): Social Studies/5
Time Frame: 1-2 class periods
Common Core/Essential Standard Addressed:
5.C&G.1 Understand the development, structure, and function of government in the United States.
5.C&G.1.1 Explain how ideas of various governments influenced the development of the United States government (Roman, Greek, Iroquois,
European, and British)
Additional Standards Addressed:
RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
RI.5.2 Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.
RI.5.3 Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical
text based on specific information in the text.
W.5.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
W.5.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
SL.5.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics
and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Brief Description of Lesson/Task/Activity: During a study of the US Constitution and after students have already read the Constitution, students
explore the philosophical underpinnings of it and decide which of the different influences on it ultimately had the biggest impact on the
Founding Fathers’ thinking.
Type of Differentiation for AIGs (include all that apply):
Adaptations for AIGs :
x Content
x Process
Enrichment
x Extension
Acceleration
Product
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction
AIG ~ IRP Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project
Explanation of How Resource is Appropriate for AIGs: AIG students must read and summarize for others historical documents/philosophies and
connect them to the US Constitution. Then, they must work together to decide which of these documents/philosophies was most influential on
the Founding Fathers. To do so, they must apply conceptual and evaluative thinking as they collaborate to come to a conclusion.
Needed Resources/Materials:
 Text of the US Constitution (available at http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html)
 Text of the Magna Carta (available at http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/translation.html)
 Text of the Iroquois Constitution (available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/iroquois.asp)
 Selected quotes from John Locke (available at multiple sites including http://www.egs.edu/library/john-locke/quotes/)
 Selected quotes from Montesquieu (available at multiple sites including http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/content/quotes-charles-demontesquieu)
 Information about Greek and Roman government, quotes as available (Plato, Aristotle)
Sources: NA
TEACHER NOTES: Provide needed texts depending on the abilities of the students. Some students may be ready to read entire sections of the
texts (or the entire texts themselves), while others may benefit from having only pieces of texts to explore.
NCDPI AIG Curriculum Resource Outline
STAGE ONE: ENGAGE
Pose the following question to the whole group: Are there really any new ideas or are all ideas borrowed from others? The students discuss their
opinions and provide examples to explain their thinking.
They then discuss the following quote: “As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from the womb and long
gestation of progressive history, so the American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by
the brain and purpose of man.”
— W. E. Gladstone
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What does Gladstone mean?
Can you put this quote in your own words?
Is the US Constitution a “wonderful work”? Why do you say so?
Can this kind of work be created by only one person? Why or why not?
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction
AIG ~ IRP Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project
STAGE TWO: ELABORATE
The students explore documents and quotes about government, democracy, and/or the needs of man from the following sources:
 Greek and Roman philosophy
 John Locke
 Montesquieu
 The Magna Carta
 The Constitution of the Iroquois Nation
Provide these texts in stations around the room. The students should move among the stations with clipboards and paper, taking notes as they
go about ideas/quotes that they think connect with the US Constitution.
As they move among the stations, pose the following types of questions:
 Which quotes sound familiar?
 Where have you heard something like this before?
Working in pairs, the students relate quotes and lines that they found to specific lines in the US Constitution. As they work, encourage them to
share their understanding of the texts with one another.
STAGE THREE: EVALUATE
Place students in small groups (3-4 students per group) and ask them to create a continuum from “most influential” to “least influential” that
shows the level of impact that historical figures and philosophies had on the Founding Fathers’ thinking as they crafted the US Constitution. They
should include at least 4 of the following on their continua:
 Greek and Roman philosophy
 John Locke
 Montesquieu
 The Magna Carta
 The Constitution of the Iroquois Nation
To individually assess student understanding, students should respond on their own to the following question in writing: Of the thinkers/ideas
you explored today, which had the greatest impact on the US Constitution? Why do you say so?
Evaluate the students’ responses based on:
 Accuracy of information
 Clarity of writing (sticks to point, doesn’t wander)
 Logical organization of writing (introduction and conclusion, with supporting details in between)
 Solid justification for opinion (based on facts)
TEACHER NOTES: NA
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction
AIG ~ IRP Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project