Grade 3
Social Studies
Unit: 02
Lesson: 02
Suggested Duration: 02 days
Vida, libertad y búsqueda de la felicidad
Lesson Synopsis:
Students consider more deeply the Founding Fathers, the concept of consent of the governed, and the terms life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness as they study the Founding Documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution,
and the Bill of Rights.
TEKS:
3.1
The student understands how individuals, events, and ideas have influenced the history of various communities. The
student is expected to:
3.1C
Describe how individuals, including Daniel Boone, Christopher Columbus, the Founding Fathers, and Juan de Oñate,
have contributed to the expansion of existing communities or to the creation of new communities.
3.10
The student understands important ideas in historical documents at various levels of government. The student is
expected to:
3.10A
Identify the purposes of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights.
Social Studies Skills TEKS:
3.17
3.17E
3.18
3.18C
Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a
variety of valid sources, including electronic technology. The student is expected to:
Interpret and create visuals including graphs, charts, tables, timelines, illustrations, and maps.
Social studies skills. The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms. The student is expected to:
Use standard grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation.
GETTING READY FOR INSTRUCTION
Performance Indicator(s):

Create a collage using words and pictures that illustrate what life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness means.
Explain in writing the reason the pictures and words were chosen. (3.10A; 3.17E; 3.18C)
1E; 4J; 5B
Key Understandings and Guiding Questions:

En una república constitucional, las leyes garantizan y protegen los derechos de las personas.
— ¿Cómo contribuyeron las personas, los acontecimientos y las ideas a la expansión de las comunidades
existentes o a la creación de nuevas comunidades?
— ¿Cuáles son los propósitos de la Declaración de Independencia, de la Constitución de Estados Unidos y de
la Declaración de Derechos?
Vocabulary of Instruction:


libertad
libertad


búsqueda de la felicidad
república constitucional
Materials:

Refer to the Notes for Teacher section for materials.
Attachments:


Handout: Preamble 2-column Notes (1 per student)
Handout: Bill of Rights (1 per student and 1 to display)
Resources and References:

Internet sources such as Library of Congress and National Archives.
©2012, TESCCC
04/17/13
page 1 of 5
Grade 3
Social Studies
Unit: 02 Lesson: 02
Advance Preparation:
1. Become familiar with content and procedures for the lesson.
2. Refer to the Instructional Focus Document for specific content to include in the lesson.
3. Select appropriate sections of the textbook and other classroom materials that support the learning for this
lesson.
4. Preview available resources and websites according to district guidelines.
5. Prepare materials and handouts as needed.
Background Information:
Because we participate in government by choosing our leaders to represent us, the United States of America is a
constitutional republic as established by the U.S. Constitution. Participating in the election process by becoming
educated about the issues and the candidates, participating in respectful dialogue with the candidates and then
making an informed vote for the candidate with whom we most closely agree, we are giving our consent, or
participating in consent of the governed. The Constitution is our basic set of rules and laws. The Bill of Rights was
added to the Constitution by the Founding Fathers to ensure the rights of individual citizens and to make sure the
government did not become abusive, like they thought King George’s monarchy was. Until the United States, most
governments in the history of the world were unlimited governments ruled by one individual. (There were exceptions.)
GETTING READY FOR INSTRUCTION SUPPLEMENTAL PLANNING DOCUMENT
Instructors are encouraged to supplement and substitute resources, materials, and activities to differentiate instruction to address the needs of
learners. The Exemplar Lessons are one approach to teaching and reaching the Performance Indicators and Specificity in the
Instructional Focus Document for this unit. Instructors are encouraged to create original lessons using the Content Creator in the Tools Tab
located at the top of the page. All originally authored lessons can be saved in the “My CSCOPE” Tab within the “My Content” area.
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
ENGAGE – Founding Documents
1. Read again the excerpt from the Declaration of Independence:
 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.”
NOTE: 1 Day = 50 minutes
Suggested Day 1 – 10 minutes
Materials:
 Declaration of Independence
 Drawing paper
Instructional Note:
2. Students recall what they learned about consent of the governed in Lesson
1. If desired, show the Declaration of Independence.
July 4, 1776
Declaration of Independence
3. Review the vocabulary in the excerpt (for example, truth, self-evident,
equal, unalienable, rights, life, liberty, pursuit).
Colonies declare
independence from
Great Britain
4. Review the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, the beliefs at its
core, and the reason the Founders wrote it. Facilitate a brief discussion
using questions such as:
 What does self-evident mean?
 What do you think the Founders meant when they said that Life is
an “unalienable right”? (discuss)
 What does Liberty mean? (discuss)
 What do you think the Founders meant when they said the
Pursuit of Happiness is an “unalienable right endowed by [the]
Creator? (discuss)
 Are all men created equal?
5. Distribute drawing paper to students, on which they will create a timeline
that will be added to throughout the lesson.
6. On a piece of butcher paper hung landscape, create a class version of the
©2012, TESCCC
04/17/13
page 2 of 5
Grade 3
Social Studies
Unit: 02 Lesson: 02
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
timeline students are creating. Write the date July 4, 1776, on the left side.
Write Declaration of Independence under it. (This will become a timeline of
the Founding Documents.)
7. Students add the same information to their drawing paper so they will
create their own timeline during the lesson. At the bottom of the paper
students write the purpose of the Declaration and draw a picture
meaningful to the student about the Declaration of Independence.
EXPLORE/EXPLAIN – American Revolution
1. Fill in the next step of story: Britain and the newly-independent colonies
went to war, the American Revolution. The Revolutionary War lasted from
1775 (Lexington and Concord) until 1783 (Treaty of Paris). (If desired, read
part of Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.”)
Suggested Day 1 (cont’d) – 10
minutes
Materials:
 Timeline begun during the Engage
section
2. Add the American Revolution to the class timeline while students add the
information and the picture to their own timeline.
EXPLORE – Constitution
1. Add to the story using words such as:
 When the war was over and the treaty signed, what had been 13
British colonies was now an independent group of former
colonies.
 Do you remember why people form communities? (TEKS 3.2A:
reasons people have formed communities, including a need for
security, religious freedom, law, and material well-being).
 Did any of these reasons exist at the time? (yes)
 The people needed to form a community. One thing needed when
forming a community is an agreement about rules. The people
had several common beliefs to guide them, and they had strong
leaders who worked together.
 The people of the former colonies sent these leaders to a
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.
Suggested Day 1 (cont’d) – 20
minutes
Materials:
 Constitution of the United States
 Mural of the Constitution by Barry
Faulkner in the National Archives
Attachments
 Handout: Preamble 2-column
Notes (1 per student)
2. Show the mural Constitution (by Barry Faulkner) in the National Archives
and discuss some of the people shown.
 These leaders were to be the representatives of the people of the
colonies. There were to meet and figure out how this new group
of former colonies could work together to form a nation.
 Let’s look at something they wrote that conveys these ideas.
3. Distribute the Handout: Preamble 2-column Notes.
4. Show and read the Preamble to the Constitution while student follow
along:
 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.
5. Explain where this quote is from (the Preamble to the United States
Constitution).
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04/17/13
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Grade 3
Social Studies
Unit: 02 Lesson: 02
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
6. Students, in pairs or small groups, read the preamble and discuss, in their
groups and with the class, the meaning of each line/phrase and “translate”
the words into words they understand.
7. Facilitate a discussion where students share their ideas and then take
what they have learned about the Constitution and discern what the
Founders believed. (justice, peace, security, common good, liberty)
8. Teacher and students add information about the Constitution to their
timelines: Date the Constitution was signed (September 17, 1787, which
we now celebrate as Constitution Day during this Celebrate Freedom
Week); the date the Constitution went into effect (March 4, 1789, after the
people of the colonies voted for it; this is an example of consent of the
governed); the purpose of the Constitution (set up the rules for the new
government), and a relevant picture for each entry.
EXPLAIN – Purpose of Constitution
1. At the bottom of their Handout: Preamble 2-column Notes, students write
a summary of the purpose of the Constitution (to write the rules for a
government of the United States that: “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”)
EXPLORE – Bill of Rights
1. Distribute the Handout: Bill of Rights and introduce a third important
Founding Document, The Bill of Rights, using words such as:
 The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the Constitution.
Even though the leaders had been very careful when they wrote
the Constitution to make sure they designed a government that
supported their core beliefs, they wanted to be even more sure
that people’s individual rights were protected - that the
government could not become too powerful or treat the citizens
unfairly. So they wrote down exactly the things they wanted
specifically protected and they became the Bill of Rights, part of
our country’s Constitution.
Suggested Day 1 (cont’d) – 10
minutes
Materials:
 Timeline begun during the Engage
section
 Handout: Preamble 2-column
Notes begun in the Explore
section
Suggested Day 2 – 15 minutes
Materials:
 Bill of Rights
 Timeline begun during the Engage
section
Attachments
 Handout: Bill of Rights (1 per
student and 1 to display)
2. Read aloud the opening statement of the Bill of Rights, which is on the top
of the Handout: Bill of Rights, while students follow along.
 “The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of
their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to
prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further
declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as
extending the ground of public confidence in the Government,
will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.”
 “Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of
both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed
to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the
Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles,
when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid
to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution;”
3. Facilitate a discussion where students recognize that the first sentence
says that several of the states wanted there to be additional restrictive
clauses added to prevent abuse of power. (Students find the statement
©2012, TESCCC
04/17/13
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Grade 3
Social Studies
Unit: 02 Lesson: 02
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
and underline or highlight it.)
4. Ensure that students recognize that the second part talks about how the
people’s representatives have to approve them (2/3 of both houses) and
the people have to approve them (3/4 of the state legislatures). This is an
example of consent of the governed.
5. Lead students through a list of the amendments (at the bottom of the
Handout: Bill of Rights). Students should recognize some of the
amendments as response to the grievances listed in the Declaration of
Independence.
6. Students also recognize that the Constitution and Bill of Rights were
written to ensure that people’s unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness” were recognized and protected by specifically
addressing them in law – law that is put in place and upheld with the
consent of the governed.
EXPLAIN – Bill of Rights
1. Students add information on the Bill of Rights to the timeline from Day 1 as
Teacher adds information to the class timeline.
 On December 15, 1791, three-fourths of the states had ratified the
amendments of the Bill of Rights.
 The purpose was to spell out and ensure individual rights “in order to
prevent misconstruction or abuse of [government] powers.”
 A picture relevant to the student
Suggested Day 2 (cont’d) – 10
minutes
Materials:
 Timeline begun during the Engage
section
Suggested Day 2 (cont’d) – 10
minutes
ELABORATE – Founding Documents
1. Facilitate a discussion where students share what they have learned about
the founding documents by using academic language to answer the
guiding questions, make connections between the documents, and support
the Key Understanding
 In a constitutional republic, laws guarantee and protect the rights
of the people.
— How have individuals, events, and ideas contributed to the
expansion of existing communities or to the creation of new
communities?
— What are the purposes of the Declaration of Independence,
the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights
EVALUATE – Collage
1. Create a collage using words and pictures that illustrate what life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness means. Explain in writing the reason the
pictures and words were chosen. (3.10A; 3.17E; 3.18C)
1E; 4J; 5B
2. Students can use words and pictures they write/draw in addition to words
and pictures from magazines and newspapers.
©2012, TESCCC
04/17/13
Suggested Day 2 (cont’d) – 15
minutes
Materials:
 drawing paper
 magazines/newspapers
 scissors
 glue sticks
 markers or colored pencils
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