United States Constitution
Webquest
Edited by Kathy Klaverweiden
Introduction
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 of the United States of
America.
Have you heard these words before? What do they mean?
What is the Constitution of the United States of America?
The next step will outline a project where you will learn
about the constitution.
Task
It's September 17, 1787, the final draft of the United States
Constitution has just been sent to congress and will now be
sent to the states to be ratified. Your job as an employee of
your home state newspaper (pick one of the states existing
in 1787*) is to provide news to the public about the
important event that has just taken place. You must
communicate this information to your readers! It's a big
job! How do you do it?
* States to choose from are:
Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, South Carolina,
Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Georgia, New Hampshire or
Rhode Island.
Use these graphic organizers to help you take notes and
provide a list of sources at the end of your newspaper.
Bibliography Organizer and Topic Organizer
Process
Working in small groups, to be chosen by your teacher,
these are the items that are to be covered in your
newspaper.
1. What is the U.S. Constitution? Summarize and explain
this to your readers.
2. What does the Constitution do for the citizens of the
United States? What about slaves?
3. Write a short biography on the delegate(s) from your
state. Did your delegate(s) play an important role in the
writing of the constitution?
Your newspaper must contain headlines, illustrations and
text in columns. Each person in your group must choose
from the following jobs.
1. Reporter- this person gathers the information and
reports back to the group.
2. Feature Writer- this person gathers information on the
delegates and puts together a biography.
3. Illustrator- draws pictures of the event.
4. Layout Editor- this person decides the layout of the
newspaper and coordinates the final product.
Remember that all the people in this group must work
together to create your final product.
Don't forget to cite your sources!
Some points to ponder:
What three government bodies did the constitution create
and how do they work together?
What are articles? What are amendments?
What events led to the writing of the constitution (this
would be consider background information)?
What are the five freedoms of the first amendment?
Why is the constitution called a "living document"?
Resources
Websites:
The Constitution Center http://www.constitutioncenter.org
Constitution Resources from the U.S. Department of
Education
http://www.free.ed.gov/subjects.cfm?subject_id=19&res_fe
ature_request=1
Read the U.S. Constitution
http://www.archives.gov/national-archivesexperience/charters/constitution.html
A Roadmap to the U.S. Constitution
http://library.thinkquest.org/11572/
Questions and Answers Pertaining To the Constitution
http://www.archives.gov/national-archivesexperience/charters/constitution_q_and_a.html
Archiving Early America, see a sample of an Early
American newspaper
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/constit
ution/index.html
Charters of Freedom http://www.archives.gov/nationalarchives-experience/charters/charters.html
Framer's of the Constitution
http://www.usconstitution.net/constframe.html
Books:
Catrow, David. We the Kids: The Preamble to the
Constitution of the United States, Dial Books for Young
Readers,2002.
Johnson, Linda Carlson. Our Constitution, Millbrook Press
Library, 1992.
Krull, Kathleen. A Kid's Guide to America's Bill of Rights:
Curfews, Censorship, and the 100-pound Giant. Avon,
1999.
Levy, Elizabeth. ....if you were there when they signed the
Constitution. Scholastic, 1992.
Prolman, Marilyn. The Constitution. Children's Press, 1995.
Stein, R. Conrad. The Bill of Rights. Children's Press, 1992.
Stein, R. Conrad. Powers of the Supreme Court. Children's
Press, 1995.
Fritz, Jean. Shh! We're Writing the Constitution. Penguin
Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1998.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You've successfully completed this
webquest on the United States Constitution! Just a few
more things.....
Double check your newspaper format, is the spelling
correct? Do you have all the information included you'd
like your readers to know? Do your explanations make
sense?
Share your newspaper with your classmates. What did you
learn from your classmates you didn't already know?
Evaluation
Use the following scoring rubric to tell how well you did
on your project. This is what your teacher will use to
determine a grade.
CATEGORY
4
3
2
1
Articles - Interest
The articles
contain facts,
figures, and/or
word choices that
make the articles
exceptionally
interesting to
readers.
The articles
contain facts,
figures, and/or
word choices that
make the articles
interesting to
readers.
The article
contains some
facts or figures but
is marginally
interesting to read.
The article does
not contain facts or
figures that might
make it interesting
to read.
Use of Primary
Sources
Reading of
primary source
material was
thorough.
Reading of
primary source
material was fairly
thorough.
Reading of
primary source
material was
incomplete.
Reading of
primary source
material was not
done.
Graphics
Graphics are in
focus, are wellcropped and are
clearly related to
the articles they
accompany.
Graphics are in
focus and are
clearly related to
the articles they
accompany.
80-100% of the
graphics are
clearly related to
the articles they
accompany.
More than 20% of
the graphics are
not clearly related
to the articles OR
no graphics were
used.
Spelling and
Proofreading
No spelling or
grammar errors
remain after one or
more people (in
addition to the
typist) read and
correct the
newspaper.
No more than a
couple of spelling
or grammar errors
remain after one or
more people (in
addition to the
typist) read and
correct the
newspaper.
No more than 3
spelling or
grammar errors
remain after one or
more people (in
addition to the
typist) read and
correct the
newspaper.
Several spelling or
grammar errors
remain in the final
copy of the
newspaper.
Articles - Purpose 90-100% of the
articles establish a
clear purpose in
the lead paragraph
and demonstrate a
clear
understanding of
the topic.
85-89% of the
articles establish a
clear purpose in
the lead paragraph
and demonstrate a
clear
understanding of
the topic.
75-84% of the
articles establish a
clear purpose in
the lead paragraph
and demonstrate a
clear
understanding of
the topic.
Less than 75% of
the articles
establish a clear
purpose in the lead
paragraph and
demonstrate a
clear
understanding of
the topic.
Layout - Headlines All articles have
Captions
headlines that
capture the reader's
attention and
accurately describe
the content. All
articles have a
byline. All
graphics have
captions that
adequately
describe the people
and action in the
graphic.
All articles have
headlines that
accurately describe
the content. All
articles have a
byline. All
graphics have
captions.
Most articles have
headlines that
accurately describe
the content. All
articles have a
byline. Most
graphics have
captions.
Articles are
missing bylines
OR many articles
do not have
adequate headlines
OR many graphics
do not have
captions.
Contributions of
Group Members
Each person in the
group has
contributed at least
one article and one
graphic with a few
reminders from
peers.
Each person in the
group has
contributed at least
one article with
some minimal
assistance from
peers.
One or more
students in the
group required
quite a lot of
assistance from
peers before
contributing one
article.
Each person in the
group has
contributed at least
two articles and
one graphic
without prompting
from teachers or
peers.