MINI UNIT PLAN
Kaitlyn Clinage, Laura Hernandez, Becca Wilson
PART I: Unit Overview
A. Unit Title: The Constitution
B. Family Letter (attached)
C. Social Studies Content: (attached)
D. Big Ideas:
1. The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land.
2. The government is entrusted to protect the human rights of all American citizens.
3. The government of the United States was put together so no branch/person has more
power than any other branch/person.
E. Key Concepts:
1. Democracy- Government by the people, exercised either directly or through an elected representative
2. Constitution- the set of basic laws and principles by which a democratic nation, state, or
other organization is governed.
3. Bill of Rights- a formal list or summary of fundamental rights and liberties to which a
people or class is entitled; such a list incorporated into the U.S. Constitution as the first
ten amendments
4. Legislative Branch- the division of government that determines and produces laws.
5. Executive Branch- the division of government that carries out the laws of a country; he
president and various departments make up this branch
6. Judicial Branch- the division of government that is of, concerning, or appropriate judges,
courts of law, or the administration of justice
7. Checks and Balances- a governmental mechanism of self-regulation provided for in the
U.S. and other constitutions, by which the powers of each branch of government are
limited by powers vested in another branch of government
F. Rationale:
This unit is being taught to teach the students about the role of the Constitution in the
government and in citizen’s daily lives. The students will consider the problems with Articles of
the Confederation and King George’s laws and how they lead to the creation of the United
States Constitution. This lesson will also allow students to identify what rights they are given as
citizens of the United States and how they are protected. Students will use this knowledge to
create a Constitution for the classroom. Knowledge of their rights as citizens of the United
States as well as an understanding of how the government functions to protects and provide
those rights will help students recognize their civic efficacy.
G. Goals: Understand/Know/Do must all be incorporated
1. The students will understand the purpose of the Constitution and that it is the supreme
law of the United States.
2. The students will know the purpose and role of the Bill of Rights.
3. The students will understand the roles of the three branches of government and their
checks and balance system.
H. Unit Objectives:
1. The students will understand the purpose for writing the Constitution, who wrote it and
when it was written by completing a fill-in-the-blank worksheet based on “This is
America, Charlie Brown”.
2. The students will identify the freedoms designated in the First Amendment of the Bill of
Rights by making connections to the Cantdo Land reading.
3. The students will create their own classroom constitutions that reflects the structure
and purpose of the US constitution.
4. The students will categorize government responsibilities into Legislative, Judicial or
Executive branch.
5. The students will participate in a simulation to experience what it would be like to be
apart of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.
I. SOLs
GOVT.4 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the Constitution of the United
States by (c) examining the fundamental principles upon which the Constitution of the United
States is based, including the rule of law, consent of the governed, limited government,
separation of powers, and federalism;
PART II: Resources
A. Resources/ Preparation/ Materials
Maiterials for whole class:
Materials for groups:
als for groups:
 Cantdo Land Reading
 large sheets of paper
 Bill of Rights Worksheet
 markers
 Bill of Rights Homework sheet  Branches of Government concept sort (and table)
 scissors
PART III: Knowing Your Students and their Prior Knowledge
A. Student Knowledge and Interest
Students are already familiar with the Constitution, and everyone has the right to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The students will have previously learned who wrote the
constitution and should be familiar with the branches of government. The students should also
know that the Bill of Rights is a part of the constitution, but will not know the specific rights
included in it. The students should also have a basic understanding of what rights and rules are,
and they should be able to state at least 1 right and at least 1 rule and be able to differentiate
between the two. If there are any misconceptions about the differences between rights and
rules the teacher will review what they are in the second lesson about the Bill of Rights.
Another possible misconception by students might be that the President makes up the
executive branch and that he has all the power. The teacher will correct this misconception by
teaching the powers of the three branches of government and explaining about checks and
balances. Our plan for our lesson is to go in depth and have students learn about the history of
our country and be excited about their citizenship.
B. Linguistic, social and academic challenges, resources and support
This lesson will be adapted so that all students’ needs will be met. For ELL students, all
vocabulary will be written on the board during class discussions. In addition, the teacher will
create a board in the room with a collection of vocabulary words and their definitions, as well
as a collection of graphic used in the lesson. For students with reading and writing challenges,
the teacher will read aloud all the material students will be asked to study, and computers or
tablets will be provided for any writing assignments to those students who need one. In
addition, the reading and literacy specialist will be asked to join the class during the allotted
lesson time to help those students with challenges. For students who are shy and tend to
participate less, the lesson includes opportunities for individual work allowing the teacher to
assess those students’ understanding. For students who need behavioral support, the teacher
will review the expectations and objectives of each lesson prior to beginning the lesson so that
the student will understand what the teacher expects of him or her.
PART IV: Lesson Overviews and Lesson Plans
A. Narrative Overview of Introductory Lesson:
Why did we write the Constitution? Who wrote the Constitution? At what time did we
write the Constitution (what was going on in the U.S. at the time)? After a discussion on the
role and importance of the US Constitution, we will show the students the following video,
“This is America, Charlie Brown.” While watching the movie, the students will complete a fill-inthe- blank worksheet.
B. Lesson Plan 1:
Bill of Rights (“Cantdo Land”)
The students will identify the six freedoms stated in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights by
reading about the land of “Cantdo.” The class will read the story together, then identify what
the family was not allowed to do in “Cantdo Land.” The students will then each be given a list of
the First Amendment Rights and in pairs will identify what rights were violated and how from
“Cantdo Land.” The class will then discuss how they use the six freedoms from the First
Amendment in everyday life. The students will then write a paragraph about what life would
be like without one of the six freedoms in the First Amendment.
Objective:
The students will identify the freedoms designated in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.
Students will describe how they use the six freedoms from the First Amendment of the Bill of
Rights in everyday life
Students will explore how life would be different without one of the rights staged in the First
Amendment
Materials & supplies needed:
A copy of the “Cantdo Land” reading and a copy of the First Amendment Freedoms for each
student
LAUNCH (“BEFORE”)
To begin the lesson we will discuss what Rights are and ask the students to name any rights
they know or ones they remember from the previous year. To engage them in the content we
will then ask students to name the rules of the classroom, and discuss how those rules are
established and decided on. The teacher will then ask the students explain what rights are, and
if they know or remember any from the previous year. The students will then discuss as a class
the difference between rules and rights. After the students have finished their discussion, the
teacher will hand out the reading to the class and give the students instructions.
(15 minutes)
EXPLORE (“DURING”)
The teacher will hand introduce the reading to the students by telling them about how in the
land of Cantdo, the people are not allowed to do certain things. Students will take turns reading
aloud and the teacher will pause the reading periodically for the teacher to ask questions about
what is being read. The teacher will be checking that student responses refer to the text and
address specific rights or actions that the people of Cantdo are not allowed to do. Possible
incorrect answers might relate to misconceptions about what a right is or confusion about what
is being read. To address these issues the teacher will review, if needed, what a right is, and will
summarize what has been read for the students. The teacher will also ask the students if there
are any words from the story that they do not know, and will define them and give examples.
After the story has been read aloud, the teacher will ask the students to restate what actions
were not allowed in Cantdo Land. The teacher will write the students responses on the board
and the students will copy the teacher’s list into their notebooks. The teacher will then hand
out the Bill of Rights: First Amendment worksheet that includes a list of the six freedoms stated
in the First Amendment. The teacher will review the instructions and the class will complete
the first question together. The students will then work in pairs to identify where in the story
each right was addressed. The students will each need to complete the worksheet, and the
teacher will be available to questions or support. For those students who finish quickly, the
teacher will have the students draw a picture of Cantdo Land.
(30 minutes)
SUMMARIZE (“AFTER”)
After every student has completed the activity the teacher will bring the class back together for
a class discussion. The teacher will ask the students if they would like to live in Cantdo Land and
why. The teacher will then ask the students to recall what problems the family had in Cantdo
Land and what freedoms they did not have. The class will then discuss in pairs in what ways
they use the six freedoms in everyday life. The class will come back together and the teacher
will ask the students to explain what they discussed with their partner. The teacher will review
with the students what rights are protected in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, and
how everyone has these rights. The teacher will ask students if there are any remaining
questions or if there is any confusion about the activity.
The teacher will hand out the homework sheet to the students and read the instructions out
loud. The teacher will state that he or she is looking for the student to clearly state what first
amendment right they are talking about, how life would be different without it, and for the
student to give specific examples. The teacher will allow time at the end for any questions
about the assignment.
(15 min)
Assessment
During the class discussion the teacher will be looking for students responses to relate to the
reading and themselves. Students’ responses to the questions about the text should include
information about what the family was not allowed to do.
For the in class worksheet assignment, the teacher will be looking to see that the students
correctly matched the Right from the Bill of Rights, to the text. An example of an appropriate
response would be “Freedom of Speech: The family was not allowed to hand out invitations.”
The take home assignment will be collected by the teacher on the following day, graded and
returned back to the student. The teacher will be looking to see that the student clearly stated
what first amendment right they are talking about, how life would be different without it, and
that the student to gave specific examples.
Based on the students responses in class, their in class work, and their homework the teacher
will determine if and where additional support is needed.
Lesson Plan 2
Make Your Own Constitution
Students will understand what a Constitution is and why we have one in the United States.
Students will recognize that the Constitution is the highest law in our country and also that it
created the presidency. In groups, students will create their own Constitutions. Writing the
Constitutions will give students an idea of what it would have been like to be one of the
Framers. It will be difficult for students to come to agreements, which will make them think
about how it must have been for the Framers and why it took them so long to write the
Constitution. We will all come together and discuss our Constitutions and try to condense into
one. As a group, we can discuss amendments we may want to add to our class constitution
later.
Objective:
The students will create their own Constitutions for a similar purpose and with the same
structure of the US Constitution
Materials & supplies needed:
Large sheets of paper
markers
LAUNCH (“BEFORE”)
We will discuss the parts of the Constitution and how each work. The students already will have
some ideas about this from the previous introductory lesson. I will ask the students to define
the Constitution in their own words. After hearing answers and taking some notes on the
board, we will review that the Constitution is a document that was written in 1787 by the
“framers.” We will list some “framers” and also write that on the board. Constitution was
written by the framers over the course of several months to establish law in a new country. The
Constitution can still be added to via amendments. The first 10 amendments are referred to as
“the Bill of Rights” because they refer to the rights of people in our country. Today, there are 27
amendments and more could be added.
“Why do you think a Constitution is an important part of being a citizen? What would life be
like if we didn’t have a Constitution?”
(10-15 minutes)
EXPLORE (“DURING”)
Materials will be handed out to each table. Each table will be given time to write their own
Constitution. Each constitution will be expected to have 3 parts: a preamble, a body, and
amendments. This Constitution will be a contract between the fourth grade and it’s teachers.
“What rights are essential for you to come to the fourth grade?”
Students will have about 20 minutes to work on their constitutions.
As they are writing their constitutions, the instructors will walk around between the groups to
ensure they are staying on task. We will redirect and invoke thought with questions.
(about 20 minutes)
SUMMARIZE (“AFTER”)
When we are finished with our table Constitutions, each group will tape their constitution on
the whiteboard. We will go through the Constitutions with students and teacher. If the teacher
does not agree with a law, it cannot be passed. We will discuss what the differences/similarities
are in our Constitutions. We will also discuss if we think that we have missed any big part of a
Constitution.
“If we missed something, what could we do to change or add it?”
We will use the group Constitutions to come up with a class Constitution that we could all sign
and agree on.
Hopefully, students will reply so that we can add amendments, solidifying their knowledge of
this important part of the Constitution.
(20-25 minutes)
Assessment
The constitutions that the students complete in groups will be assessment of their
understanding. Each group of students will present their constitution and explain why the parts
are important to them. The constitutions will be assessed based on the student’s ability to see
teachers/administrators as leaders and listing laws/rules that are important to the school.
These rules will be rules that keep the school safe and running smoothly. After talking as a class,
we will add amendments together to further explore student’s knowledge of rules that would
keep the school safe and running smoothly.
Lesson Plan 3
Three Branches of Government Concept Sort
The students will watch a BrainPop video that discusses the roles of the three branches of
government as in introduction into the lesson. The students will cut out cards with different
roles and responsibilities of the three branches of government. The students will discuss as
groups the responsibilities of the legislative, executive and judicial branches and classify them
accordingly. The students will argue their cases to each other and the instructor will facilitate
conversations when needed. Then students will then record the responsibilities on a table after
the whole class discussion.
Objectives:
The students will categorize government responsibilities into Legislative, Judicial or Executive
branch.
Materials & supplies needed:
Tv for the video, Branches of Government Concept Sort, table, scissors
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzbzHaNolwxmN2VmMDc2ODQtM2U4ZC00OWQzLWEyODgt
ODAzYjNmN2QyN2Fk/edit
LAUNCH (“BEFORE”)
To begin the lesson, the instructor will write the terms Legislative, Executive and Judicial on the
board. “Look at the word Judicial, what words to you hear/see and what comes to mind when
you think about that? Look at the word Executive, what words do you see/hear and what
comes to mind? Now, look at the word Legislative, what do you think this one might mean?”
Then to give the students an introduction into the three branches of government, we will show
the following Brain Pop Video that explains the branches of government in a clear and simple
way for students to understand.
(http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernmentandlaw/branchesofgovernment/)
The instructor will then give the directions to the concept sort, encouraging students to do their
best but not to stress about getting the right answers because we will go over them as a class.
Then the students will be broken up into groups of 3-4.
(about 10 minutes)
EXPLORE (“DURING”)
The instructor will pass out the concept sort to each group. They will cut out each of the cards
and place them under the correct branch of government: legislative, executive or judicial.
During this time, the instructor will be walking around to monitor the students and their
discussions, being there for assistance or scaffolding if needed.
Why did you choose to put this one here and not here? We’ll look at the key words, what
branch is associated with laws/judges/veto/etc.
(20-30 minutes)
SUMMARIZE (“AFTER”)
Once the students have completed their concept sorts, we will go over each card one by one
and discuss why it belongs under the correct branch. The students will move the cards around
accordingly. Once this discussion is complete, the students will record their concept sorts onto
a chart provided by the instructor for review and studying purposes.
(20-30 minutes)
Assessment
Throughout the concept sort, I will walk around the classroom to make sure that all of the
students are participating and contributing to their group. Once the students have finished
their concept sorts, we will have a classroom discussion where we will talk about any
discrepancies in their word sort and why a particular jobs are assigned to particular branches.
The students will be assessed on the correct completion of the Branches of Government chart
that the students will fill out based on their concept sorts and the group discussion. Once these
have been checked and graded, they will be returned to the students for review and studying
purposes.
C. Narrative overview of Closing Lesson:
As our closing lesson, we will work through three small simulations of the branches of
government. We will divide the students into executive, judicial, and legislative branches and
assign specific jobs to certain students. The students will run through different simulations to
help them understand how each branch works. To ensure the students get the most out of
these simulations in addition to encourage family involvement, the families and friends of the
students will be invited to attend the presentation of the simulations.
D. Out-of-school Learning:
Responsibility Launcher is a game that can help students understand the what responsibilities
American citizens have. (http://www.icivics.org/games/responsibility-launcher)
Required Reading: If You Were There When They Signed The Constitution by Elizabeth Levy
Writing Activity: What would life be like without ONE of the rights in the First Amendment?
This is a webquest that students could do in the computer lab on a day that the class was
allowed to use it. (http://smsindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/4th-grade-webquest1.pdf)
E. Bibliography
This website lays out the most basic information elementary students need to know about the
Constitution. http://www.usconstitution.net/constkids4.html
Link to watch “This is America, Charlie Brown: The Birth of the Constitution.
http://www.1channel.ch/watch-949233-This-Is-America-Charlie-Brown-The-Birth-of-theConstitution
This websource from Cornell University outlines the ins and outs of the Bill of Rights
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/billofrights
Brain Pop: Three Branches of Government
http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernmentandlaw/branchesofgovernment/
Branches of Government Concept Sort and Table
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzbzHaNolwxmN2VmMDc2ODQtM2U4ZC00OWQzLWEyODgt
ODAzYjNmN2QyN2Fk/edit
This image could be used either to hang in a classroom or to be pasted in a notebook for
students to reference http://etechplace.org/clough/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture14.png
Dear Fourth Grade Family Members,
September is Constitution Month! The United States Constitution
was written on September 17th, 1787. To celebrate, we spend the
entire month teaching our fourth grade students all about the US
Constitution. Why was it written? Who wrote it? What is its
purpose? What is its structure of it? How is it regulated? It is our
goal that by the end of September that your fourth graders will be
we able to answer all of these questions!
As a fourth grade team, we believe it is extremely important for our
students to be informed citizens of their nation, and understand why
and how their government was set up the way it is. During this unit,
we will spend time talking about the origin of the US Constitution,
its purpose, the role of the Bill of Rights and its purpose, the three
branches of government and the system of checks and balances.
At the end of the month, our students will be putting on a simulation
of the government outlined by the United States Constitution. We
invite you all to attend this simulation! It will be held on Friday,
September 27th, 2013 at 1:30 pm. The students will work really hard
over the course of this next month to make this a special show for
you! We’d love to see you then 
Content
Our fourth grade unit is designed to familiarize students with the inner workings of
the United States government and some of its history. In our unit, we focus on the
Constitution and the branches of government. Our goal is for students to learn about what
it means to be a citizen of the United States and the documents that set us apart from other
countries.
The first day of our unit is a warm-up discussion about the Constitution. The
students will be introduced to basic concepts of the Constitution; how, why and when it
was written. The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787 by the Constitutional
Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We will introduce the Founding Fathers of
the United States, also known as“framers,” and identify some important framers that
students will already be familiar with; George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James
Madison and George Mason. Students will learn the three parts of the Constitution: the
preamble, articles and amendments. As instructors, we will emphasize that writing the
Constitution was a long process that wasn’t easy for the framers. It was a hot summer with
no air conditioning and a lot of disagreements. This information lays the brick work for the
unit and should get students to start to think about the Constitution. Instructors will be
familiar with all the parts of this discussion already and students will have heard many of
the key terms introduced. We will play this short video for the students as well for a good
introduction into the unit, “This is America, Charlie Brown.”
The second lesson to our unit, “Can’t-Do Land,” addresses the importance of the Bill
of Rights, focusing on the first amendment. We will read the story “Can’t-Do Land” together
as a class. “Can’t-Do Land” is a story about a family living in the land of “Can’t-Do,” where
the Bill of Rights does not exist. This shows students what life would be like without the six
freedoms stated in the first amendment. This is a sort of literacy-based simulation in which
students will learn the values of the Bill of Rights. The book provides examples of freedom
of religion, press, speech, peaceful assembly, petition and tax the press. The students will
be assessed on this lesson through a short paragraph in which they will write about what
the United States would be like if they did not have ONE of these six freedoms.
In our next lesson, students will break into groups to write their own constitution
broken into 3 parts, as it is in the U.S. Constitution. The student’s constitutions will be a
written agreement between the students and instructors. Students will be given time to
write their constitutions, then the class will come together and discuss them. The
constitutions will be assessed based on student’s ability to break the constitution into three
parts and recognize rules that would be agreed upon by all parties. After reviewing the
group constitutions, students and instructors will come together to write a class
constitution that all agree on to be signed and hung up. This lesson will give students a
glimpse of what it was like to write the Constitution (simulation) and give them a chance to
work together to come to a common decision.
The fourth lesson focuses on the branches of government. This lesson is the
meatiest of them all. Students are expected to understand the workings of the legislative,
executive, and judicial branches. The most essential understanding they should have is how
each branch relates to laws. For example, the legislative branch makes the laws, executive
branch carries out the laws, and the judicial branch decides if the laws are constitutional.
The activity with this lesson is a concept sort. The concept sort will be done in groups and
supervised by the instructor. The instructor will watch as students collaborate their
knowledge to put together the concept sort. When all groups have finished, students will go
over the concept sort with the instructor and record the characteristics of each branch onto
a chart for review. In addition, the students will come away with an understanding of WHY
the Checks and Balances system is put into place.
As a closing to our unit, the class will prepare and practice a series of simulations on
the United States government outlined by the Constitution. Students will be assigned a
branch and perhaps a specific job within the branch. This way, instructors can observe if
students understand each branch and how it functions. To ensure the students get the most
out of this exercise and to encourage family involvement, the students’ family members and
friends will be invited to attend.