Constitution Day

September 17 marks the anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and is designated as Constitution Day by the United States government. By Congressional mandate, “Each educational institution that receives federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution.”

Ideas for meeting this requirement:

• Use an activity and video from the U.S. Courts to consider and practice civil discourse skills.
• Learn about the U.S. Constitution and complete a 6-question quiz in our Student Center.
• Use the text of the U.S. Constitution to lead a lesson on the qualifications of office for leaders of each of the three branches of government.
• Ponder the Promises of the Preamble using videos produced by the U.S. Courts.
• Analyze connections between primary documents and the U.S. Constitution with this DocsTeach activity from the National Archives.
• Browse the Constitution Day Teacher Toolkit assembled by the Civics Renewal Network.

New citizens swearing the oath of allegiance to the United States