{"id":245257,"date":"2010-01-28T22:05:28","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T03:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/2274"},"modified":"2010-01-28T22:05:28","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T03:05:28","slug":"teaching-civics-with-children%e2%80%99s-literature-shh-we%e2%80%99re-writing-the-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/245257","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Civics with Children\u2019s Literature: Shh! We\u2019re Writing the Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Shh!<\/a><\/p>\n

Shh!\u00a0 We’re Writing the Constitution<\/a>, by Jean Fritz<\/a> and illustrated by Tomie dePaola<\/a>,\u00a0 provides an engaging summary of the events during the summer of 1787 through the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788.\u00a0 Fritz masterfully explains that, “[a]fter the Revolutionary War most people in America were glad that they were no longer British.\u00a0 Still, they were not ready to call themselves Americans.”\u00a0 Using easy to understand text, she walks readers through the reasons that a strong federal government was needed as well as the difficulties that delegates at the Grand Convention faced in drafting a document that would define what that government should look like.\u00a0 In addition to details about the art of compromise and the final draft of the Constitution itself, Fritz shares gossipy tidbits about the delegates at the convention that humanizes the nation’s Founding Fathers and makes reading about the basis for the U.S. government interesting.\u00a0 For example, “[Benjamin] Franklin came to the convention in a Chinese sedan chair carried by four prisoners from the Philadelphia jail” and Oliver Ellsworth shook “the hand of a woman who was two thousand years old.”\u00a0 Readers get a feel for how even once drafted, disagreements continued and the states were slow to ratify the document.\u00a0 She explains that even Benjamin Franklin “disagreed with some parts… [but] he was convinced that this was the best that they could do.”\u00a0 Fritz walks readers through the arguments between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists during the almost year before the United States of America officially became a nation with the new framework for government defined by the Constitution.\u00a0 The book includes the text of the Constitution of the United States for easy reference.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution<\/em> is an excellent book for introducing upper elementary school children to the work and effort involved in creating the U.S. Constitution as well as the key components of the Constitution itself.\u00a0 Teachers can use the book to trace the history of the document’s creation, address the primary political conflicts and differences between the newly sovereign states, explore the structure of U.S. government, and the role of compromise in governance.\u00a0 Depending on the reading levels of students, the book can be read aloud, in pairs, or individually.\u00a0 To be most effective, teachers should plan activities that allow students to explore the difficulties in working with others to create a governing framework and to engage directly with primary source documents.<\/p>\n

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Virginia Standards of Learning: Virgina Studies – Political Growth and Western Expansion, VS.6a; United States History to 1865 – Skills, USI.1a; United States History to 1865 – Revolution and the New Nation, USI.7a and USI.7b<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/strong>
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