Human Rights and the Constitution

Essential Question

How does the U.S. Constitution affect me?
Is the U.S. Constitution aligned with human rights?
How has the constitution be used to help or discriminate a group of people?
What can we do to ensure human rights are acknowledged in the constitution?

Texts

Literature

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow

Mari and her family have been sent to an internment camp in Utah. She does not understand what they have done to deserve their internment and longs for her backyard in California where she used to grow sunflowers.

Amy Lee-Tai and Felicia Hoshino (illustrator)

Grade Level

3-5

Subject

History

Topic

Race & Ethnicity

April 7, 2016

Informational

Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution

Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution, the first clause of which restrains congressional powers with respect to the trade in enslaved persons.

Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, and John Adams

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Subject

History

Topic

Slavery

December 13, 2017

Literature

Autographs for Freedom

An anti-slavery poem by Harriet Beecher Stowe from 1852.

“Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Thirty-five other Eminent Writers.”

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Subject

History

Topic

Slavery

December 13, 2017

Informational

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion for Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, a groundbreaking case that overturned the "separate but equal" standard set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson. The Supreme Court decided this case unanimously on May 17, 1954.

Earl Warren

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Subject

Civics

History

Topic

Civil Rights Movement Race & Ethnicity Rights & Activism

July 2, 2014

Teaching Strategies

Close and Critical Reading

Agree/Disagree Statements

Agree/disagree statements challenge students to think critically about their knowledge of a topic, theme or text. The strategy exposes students to the major ideas in a text before reading—engaging their thinking and motivating them to learn more. It also requires them to reconsider their original thinking after reading the text and to use textual evidence to support and explain their thinking.

Grade Level

3-5

CCSS

RF.3-5.4, RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2

July 19, 2014

Close and Critical Reading

Annolighting

“Annolighting” (annotating and highlighting) shows students how to identify critical information in a text during close reading. Students learn to annotate text, highlight important facts and summarize what they have read to capture main ideas, concepts and details.

Grade Level

3-5

CCSS

RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, RL.3-5.4, RI.3-5.4, RL.3.5, RI.3.5, L.3-5.4

July 19, 2014

Student Tasks

Write to the Source

Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and informative writing skills.

Grade Level

3-5

CCSS

W.3-5.2, W.3-5.4, W.4-5.9

July 19, 2014

Write to the Source

Fact or Opinion

Fact or Opinion asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and analytical writing skills.

Grade Level

3-5

CCSS

W.3.2, W.4.2, W.5.2, W.3.4, W.4.4, W.5.4, W.4.9, W.5.9

July 19, 2014

Write to the Source

In Conversation

In Conversation asks students to demonstrate their narrative skills when applying different points of view in writing.

Grade Level

3-5

CCSS

W.3-5.3, W.3-5.4

July 19, 2014

Write to the Source

Point of View

Point of View asks students to demonstrate their narrative skills when applying different points of view in writing.

Grade Level

3-5

CCSS

W.3-5.3, W.3-5.4

July 19, 2014

Write to the Source

What is the Argument?

What’s the Argument? asks students to demonstrate their argumentative and analytical writing skills.

Grade Level

3-5

CCSS

W.3-5.2, W.3-5.4, W.3-5.5, W.4-5.9

July 19, 2014

Plan Built By

Mx.Tooley

Human Rights and the Constitution

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