TownTalk received a press release from Plains ISD that reads as follows:
September 5, 2016
The week of September 19-23 is Constitution Week. Here is an excerpt from www.constitutionweekusa.com
History of Constitution Week
The United States Constitution
On September 17, 1787 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the United States Constitution. This sacred and important document established our national government and fundamental laws, and had protected and guaranteed certain basic rights to citizens of these great United States.
On the closing day of the convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin said, “I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if there are such, because I think a central government is necessary for us…. I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution.”
America’s Forgotten Holiday
On February 29, 1952, the US Congress designated September 17 as “Citizenship Day.” (36 U.S.C. 106) On August 2, 1956, Congress requested that the President of the United States proclaim the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as “Constitution Week.” (36 U.S.C 108)
Plains ISD will incorporate classroom instructional activities as part of Constitution Week as a way to ensure our students understand the historical significance of the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787 as we connect to the future. Students will be engaged in activities such as comparing our government to the British Monarchy at the time of independence, discussing the Constitution’s role in modern society and looking at current events such as the Kaepernick issue with the National Anthem, introducing rights and responsibilities of government through a class discussion and the impact government has on a country, the students will then assume their classroom is a country and write a constitution with 10 rules (Bill of Rights), and the students will defend why we need the Constitution in an activity called Save the Constitution.
