In this lesson, part of a text unit utilizing David A. Adler’s A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin, students will learn about what a constitution is and why our country has one. After, they will use their knowledge of Benjamin Franklin as well as key details from the text to collaborate and develop a classroom constitution starting with the words “We the People”. All students will sign the class constitution to reenforce the concept that a constitution is a set of rules agreed upon by the people.

This unit is focused on identifying Benjamin Franklin as the topic of the text. Civics is integrated through understanding that Benjamin Franklin represents the United States. Students will explore life in the 1700’s to gain background knowledge. Teacher will create an ongoing timeline to document the major events in Ben’s life as key details. Students will solve a real world problem through invention, create a newspaper article to spread news, write both an expository and opinion piece. The assessment for the unit will be a kite that is a graphic organizer for students to identify the topic and relevant details in a text.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.