Learning Activity - Elementary Level - The Declaration of Independence

Winter 2009 Teaching with Primary Sources Quarterly

Learning Activity – Elementary Level

The Declaration of Independence: Differentiated Learning Activity

Declaration of Independence

Baltimore, Maryland: Printed by Mary Katharine

Goddard [1777]

Library of Congress Bibliographic record:

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/bdsdcc.02101

OVERVIEW

Overview

The purpose of this activity is to engage students at various academic levels in examining the

Declaration of Independence. Below-level/ELL students will review the historical setting and

influential figures surrounding the writing of the Declaration. On-level students will examine

parts of the document. Above-level students will compare wording from various source

documents with key phrases from the Declaration. All learners will “rewrite” the Declaration of

Independence as they evaluate alternative wording choices in the document, and later defend

their decisions in class discussion.

Objectives

After completing this learning activity, students will be able to:

• Explain the importance of the Declaration of Independence

• Identify and/or analyze key concepts put forth in the Declaration of Independence

• Evaluate alternative wording choices in the Declaration and defend their decisions

Time Required

Two class periods

Recommended Grade Range

4-5

Topic/s

United States History/Government

Subject

Social Studies, Language Arts (Reading)

Standards

McREL 4

Edition Standards & Benchmarks

http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/browse.asp

The Library of Congress Page 1

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/differentiated_instruction/pdf/elementary_a

ctivity.pdf

Winter 2009 Teaching with Primary Sources Newsletter

Learning Activity – Elementary Level

OVERVIEW (CONT’D)

Grades K-4 History

Standard 4. Understands how democratic values came to be, and how they have been

exemplified by people, events and symbols

United States History

Standard 6. Understands the causes of the American Revolution, the ideas and interests

involved in shaping the revolutionary movement, and reasons for the American victory.

Language Arts: Reading

Standard 7. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of

informational texts

Language Arts: Listening and Speaking

Standard 8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes

Thinking and Reasoning

Standard 6. Applies decision-making techniques.

Credits

Cynthia L. Buher, Whittier Elementary School, Wheaton-Warrenville CUSD #200, Illinois

PREPARATION

Materials

Have these materials ready before the activity:

Declaration of Independence image (introduction to lesson)

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/bdsdcc.02101

• Prepare to display the image for discussion either by printing or projecting

Internet-ready computer for each student or pair of students

• Set-up access to electronic versions of worksheets and the Library of Congress Web site

Worksheets (1 copy for each student, determined by academic ability level)

• There are 3 levels of activities/worksheets (below-level/ELL, on-level, above-level)

Note: The above-level worksheet will require prior download of free Silverlight software from

the Library’s myloc.gov Web site to run the accompanying online activity.

Resources

America’s Library, Library of Congress Web site

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa

Creating the Declaration of Independence online activity

http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/Pages/Interactives.aspx

*Requires Silverlight download

The Library of Congress Page 2

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/differentiated_instruction/pdf/elementary_a

ctivity.pdf

Winter 2009 Teaching with Primary Sources Newsletter

Learning Activity – Elementary Level

The Declaration of Independence: Rewriting the Rough Draft online activity

http://myloc.gov/Education/OnlineActivities/ExhibitObjects/DecOfIndependenceOnlineActivity.aspx

PROCEDURE

Activating Prior Knowledge:

1. Review what students remember about key events and influential figures from the

Revolutionary War period.

2. Ask students to share what they know about founding documents. Possible questions include:

What is a founding document? Why and when are founding documents written?

3. Show the image of the Declaration of Independence. Ask students to identify this document.

4. Discuss what students know about the Declaration of Independence. Possible questions include:

Why was it written? When was it written? Who wrote it?

5. Explain that students will learn more about the Declaration of Independence in this activity

by reading worksheets on the computer, using the worksheets’ hyperlinks to access the Library

of Congress Web site, and recording information on printed copies of the worksheets.

Activity:

1. Assign students to work at computers individually or in pairs.

2. Hand out the appropriate worksheets to students (based upon academic level):

Below-level/ELL learners: Declaration of Independence worksheet

• Students will access America’s Library to learn about the roles that Thomas Jefferson,

Benjamin Franklin and John Adams played in writing the Declaration of Independence.

On-level learners: This is It! worksheet

• Students will read parts of the Declaration of Independence, examining important

sections of the document.

Above-level learners: Deep Down Declaration worksheet

• Students will examine two of the five key phrases presented in the Creating the

Declaration of Independence online activity. They will read source documents and

choose the wording closest to Thomas Jefferson’s draft.

*Computers require free Silverlight download to run this online activity.

The Library of Congress Page 3

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/differentiated_instruction/pdf/elementary_a

ctivity.pdf

Winter 2009 Teaching with Primary Sources Newsletter

Learning Activity – Elementary Level

3. Hand out copies of instructions for the online activity, The Declaration of Independence:

Rewriting the Rough Draft, to all students upon completion of their worksheets.

All learners: A Big Decision directions

• Students will use the online activity to help edit Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the

Declaration of Independence.

4. Remind students to keep in mind the message that the colonists hoped to deliver to King

George III when choosing the wording for selected passages of the Declaration of Independence.

5. When all their edits are completed, ask students to select Compare versions and then select

Print to create a document comparing their version of the Declaration of Independence to the

final draft ratified by the Second Continental Congress.

6. As an entire class, discuss students’ discoveries about the Declaration of Independence.

Ask students to explain and defend their word choices from The Declaration of Independence:

Rewriting the Rough Draft online activity as part of the discussion.

EVALUATION

-- Active engagement in online activities

-- Accurate completion of worksheet

-- Active, thoughtful participation in culminating class discussion

The Library of Congress Page 4

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/differentiated_instruction/pdf/elementary_a

ctivity.pdf

Name __________________________

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is an important document in the

history of our country. We’ll read about the Declaration and some of the

people who influenced the beginnings of our new country.

Let’s meet some amazing Americans.

[CTRL + click to follow link to http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa ]

▪ Select U. S. Presidents

▪ Select Thomas Jefferson

Read about Thomas Jefferson and then answer these questions.

1. Who was the main author of the Declaration of Independence?

2. What other important jobs did Thomas Jefferson have in his lifetime?

▪ Select the story about Thomas Jefferson with the title, Th

e Most

Important Thing He Ever Wrote. Read all four pages.

3. How do we know that Thomas Jefferson wrote more than one draft of

the Declaration of Independence?

4. Why did the other members of the Continental Congress choose

Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence?

5. What are the best-known words of the Declaration of Independence?

6. Why was the Declaration of Independence written?

7. What does the Declaration of Independence explain?

8. What two big ideas did Thomas Jefferson believe in?

Go back to Meet Amazing Americans

▪ Select Leaders and Statesmen

▪ Select Benjamin Franklin

Another man who was important during the time of the American

Revolu

tion was Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin was the only

person to sign three important documents.

9. Which three documents did Benjamin Franklin sign?

10. Why are these three documents so important?

Go back to Meet Amazing Americans

▪ Sel

ect U.S. Presidents

▪ Select John Adams

John Adams was

anot

her very i

port

ant person in our country’s history.

11. What were two of John Adams’s important government jobs?

▪ Sel

ect another story, Thomas Jefferson’s Survives: Adams

’s Friend

(and Rival). Read all three pages.

12. What committee was John Adams on while he was in the

Continental Congre

ss? What was this committee’s job?

13. What did Thomas Jefferson and John Adams have in common?

14. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were the only two men who

and were elected

Now use what you’ve read about the Declaration of Independence and

some of the important people who helped to form our country to answer

these questions.

15. Why is the Declaration of Independence important?

16. How were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams

similar?

17. How were Jefferson, Franklin and Adams different?

Name ________________________

This Is It!

Each of the 13 colonies sent representatives to the Second Continental

Congress to talk about issues that concerned them. These leaders

wanted to help make life better for the colonists. Important discussions

took place about the way that England was treating the

colonies. Not

everyone agreed on what to do. But after a lot of thinking and debating,

the Congress asked five representatives, called the Committee of Five, to

write a statement that told England’s King George III that the colonies

wanted to be their own country, not a British colony. The committee

decided that Thomas Jefferson should write the declaration.

Look at a printed copy of the Declaration of Independence

[CTRL + click to follow link to http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/bdsdcc.02101 ]

▪ Click on the image to enlarge it.

▪ Look closely at the Declaration and then answer these questions.

1. What is a declaration?

2. The Second Continent

al Congress did not call this document, “The

Declaration of Independence.” What did they call it?

3. What is the date at the top of this document?

4. What does the word “unanimous” mean?

5. Whose large signature is at the bottom of the Declaration? What

was his role in the Continental Congress? How do you know?

6. At the bottom of the Declaration, each colony is listed with its

delegates to the Continental C

ngres

s. Why do you t

ink some

colonies sent more delegates than others?

▪ Select Back to Bibliographic Information

▪ Select View text

Read the introduction of the Declaration of Independence (the first

paragraph) and then ans

wer these questions.

7. What do you think is the main idea of the first paragraph? What do

the verbs “dissolve” and “entitle” mean?

8. The second paragraph is about human rights. Read the first sentence

of the second paragraph. Write this sentence in your own words. Use

context clues to help you understand words you may not know.

The last sentence in that paragraph seems to be saying to the world,

“Listen up and we’ll tell you why we want to be free of British rule.”

9. The first two paragraphs are followed by a list of complaints. In your

own words, writ

e at least five complaints listed in the Declaration that

help to explain why the colonists wanted independence from England.

10. The last paragraph states what th

e Second Con

tinental Congress

wanted. What words appear more than once in all capital letters to show

that they were declaring freedom?

11. The closing sentence states, “…we mutually pledge to each other our

Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honour

.” What do you t

hink this

meant to these representatives? What were they promising to each other?

What problems or dangers might they face because of this promise?

Name _________________________

Deep Down Declaration

The principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence originated

from English, Scot

tish and American documents. Let’s learn about the

wording in these documents that Thomas Jefferson considered as he

wrote the Declaration of Independence

[CTRL + click to follow link to http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/Pages/Interactives.aspx ]

▪ Select Silverlight versio

▪ Select Overview from the menu at the t

op of the page

First, read the Overview that appears in the le

ft sidebar.

Next, notice the five phrases from the Declaration of Independence

listed across the top of the document:

“Pursuit of Happiness,” “Consent of the Governed,”

“All Men are Created Equal,” “Train of Abuses,” and, “Slavery”

▪ Sel

ect two of these five phr

ses t

explore in depth. For each phrase

you choose, follow these guidelines:

-Copy the phrase on your worksheet.

-Read the left sidebar for background info

rma

-Click on Transcribe for a print

ed copy of the phrase

-At the bottom of the left sidebar, select Where did this come from?

-List the source documents for this phrase.

-Read the wording on each source document.

-Choose the wording that is closest to the Declaratio

n of Independence.

-Why do you think Thomas Jefferson chose that wording for his

document?

-Be prepared to discuss your find

ings with your classm

ates.

Let’s begin!

Phrase:

Source documents:

Wording that most closely matches that of the Declaration:

Why do you think Thomas Jefferson chose this wording?

Phrase:

Source documents:

Wording that most closely matches that of the Declaration:

Why do you think Thomas Jefferson chose this wording?

Name _________________________

A Big Decision

Now let’s travel back in time to the year 1776. Imagine that you are in

the room with the Second Continental Congress as they are reading

Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence. Peek over

their shoulders as they do some editing. Let’s see if you would have

agreed with their edited word choice or if you would have chosen

Thomas Jefferson’s words.

[CTRL + click to follow link to

http://myloc.gov/Education/OnlineActivities/ExhibitObjects/DecOfIndependenceOnlineActivity.aspx ]

▪ Select Launch Activity

▪ Select Start

You will see a draft of the Declaration of Independence with

conversation bubbles on it.

▪ Select one of the bubbles.

You will see two word choices: Thomas Jefferson’s original and the

Second Continental Congress’ final draft.

▪ Select the wording that you think best represents what the colonists

hoped for as they prepared to send this document to King George III.

▪ Select Submit

Repeat this for each of the conversation bubbles.

When finished, you can view your copy of the Declaration next to the

document that was approved by the Second Continental Congress.

The wording choices are highlighted in red.

▪ Print this page.

Be prepared to defend your choice of words in class as we engage in a

debate that may be similar to what happened in the meeting of the

Second Continental Congress in 1776.