We've Landed on a Deserted Island... Now What?

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Recently I taught my first lesson in the field, which happened to be a social studies lesson on the constitution. The social studies standard we focused on was:

5.1.15 Explain why the United States Constitution was created in 1787 and how it established a stronger union among the original 13 states by making it the supreme law of the land. Identify people who were involved in its development.

I've learned over and over again in class that one of the most important things in teaching a social studies lesson is making the lesson as authentic as possible so the students will remember the concept and the experience for years to come. Social studies in elementary school is really about laying the foundation for social studies in middle school and high school and establishing a love, appreciation, and base knowledge with the content. 

In order to make this a memorable experience, we decided to do a simulation with the students of landing on a deserted island that they will never be rescued from. From the minute the students walked into the classroom we welcomed them like they were getting on an airplane. If I did this lesson again I would depict an airplane scene on the smart board, and maybe even serve them small snacks. One thing we did that made it memorable was to include airplane crash sounds from YouTube:

Plane Crash Sounds

This start of the lesson really set the scene for the students, and got them interested in the core of the lesson establishing a government from scratch.

After the plane crashed, we told the students that everybody survived, and asked them what their next steps would be. They immediately stated telling us about activities they would do to meet their basic needs so they could survive like making weapons, hunting, and making shelter. 

We introduced scenarios to the students that would get them talking more on the lines of creating a government. We asked them what would they do if someone stole the coconuts they collected and from that question they came up with the idea of creating some kind of government. 

The students had an election, elected a president, and decided they needed a vice president, which the president would choose. The president and vice president elected members to draft a constitution which would include the laws of the island. 

However, all the students were not happy with how the government was run and decided to try and impeach the president. Unfortunately we ran out of time.

To wrap up the lesson we asked the students questions to try and get them to connect the simulation to how the colonist formed the constitution.

The lesson the students participated in was highly engaging, and some of them even went home and continued to plan for the government on the island. 

These are the kinds of experiences our students need in social studies, and I hope to plan the majority of my lessons in the future to be just as engaging.

Sites with lesson plans and resources for teaching the constitution:
http://www.archives.gov/legislative/resources/education/constitution/
http://www.civiced.org/resources/curriculum/constitution-day-and-citizenship-day
http://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educational-resources/lesson-plans
https://www.teachervision.com/us-constitution/teacher-resources/33630.html