Constitution Day activity
This Constitution Day you can easily do an interactive First Amendment activity that both reviews the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment and prompts important questions. It can be run in just media classes or expanded out to a larger school/community project.
Quill and Scroll Guiding Principles:
Learning, Leadership, Initiative, Judgment
Materials:
- Chicken wire or a similar material with large, sturdy holes
- 5 colors of ribbon cut into 5 inch pieces (1 inch thick ribbon recommended)
- A color key
Step-by-step instructions:
- Assign each First Amendment right to a color ribbon and pre-cut the ribbon segments. Also prepare the piece of chicken wire – the size will depend on how many people you plan on having do the activity.
- With each class or small group first have the group review what rights are guaranteed in the First Amendment.
- Ask the group what First Amendment right they value the most.
- Then have everyone grab a ribbon matching the right they think is most important and tie it on the chicken wire.
- Admire the ribbon landscape you have created that is a visual representation of what rights students value the most.
Extension
- This activity can be easily turned into a school-wide awareness campaign. Perhaps you take the activity to each English class or set it up in a common space for more people to participate. Many students don’t know the five rights in the First Amendment, so this is a good chance to review.
- The activity takes relatively little time to do. The longest part is letting people tie the ribbon on the wire themselves.
- This also could be an interesting starting point for a conversation about interesting and unique data visualizations!
