September 17th is Constitution Day. Constitution Day is an annual event that commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine brave men on September 17, 1787. This past Monday, students across Olmsted Falls School District celebrated Constitution Day with a variety of creative and educational activities.
Below find just a sampling of the many activities and events that took place in our District on Monday, September 17, 2012….
At Falls-Lenox Primary School:
- To celebrate constitution day, Dr. Kolozvary’s first grade class read “We the kids The Preamble to the Constitution”, by David Catrow and drew pictures to illustrate the constitution. The students were very excited to show and explain what the constitution means to them! To view photos, please click here.
- Mrs. Patay’s first grade class celebrated constitution day by reading and discussing the Preamble to the Constitution outside by the United States flag. The students discussed the importance of the constitution and how it impacts our lives. Great job first graders! To view photos, please click here.
At Olmsted Falls Intermediate School:
- Students in Mrs. Ambrosia’s fourth grade Social Studies classes watched The Painless Guide to the Constitution and are participating in a poster design contest sponsored by www.ConstitutionFacts.com where students will create a poster showing how they and their family benefit from the freedoms embodied in the U.S. Constitution. Please click here to view photos.
- Students in Mrs. Harb’s fifth grade class also participated in the poster contest sponsored by www.ConstitutionFacts.com. To view photos of entries from Mrs. Harb’s class, please click here.
At Olmsted Falls High School:
- Students in Mr. Mercer’s Government & Law and American Wars courses spent time discussing taxation and Article I - Section 8 of the Constitution. Specifically, the classes talked about where the Government's money comes from, and where it goes.
- In Mr. Mercer’s AP US History classes, students are preparing for an early October debate between the Federalists (those who supported the Constitution in the 1780s) and the Anti-Federalists (those who opposed the adoption of the Constitution).
- Social studies teachers Mr. DeLisio and Mr. Fabian have collaborated to create an annual Constitution Day game for students in their classes. The class is divided into three groups, representing the three branches of government. During each turn one branch of government is attempting to defy the Constitution, and the other branches have to look through the Constitution to check and balance the power of the other. The branch that finds the part of the constitution that is being broken receives the points. The branch with the most points at the end of the game wins. The kids always have a great time and learn a lot about how our government functions and how our Constitution works.
- Students in Mr. Blake’s classes studied Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution in Microeconomics. This contains perhaps the most economic clause of the entire document because it guarantees the protection of "intellectual property." Thus, we defined patents, copyrights, and trademarks, discussed the similarities and differences, and looked at examples of each. Did you know that the most closely guarded design patent is the recipe for Coca Cola? How about that the roar of the MGM lion is a trademarked "sound"? We also discussed the idea that "government patents" are owned by all of us and thus work their way into the public domain, including high tech stuff developed at NASA for the Space Shuttle. This one little, rarely quoted clause in the Constitution is responsible for a tremendous amount of production of goods and services in America.