Teaching the Declaration of Independence in 5th Grade

In bringing history to life this year, we reenacted the actual writing of the Declaration of Independence.  Two leaders were voted based on their platforms of being fair and just leaders who wanted to handle a group writing activity.  We discussed the meaning of the Declaration and paraphrased its meaning as a whole group.  Then, we rearranged our room to resemble the convention.

Students debated over wording and declared their independence from homework, with some guidance from me.  We had some serious debate over our list of rights that related to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  We had to make sure our meaning was what we intended.  Overall, it was a fun activity and we really lived through a Declaration of Independence from something!  Students felt what it was like to be a part of a team of people trying to express their ideas as a group and organizational techniques that helped, just as in the original meetings.  They felt passion for the activity and we even saw that the person who felt strongest wrote his name largest, just like the real John Hancock.

There's something to be said for actually acting out events from our history and seeing how things naturally unfolded.

 The next Monday I rewarded the the class with an actual day off from homework.