Lesson Plan - History Makers: Benjamin Franklin

Watch a Video: Newsie’s Challenge: The U.S. Constitution

After watching, discuss: What facts about the U.S. Constitution did you find most surprising or interesting? Why?

Preview Words to Know

Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.

• colonies 
• taxes

Set a Purpose for Reading

Point out the “As You Read” question and have students be on the lookout for the two documents Franklin helped create.

1. Based on the article, what are colonists? The article states that America was made up of 13 colonies, groups of people from one country who build new homes in another land. You can guess that colonists were the people in those colonies.

^{(RI.3.4 DETERMINE MEANING)}

2. Why did many American colonists think the British government was being unfair? Many colonists thought the British government was being unfair because the colonists “paid taxes but had no say in how the British government was run.”

^{(RI.3.8 CAUSE AND EFFECT)}

3. How are the documents Franklin helped create an important part of U.S. history? The Declaration of Independence said that the American colonists were free from Great Britain. The Constitution described how the new nation’s government would be run.

^{(RI.3.2 MAIN IDEA)}

FEATURED SKILL: Text Evidence

Use the Skill Builder “All About Benjamin Franklin” to have students complete a biographical profile of Franklin. 

^{(RI.3.1 TEXT EVIDENCE)}