United States Constitution Newspaper Project for Civics & American History

In this Constitutional Times Newspaper Project, students demonstrate their comprehension of the events that led to the writing of the United States Constitution in a creative, fun way! Students become reporters and, in small groups, create a newspaper detailing the fall of the Articles of Confederation, Shays’ Rebellion, and the arguments at the Constitutional Convention. They also have the freedom to pick their own topics for an Op-Ed and political cartoon. This resource is designed to give students practice researching, writing, and using computer skills!

This digital Google Slides project makes a great culminating activity for middle school Civics, American Government, and American History students studying the Articles of Confederation and Constitutional Convention!

In this Google Slides Constitutional Times Newspaper Project, students:

✯ Become newspaper reporters as they complete five assignments for their Editor (you, their teacher!). The assignments include:

• A report on Shays’ Rebellion, answering the vital questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?
• An obituary for the Articles of Confederation. Describe the “cause of death”. What caused the Articles to “die”?
• A field report from the Constitutional Convention describing the event and the debates being held.
• A political cartoon conveying an opinion or commentary on a subject related to this newspaper.
• An Opinion to the Editor (Op-Ed) piece relevant to the newspaper. Four prompts are included, but students are free to come up with their own editorial as well!
  • Example Op-Ed Prompt: Unalienable Rights. To appease the Anti-Federalists, who wanted individual protections against a large federal government, the Framers of the Constitution agreed on a Bill of Rights — ten freedoms guaranteed to all citizens that the government could not violate, such as freedom of speech or a right to a trial by jury. Your Editor would like your opinion on why citizens might need to be protected from their own government.

This editable digital resource includes:

✯ Five assignment pages that explain the requirements of each task and include links to internet resources for background information.

✯ A two-page newspaper template for the students to input their work. Students can come up with a unique title for their newspaper, headlines for each article, and insert pictures! 

✯ A grading rubric for easy grading!

✯ Teacher instructions for how to assign groups in Google Classroom! 

You will need access to Google Drive to download this resource, and you will need Google Classroom to assign it to students. (If you are uncomfortable with TPT accessing your school email account, use your personal email to download the resource to your personal Google Drive, then go to File > Make a Copy, and share that copied document with your school email.)

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