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Founding Principles: Your Rights!

Warm Up

Think About It: Fairness & Rules!

Think about a time when you felt something was unfair. What happened? How did it make you feel?





Now, think about a rule that helps keep things fair for everyone. What is that rule? How does it help?






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Lesson Plan

Founding Principles: Your Rights!

Students will be able to identify and define the principles of due process of law, equality of mankind, limited government, natural rights, and rule of law as found in America's founding documents.

Understanding these principles helps students grasp the fundamental ideas that shape our government and protect individual freedoms. It empowers them to understand their own rights and responsibilities.

Audience

Middle School Students (Autistic Learners)

Time

20 minutes

Approach

Through a warm-up, direct instruction, guided practice, and an activity.

Materials

Founding Principles Warm Up, Founding Principles Slide Deck, Founding Principles Worksheet, and Founding Principles Activity

Prep

Review Materials

5 minutes

Step 1

Warm Up & Introduction

5 minutes

Step 2

Direct Instruction & Guided Practice

10 minutes

  • Use the Founding Principles Slide Deck to introduce each principle: due process of law, equality of mankind, limited government, natural rights, and rule of law.
    - For each principle, provide a clear definition and a simple example.
    - Distribute the Founding Principles Worksheet and guide students through identifying these principles in short, simplified excerpts from founding documents (as provided on the worksheet). Offer support and clarification as needed.

Step 3

Activity: Principle Match

5 minutes

  • Transition to the Founding Principles Activity.
    - Students will match scenarios to the principles learned. Facilitate discussion and check for understanding.
    - Conclude by reiterating the importance of these principles in their daily lives.
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Slide Deck

Welcome! Fairness & Rules!

Think about:

  • A time something felt unfair.
  • A rule that keeps things fair.

Today, we'll learn about important ideas from our country's founding documents that help keep things fair for everyone!

Welcome students. Begin with the warm-up activity. Encourage sharing and listen actively to their ideas about fairness and rules. Transition to the lesson objective.

Principle 1: Due Process of Law

What does it mean?

  • Everyone gets fair treatment under the law.
  • Rules must be followed when the government acts.

Think: If you get a detention, you should know why and have a chance to explain.

Introduce the first principle, Due Process. Define it clearly and give a simple example that relates to their lives.

Principle 2: Equality of Mankind

What does it mean?

  • All people are created equal.
  • Everyone has the same basic rights and value.

Think: No one is better than anyone else just because of who they are.

Introduce Equality of Mankind. Emphasize that all people are born with the same basic worth and rights.

Principle 3: Limited Government

What does it mean?

  • The government does not have all the power.
  • Its power is limited by laws and the Constitution.

Think: The government has rules it must follow too!

Explain Limited Government. Use an analogy if helpful, like a government that can't do everything it wants, just like students can't do everything they want.

Principle 4: Natural Rights

What does it mean?

  • Rights that all humans are born with.
  • These rights come from being human, not from the government.
  • Examples: Life, Liberty (freedom), Property.

Think: These are your 'default' rights!

Introduce Natural Rights. Explain these are rights people are born with, not given by government.

Principle 5: Rule of Law

What does it mean?

  • Everyone must follow the laws.
  • No one is above the law, not even leaders.

Think: The principal has to follow school rules too!

Explain Rule of Law. Stress that laws apply to everyone, including leaders.

Let's Practice! Worksheet Time!

Now, let's see if you can find these principles in some important texts.

We'll work through the Founding Principles Worksheet together!

Review the principles quickly. Then explain the worksheet activity and transition to distributing it.

Activity: Match the Principle!

Time for our Founding Principles Activity!

Match the situation to the principle it shows.

Explain the activity and how it reinforces their understanding. Facilitate the matching and discussion.

Great Job Today!

You've learned about important ideas that protect your rights and keep things fair!

These ideas are:

  • Due Process of Law
  • Equality of Mankind
  • Limited Government
  • Natural Rights
  • Rule of Law

Any final questions?

Conclude the lesson by reinforcing the main ideas and inviting final questions. Thank students for their participation.

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Worksheet

Founding Principles Worksheet

Directions: Read each statement from a founding document. Then, identify which principle it best represents from the word bank below.

Word Bank:

  • Due Process of Law
  • Equality of Mankind
  • Limited Government
  • Natural Rights
  • Rule of Law

  1. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

    This statement best represents:


  2. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

    This statement best represents:


  3. "No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

    This statement best represents:


  4. "This Constitution... shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby..."

    This statement best represents:


  5. "[All men] are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

    This statement best represents:


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Activity

Principle Match Activity

Directions: Read each scenario. Draw a line to match the scenario to the founding principle it demonstrates.

Scenarios:

  1. A student is accused of breaking a school rule. Before any punishment, they are allowed to tell their side of the story in front of the principal.


  2. The school principal decides that everyone, students and teachers alike, must follow the rule about walking in the hallways and not running.


  3. A group of students wants to choose their own club activities, like reading or playing board games, without the school telling them exactly what they must do.


  4. Even though the student council represents the students, their power to make new rules is limited by the existing school handbook.


  5. Every new student who joins the school is treated with the same respect and given the same opportunities as students who have been there for years.


Founding Principles:

  • Due Process of Law
  • Equality of Mankind
  • Limited Government
  • Natural Rights
  • Rule of Law
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