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Constitution Day Programs Celebrate U.S. Constitution Ratification in 1787
Brown Elementary School fifth-grade students (from left to right) Chase Lyons, John Daugherty, Aaron Acharya, Natalie Fleming and Josh Douglas act out a Constitution Day play written by their teacher, John Webb. Webb’s students took turns portraying the characters as they went from room-to-room performing for the rest of the student body. Here, they are performing in a first-grade classroom.
Multiple Hazelwood School District schools featured activities related to Constitution Day, which recognizes the date of Sept. 17, 1787, when the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
• Brown Elementary School – Fifth-grade teacher John Webb and his class used creativity and courage in their plan. His class went from room-to-room in the school where his students took turns playing roles in a one-act play Webb wrote.
• Hazelwood West Middle School – A team of eighth grade students took part in a flag presentation showing how our flag has evolved since the 1770s, sponsored by the Florissant Elks Lodge #2316.
To make it more relevant to the student audience, the Elks asked selected students to give the presentations. Twelve students divided themselves into four groups of three – one read the flag’s details while the other two carried and presented each flag.
Flags displayed were: the 1775 Pine Tree Flag; the 1776 Gadsden Flag, with its yellow background, coiled snake and the motto, “Don’t Tread on Me”; the 1775 Grand Union Flag, with its blend of British and American elements; the Betsy Ross Flag, which carried the 13 stars of the original colonies in a circle; the 15-star version, which became the nation’s first official flag in 1795; the 1818 flag, which carried 20 stars and was used the country’s official flag just before Missouri became a state in 1821; the 48-star flag, which emerged in 1912 after New Mexico and Arizona joined the Union; and the final flag shown is our current 50-star version, which has been in use for 50 years, since Hawaii was admitted to the Union as the 50th state.
• McNair Elementary School – First-grade teacher Judy Heuring read to her students sections from a book about the Pledge of Allegiance and our flag. Then she had them make a list of facts about the flag from the story before handing out paper stars to the students in groups. Each group wrote facts on their stars and then shared them with the class. These stars will be displayed in the hallway.
Second-grade teacher Susan Gerhart’s students made a classroom constitution, which incorporated the school’s PBS buzzwords – respectful, responsible, cooperative, kind and safe. It is posted, along with the five articles showing examples of each of the buzzwords, in the hall outside of her classroom.
