Fifth grade starts Constitution Works for the second year

By Jack Tirsch, News Editor

5th GRADE CLASSROOMS -- The fifth grade has started the program Constitution Works, which was brought here by fifth grade teacher Ms. Piera Hattar last year.

Ms. Hattar brought the new program from where she used to teach in the Bronx.

Constitution Works teaches students about the U.S. Constitution and its Amendments. The program is only for the fifth grade.

The classes will be going to a Brooklyn courthouse on June 12, where they will hold a mock trail of a constitutional case.

Zachary Long (5M) said, “I like Constitution Works because I like learning about the Bill of Rights. I also cannot wait for the trip.”

To start, students were given booklets in which they learned about old court decisions that they will use for arguments in the mock case at the courthouse. Some cases that the fifth graders have studied included “Schenck v. United States,” “Near v. Minnesota” and “Dennis v. United States.”

The hypothetical case that the fifth grade students are studying for the trip involves a lab researching and producing biological weapons, including Anthrax and Anthrax X, which is in danger of leaking from the lab. The fictional lab is located in Boulder, Colorado.

A hypothetical newspaper, the Denver Dispatch, breaks a story on the lab. The U.S. government moves to stop further stories because of national security, and the paper goes all the way to the Supreme Court to protect what it says are its First Amendment rights to publish.

“I kind of like Constitution Works,” said Henry Smith (5V). “I kind of like it because I think it’s good that the teachers and program prepare us for the real trip. It also teaches us about the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Lastly, I like the Denver Dispatch case that we are working on.”

“I do not like Constitution Works because it’s boring, and it wastes time to learn about different subjects,”Arden Gerhardt (5H) said. “I am excited for the trip, though. I wish that there was a different way to learn about the Constitution.”

“I like Constitution Works because we get to learn about the Amendments and the Constitution,” said Malia McLellan of class 5M. “Also, it’s really fun to feel what it is like to be a lawyer. And it’s interesting to learn about old cases and to figure out what side you are on.”

To prepare for Constitution Works, the fifth graders went to the Picture House to work on public speaking and getting comfortable on stage.

This story also appears on the of the Colonial Times website.