Whole Brain Projects - Bill of Rights in a 3-D Shape

Two great things to shout about:  a project for whole-brain learning AND getting the material for just a buck at the dollar store! 

If you have a Dollar Tree near you, you might want to head over to their Teaching Tree section and snatch up some of these 3-D Geometric Shapes. I was very excited to see these and purchased multiples of every shape available (one of each for each of my children, plus some extras for the inevitable mistakes that occur and need do-overs). There are so many possible uses for these things!

My first idea was to use the dodecahedron as the base for a final project in our U.S. Government unit study. For my older children, the assignment was for them to creatively express the meaning of each of the amendments in the Bill of Rights. The dodecahedron provided 10 sides for each of the 10 amendments, plus 2 additional sides for a title and some kind of summation. This made for a whole-brained project that would really internalize their learning.

One of my kids drew things to represent the amendments. One of them searched through family photos to find pictures to represent the amendments. (I really liked how he used a photo of our dog chewing up something he wasn't supposed to and then just looking at us when he was caught to represent the 5th amendment.) Another of my kids used song titles to represent each of the amendments after painstakingly going through lots and lots of lyrics. I LOVE the varied approaches and results.

One of the great things about unit studies is that you can all learn together, but then projects and assignments are tailored to ages and abilities. So, for my youngest, her dodecahedron was to represent all the things she learned throughout the unit. Hers included things like the three branches of government, two major political parties, some vocabulary terms, what taxes are used for, and the parts of the Bill of Rights that stick out as understandable to her.

I highly recommend The Bill of Rights series of books by Rich Smith. There is a book for each amendment that uses stories, court cases, and great explanations for kids (and adults) to understand and appreciate the reasons and ramifications of each amendment.