Any School Level

• Law Day 2008 Theme—The Rule of Law: Foundation for Communities of Opportunity and Equity

Fifty years ago President Eisenhower proclaimed the first Law Day a "day of national dedication to the principle of government under law." The ABA invites you to celebrate this enduring principle during the 50th anniversary of Law Day.

Law Day 2008 will explore the meaning of the rule of law, fostering public understanding of the rule of law through discussion of its role in a free society.

- ABA Law Day website

To examine the Law Day theme, go to the American Bar Association Law Day website for ideas: http://www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday/2008/home2.shtml

• Law Day Open Houses: Partner with the courts to conduct a school tour.

• Meet Your Judges Programs: Invite judges to classes to discuss their role in our justice system.

• Classroom Guests: Guests from the legal or law-enforcement groups could be invited to visit classes and make a presentation about freedom and responsibility. Topics could include current proposals to treat juvenile perpetrators of violent crime as adults, curfews for youth or dress codes and gang insignia. Students should be prepared for the guest by reading about the guest's topic and preparing questions to ask the guest.

• Coloring Contest: This is an easy thing for young grade school students to do. Click here for contest materials.

• Lesson Plans from the ABA:

For Grades K-3:

Fairness and Equal Treatment

For teachers (and lawyers going in to the classroom), here are some good lessons on fairness and equal treatment (Note: "A Famous Kansas Child" is also appropriate for students in grades 4-6):

1. Fair Treatment

2. "A Famous Kansas Child"


Due Process Freedoms

For teachers (and lawyers going in to the classroom), here are some good lessons on due process freedoms:

1. People Who Make Courts Work

2. Seeking Facts to Solve Mysteries

For Grades 4-6:

Equal Protection

For teachers (and lawyers going in to the classroom), here are some good lessons and activities on equal protection (Note: "A Famous Kansas Child" is also appropriate for students in grades K-3):

1. Teaching About Equal Protection of the Law

2. Activity Guide (for previous lesson)

3. "A Famous Kansas Child"

Due Process Freedoms

For teachers (and lawyers going in to the classroom), here are some good lessons on due process freedoms:

1. Yertle the Turtle Mock Trial

2. Does the Constitution Protect Your Right to Fair Play?

3. Dramatization of Salem Witch Trial

4. Seeking Facts to Solve Mysteries

• Classroom Rules: Ask younger children to describe a good class. Then ask them to write rules that would help make the class like the one they have described. Make sure they understand why rules are needed to preserve order. Older students could be asked to evaluate the quality of a rule. The following criteria can help them decide which are good rules and which are not. Is the rule fair, easy to understand, and clear regarding expectations? Is it possible to follow, not in conflict with other rules or values, easy to enforce, and will it achieve its purposes? Students could write a statement of why they think the rules should or should not be changed. If they want the rule changed, they should write their own version of the rule.

• Class Constitution: Elementary students love this activity. After learning about the writing of the Constitution, help students create a class constitution and bill of rights. An alternative that is less complex is to have students create rules for their classroom. Challenge students to analyze hypothetical situations to assess whether or not actions are "constitutional" or "legal." While considering these hypothetical situations, students may well find that their constitution or class rules need "amending."

• Essay Contest: This year the State Bar of Michigan Law Day theme is "The Rule of Law: Foundation for Communities of Opportunity and Equity." We will be sponsoring an Essay Contest for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. Three winners from each grade level are honored at a luncheon in Lansing on May 1, 2008. The Law Day Committee developed “should” questions and scoring criteria similar to what is used in the MEAP test, so that students could use this 300-500 word essay as a means to prepare for the MEAP test.

• Lesson Plans from the ABA:

For Grades 7-9:

Equal protection

For teachers (and lawyers going in to the classroom), here are some good lessons and activities on equal protection:

1. What Does It Mean to Have Equal Protection of the Laws?

2. Different Treatment for Different Folks?

The Background on the Law will give you some information that will assist you in framing your presentation and answering students’ questions.

Due Process Freedoms

For teachers (and lawyers going in to the classroom), here are some good lessons on due process freedoms:

1. Battle for Truth/It's Your Witness

2. Voir Dire Simulation

• Advertising: In small groups, have students find examples of advertising in print or in media that they think is misleading or objectionable. Each group should prepare a presentation describing how they would control such advertising or arguing why it is protected by the First Amendment.

• Mock Voir Dire Program: The Mock Voir Dire Program is designed to educate high school students regarding the jury process.  See the ABA's website at www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday/ideas/idea12.html

• Case Study: The method that lawyers are perhaps all too familiar with from law school can work really well for students. For example, military lawyers from the Air Force's 90th Missile Wing at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming used case studies effectively with students in the Cheyenne area. To teach due process protections, they asked students to consider what limitations there were on police stopping/arresting young people under different brief fact situations. The same basic situation was established -- young people driving at 10:30 at night, but facts are altered slightly in each scenario (headlight broken, etc.) -- and students are asked how the new facts affect permissible police action. Case studies like this can teach students the constitutional issues at stake and give them insights into how courts decide. Real cases can be adapted, or hypotheticals created. Students can be divided into small groups to discuss the cases, or discussion can be with the whole class. If actual cases are used, presenters can share the court's opinion -- including dissents, if any -- with students.  See the ABA's website at http://www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday/ideas/idea5.html

• Work with the library to set up a display. Large posters are easy to create. Include reference materials related to Law Day. For example:
  
  
  • Law Related Books, audio-tapes and videotapes
  • Law-related web searches and lists of relevant web sites
  • Displays of important legal documents such as the Bill of Rights, Constitution, etc.
  • Pamphlets or flyers listing library resources related to specific topics or themes. For example: Law in literature, knowing your rights, crime and punishment, legal eagles, law in history, how laws are made, the law in our community (courthouses, legal clinics or other resources, legal agencies, etc.
    
• Work with a librarian to create a law-related scavenger hunt at the library - involve books, local ordinances, the Constitution, the Web, other resources that would be knowledgeable.