Happy Constitution Day

Updated: Friday, 16 Sep 2011, 10:58 AM CDT
Published : Friday, 16 Sep 2011, 10:58 AM CDT

(EndPlay Staff Reports) - We the people of the United States will spend Friday honoring something that has proven itself not just as an invaluable document, but also as something that has defined our nation for the past 224 years: The Constitution.

Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787. Since 2005, all schools that receive federal dollars are legally obligated to teach students about the Constitution and First Amendment each year on this anniversary, or the closest school day to the date.

Virginia Smith, a second-grade teacher at R.C. Hinsdale Elementary School in Edgewood, Ohio, told the Cincinnati Enquirer why Constitution Day is important in her classroom.

"As an educator we help children understand what it means to be a patriot," Smith said. "We teach them to have love, honor and pride in yourself, your school and your community and then how it connects to your nation."

Even if you aren't in school, there are a handful of things we the people can do to celebrate the freedoms and rights enjoyed today:
•Find out which Founding Father you're most like at http://www.constitutioncenter.org/FoundersQuiz/ .
•Download the U.S. Constitution and Facts app for your iPhone or iPod Touch.
•Test your knowledge about the Constitution with a five-question quiz compiled by the Missouri Bar Association and Missouri Press Association.
•Find out what influential Americans have to say about the Constitution.
•Check out the Constitution Center's ten fast facts about the U.S. Constitution.

For more information about the Constitution and Constitution Day, check out www.constitutionday.com .

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