PragerU has produced this free series of four videos for students in grades four through six, but you can also use them with older students who need to learn the basics. (They are part of PragerU’s History in 5 series.) I expect more videos will be added to the series along with other five-minute history lessons for middle school. The Constitution Explained titles are:
- What is a Republic?
- How the Founders Got It Done
- What is the President’s Job?
- What Does Congress Do?
These fast-moving, five-minute videos feature high-energy presentations supported by lots of graphics. They cover a lot of material in just a few minutes!
To help students get the most from the videos, PragerU provides free PDF lesson plans and worksheets, written for classrooms but adaptable for homeschooling. The extensive lesson plans provide additional information through direct instruction and include lesson objectives, vocabulary, educational standards addressed, a warm-up activity, and discussion prompts. They show when to use each video and the worksheets. Worksheet PDFs include answer keys. If you don’t have time for the complete lesson, you can use only the Quick Activity included within each lesson plan PDF, which should take about 30 minutes.
Students can watch the videos without using the lessons, but the lesson plans and worksheets help ensure that students grasp essential content they can easily miss in the rapid-fire presentations.
Summary
PragerU’s Constitution Explained videos make what can be a dry subject much more interesting.