One day, a brother and sister, Oliver and Carly, find an old, shiny piece of paper in their school library. 

When they touched the paper, Sam, a friendly owl appeared!

“This is the Constitution! It’s the most important paper in America!” Sam tells them.

Oliver and Carly don’t understand why it is so important. 

Sam said, “Let’s take a little adventure to learn more about it!” 

First, they visit a school classroom. 

“The constitution makes sure everyone has fair rules! Just like in class,” Sam said.

“Is the constitution the reason we have to raise our hands in class?” Oliver said.

“Actually, the constitution is the reason you are able to answer questions in class and tell people your opinion, and that’s exactly what the 1st Amendment is!” replied Sam.

“There’s also another term that you have definitely heard of called Liberty” Sam said.

“What’s that?” Carly asked.

“Liberty means being free to make your own choices as long as you follow the rules! The bald eagle is a symbol of liberty!” Said Sam

“So kind like the 1st Amendment?”

“Exactly!” 

Next, they visited a playground.

“The second amendment allows you to have a weapon to protect yourself,” Sam said.

“What does that have to do with the playground, Sam?” Oliver questions.

“Imagine you are playing house on the playground and someone mean tries to enter that you don’t want to. You protect yourself, that’s what the second amendment basically allows you to do,” said Sam.

Sam said, “The third amendment states that you cannot be forced to let soldiers stay in your house. Building off of the house example, you don’t have to let other people stay in your house if you don’t want them there.” 

“Isn’t that a normal thing though?” Carly asks.

“Well back when the US was at war the government made it a requirement to allow soldiers to stay in your house if they have nowhere to stay, but they changed that rule by making the third amendment” Sam said. 

They Travel to local police station….

“Police officers are here to keep us safe,” Sam said, “the fourth amendment states that, Police officers have to have a moral reason to search your home.” 

“Why would they need to search your home, Sam?” 

“Sometimes there are people that having things they are not supposed to and to keep use safe police officers take those things away.” Sam said. 

“Do those people get in trouble by the police?” Oliver asks.

“It depends, let’s keep traveling and I’ll explain.”

They arrive in a courtroom…

“This is a courtroom, you meet here when you have been accused of a crime and the court decides what to do,” Sam said, “When you are in court, you have the right to a fair trial.”

“What does that mean?”

“This means that the people making this decision about you will make it based on evidence and make a fair decision.”

“That could take a long time right?” Oliver asks.

Sam said, “Actually you have the right to have a speedy trial with a jury if accused of a crime.”

“This is in place so that the accused don’t have to wait for years to have their trail.”

“Who are the people that make this decision?” asks Oliver. 

“They are a group of people who have no opinion on the trial and they listen to the evidence presented in the trial” Sam said, “the 7th amendment states that in a lawsuit you have the right to have a jury present in court.”

“So the jury comes up with your punishment?” 

“No, but the 8th amendment states that punishments should be fair, not extreme.” Sam states, “Now let’s move on from all this court talk.”

“Sam, what if the writers of the constitution forgot to write a right in? Does that mean we don’t have it?” Carly asks.

“No, in fact it’s funny you ask that because the next amendment, the 9th states that even if a right isn't listed you still have it” Sam says.

“Wow, the writers really did think of everything, didn’t they!”

“You’re right about that one Carly!”

They travel into the principal’s office…

“If the federal government doesn't have a certain power that power goes to the states.That amendment goes along with the idea of Federalism.” Sam said.

“What’s Federalism?” Carly asked.

“Federalism is when power is shared between the national government and the state government. Think of it as the principal makes rules for the school and the teacher makes rules for their own classroom.”

“And that just covers the first 10 amendments! There are a lot of other ideas that are in place in our government that you might not even know about.”

“You mean there is more than just amendments that our government needs?”

“Yes, for example there is something called separation of powers! Let’s continue our journey while I explain!”

In a classroom.

“Think of school and three different teachers, each having a special job to make everything run smoothly.”

“Like three different classes? How does that even work?” Oliver asks.

“One teacher makes the rules, which represents the Legislative Branch, One teacher checks if students follow the rules, which is the Executive Branch, and One teacher decides what happens if someone breaks a rule, that the Judicial Branch. This is called Separation of Powers.” 

“The government is also in three different parts, Congress, the President, and the Courts and just like the three different branches each part has a job and the is called Checks and Balances.”