Introducing the Great Documents Curriculum Series

A few years ago I introduced my Great Documents series, which features display-worthy prints of major historical documents in easy-to-read modern type. These have sold well for several years. My print of the Constitution of the United States, for example, is the only print of its type on the market; other available prints are only facsimiles of the original parchment and don’t include the entire Constitution, which today includes both the original nine articles as well as the 27 amendments. They can be beautiful, but that eighteenth-century handwritten script can be hard to read, and they don’t convey basic information, such as which parts of the document are today obsolete or have been superseded by amendments.

Today I’m proud to announce a new set of prints in the Great Documents series especially created with classrooms in mind. The new Great Documents Curriculum Series is designed to help teachers bring meaning and life to the words of these important documents for their students. And they are designed to maximize schools’ limited resources and budgets.

Features | Availability | Free sample

Features

1. A consistent, well-designed layout that makes incorporating the documents into lessons and assignments easy and helps students and teachers alike orient themselves quickly.
2. The document’s title, country of origin, and year written are clearly indicated.
3. Body text is set in easy-to-read 11-point type.
4. Lines of text are numbered for easy reference in classroom discussion.
5. A lined section on the right side of each page provides space for the reader to take notes. (These lines use college-ruled spacing.)
6. Pages are numbered to help readers keep the document in order.
7. The handouts are optimized for black-and-white printing, and the total ink coverage on the page has been reduced to save printer/photocopier ink/toner and lower printing costs. Where possible, handouts are an even number of pages — perfect for front-back printing.
8. Study helps, including explanatory headers and footnotes as well as brief introductions on some documents, are included. These are set in sans-serif type to distinguish them from the original or official text of the document.

Some documents have additional features to enhance usability.

Availability

The Great Documents Curriculum Series is currently on sale at my new shop on Teachers Pay Teachers as well as on Scribd. The following documents are currently available, with more to come soon.

• Magna Carta (England, 1215)
  TpT | Scribd | 7 pages | $6.00
• The Declaration of Independence (United States, 1776)
  TpT | Scribd | 3 pages | $5.00
• The Articles of Confederation (United States, 1777)
  TpT | Scribd | 7 pages | $6.00
• The Constitution of the United States (1787–1992)
  TpT | Scribd | 15 pages | $7.00
• The Bill of Rights (United States, 1789)
  TpT | Scribd | 2 pages | $3.00
• George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation (United States, 1789)
  TpT | Scribd | 1 page | free
• The Emancipation Proclamation (United States, 1863)
  TpT | Scribd | 2 pages | $3.00
• Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation (United States, 1863)
  TpT | Scribd | 1 page | $2.00
• The Gettyburg Address (United States, 1863)
  TpT | Scribd | 1 page | free through 20 November 2016
• Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (United States, 1865)
  TpT | Scribd | 2 pages | $3.00

Free sample

You can download George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation for free at Teachers Pay Teachers or Scribd. You can also check out the full document below.