The mood was intense in a local third-grade classroom Friday, as students pumped their brains to come up with guidelines for a classroom constitution embodying the ideals of kindness and respect.
The activity, a celebration of national holiday Constitution Day, mirrored the motions of the Founding Fathers as students drafted guidelines for third-grade democracy.
"We agreed on some rules," said third-grader Drew Roeber, a member of Celia Watson's class at Carrboro Elementary School.
The class talked about staying focused, respecting each other's ideas and taking care of each other - goals reflected by the elementary school's rules.
"It's good to have rules to keep the place running," Roeber said, pointing out that legislation played key roles in Plymouth, Mass., and Jamestown, Va., the first permanent English settlements in America.
The holiday is designed to give Americans - especially students - a better perspective on the standards and values that provide the framework for modern democratic society.
Watson said she saw the effects of the classroom constitution within a day of its "ratification."
"It helps kids adjust to being in a classroom as well as in the real world," she said. "I think the constitution ties in so well (with) the way a classroom community works."
President Bush signed a bill last year declaring Sept. 17 to be Constitution Day - a national holiday specifically to be celebrated in public schools.
