Students will explore the documents that were used in shaping the United States, before, during, and after its creation. While studying these documents, students will use reading skills to interpret and analyze documents. By the end of the unit, students should be able to describe, explain the historical significance of, and explain the impact of documents. Through modeling, the teacher will identify the three types of historical documents (those used in the creation of American documents, American documents created during the founding of the nation, and those created after the birth of America). In addition, students will be guided through reading and interpreting a document, as well as determining its historical significance. Students should also be able to identify a few key documents by examining a small excerpt. By creating a document brochure from library and internet research, students will be able to summarize the main ideas of the documents.