HW due Wed., 12/1

Make useful and meaningful comments on your buddy/buddies' stories. Focus on immigration and helping to make it interesting. Use the handouts today to really delve into interesting questions and comments. Pull out details. Be supportive. Attach an extra page with more comments.

Start working on your own interview booklet. Minimum of 30 questions. Due Thursday.

HW due Tue., 11/30

Read your buddy's (buddies') autobiography. This time, don't write on it, but make any notes you might have on a separate sheet of paper (nothing is unacceptable. Then, make a list of push and pull factors for the stories (to turn in).

HW due Tue.,, 11/23

In anticipation of our trip to Newcomers, find out (and write down):

1. where your family/ancestors are from
2. when they came here
3. why they came here

THERE IS NO HOMEWORK DURING THE THANKSGIVING BREAK.

HW due Mon., 11/22

Make up a list of 10 general rights for a Grade 8 Bill of Rights.

It can be on paper.

Don't make it too specific, or too unreasonable. We'll work together as a class to reach a consensus of 75%.

Also, get your Constitution quiz signed.

Have a great weekend.

HW due Wed., Thu., and Fri., Nov. 17-19

NOTE FOR STUDENTS ON SCHOOL VISITS: If you will be absent Wednesday (many of you), email or contact your partners and ask them to save your PowerPoint slides or share them with the class in Social Studies at 9:15; all slides should be saved in the "Landmark Supreme Court Cases" folder in the projects folder. You can take a look at these slides when you get back from your school visits at lunch recess or after school. It might help you study for the quiz. If you won't be coming to school at all, you can study the chapters in the CSG and take a look at some of the landmark cases on pp. 59-74, noting what amendments might apply to them. You will have extra time on Friday to work on the drug research projects, but make sure you and your partners have a fair deal on the amount of work time each of you is doing -- make it up to them if you are absent!

Due Tomorrow, Wednesday: Play the game:

"Do I Have a Right" Game

Then, write a response on this forum (click the link below and then add the class code), or write it on a piece of paper (at least three sentences -- what happened, what you learned). Remember, you have to log on for your score to show up online, and in order to post on the forum.
 Join a Class
CLASS CODE: Stone63821

Due Thursday: Study for QuiZ (SEE COMMENTS ON YESTERDAY'S POST)

Due Friday: Buddy Letter (s)


You will have an extra work period for the Drug Research Project on Friday. The handout materials are due on Tuesday, November 23.

HW due Tue., 11/16

THE QUIZ

You will have a major open-notes quiz on the Constitution on Thursday -- that is, you can use your CSG, and any post-its and markups in the CSG you wish. You will be asked to either quote from the Constitution itself, or cite the place within the Constitution where a specific constitutional principle, power, or issue can be found.

WHAT TO STUDY

Some things to study: all the articles, the amendments, the principles of the Constitution, why it is a "living" document and the three places in the Constitution you can find its "living" proof, the Bill of Rights, sound knowledge and understanding of the 14th Amendment (if you missed a discussion of the 14th Amendment, sit down with someone who was in class or with your teacher and get a good lesson on it -- you must know this one well), the Civil War Amendments, and familiarity with some of the landmark Supreme Court cases we will be learning about in class during the next couple of days.

TONIGHT'S HOMEWORK

For homework tomorrow, specialize in the area you were assigned in class. Read the pages in the CSG (doing the questions is optional). Come prepared to create a short PowerPoint of about five minutes for your classmates explaining the constitutional issues at stake overall for your topic and in the specific landmark Supreme Court cases in your chapter.

TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY  IN CLASS

We will also specifically run through the Bill of Rights at the beginning of class tomorrow, so you will not have time to study your topic in class, just to prepare the PowerPoint together. Come prepared.

On Wednesday, we will present the PowerPoints in Social Studies. During Life Awareness, you will have one more class period to prepare your drug research projects. The handouts are due on Friday 11/19.

HW due Wed., 11/10, and Mon., 11/15

DUE WEDNESDAY, 11/10
Play the game, "Branches of Power," on the "icivics" website, in part sponsored by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Branches of Government Game
Play for at least 30 or more minutes.

You have the option of doing your homework on the online forum instead of writing it on paper.  Join a class: St. Luke's School. You'll have to make a login, etc. first. You will eventually have to do this, so you might as well try it now.

Join a Class Link
CLASS CODE: Stone63821
Write three or more sentences. Report back: 1) what happened, and 2) what you learned.

Concentrate on learning about how the Constitution is organized and how it works, not on memorizing things. I won't make you take any quizzes without your CSG.

DUE MONDAY:
Create a cool, illustrated Bill of Rights. Copy the main concept of each of the first ten amendments, and quote part of each one (you don't have to write out every word, but quote a part you think would be something that might MATTER). Then, include an illustration or icon next to each one to help you remember them. Writing, drawing, quoting--it's all learning.

HW due Wed., 11/9

Get your Venn Diagram Project sheet signed.

CSG, pp. 43-47, #1-4.

Due Wed.: Community service charts and one paragraph about community service (what it meant to you or a description of one activity).

Optional: Bring Amnesty money. Deadline tomorrow.

HW due 11/5

Bring $ for Amnesty on Wednesday.

Read CSG, pp. 39-41. Be prepared to discuss items in it, so don't be fooled if I haven't asked you to answer the questions on p. 42.

Then, take notes on the handout given to you in class, using the notes below: Consult  p. 22 in the AJ where indicated.

Five Principles of the Constitution                  Detailed Notes

1.    Popular Sovereignty

-- “people rule”

-- Preamble: “We the people” : power of Constitution comes from the people, not the other way around

-- Executive power is checked by the Congress; the legislative branch is “closer” to the people than the President

-- P.222 quote – unfinished business, Barbara Jordan, inclusion

-- Bill of Rights, 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments;

        19^th Amendment

-- Supreme Court Interpretations and expanding rights

2.    Limited Power of Government

3.    Federalism

-- System in which states and national (federal) governments share power

-- constant conflict between states and nation over power

-- we had a civil war (1861-1865) over “states’ rights”

                -- states are considered “closer” to the people, but the

                        federal government has done a better job of

                        protecting civil rights

-- states don’t like the Federal Government to tell them what to do

4.    Separation of Powers

Three Branches of Government:

        Legislative—makes laws

        Executive—carries out (executes) laws

        Judicial—interprets laws

5.    Checks and Balances

The branches have power to “check” one another’s power

Why is it a LIVING CONSTITUTION?

1.    Can be ____AMENDED_____________________

2.    Can be __INTERPRETED (by the courts)_______

3. Add this one

"Elastic Clause"  Find it in the Constitution. Write down exactly where it is, quote it, and say its location.

FORMULA FOR THE LAW OF THE LAND:

Articles in the Original Constitution

+

The Amendments

+

Supreme Court Decisions

EVERY LAW OR EXECUTIVE ACTION MUST CONFORM TO THE CONSTITUTION OR IT WILL GET OVERTURNED EVENTUALLY IN COURT.

HW due Fri., 11/5

Find at least two sources online about the recent Supreme Court arguments about banning the sales of violent video games.

Cite the sources on your paper.

Then, write a five- or more- sentence reflection paragraph about your thinking about the Constitutional issues involved here.

No HW due Thu., 11/4

Unless you have makeup work...

AMNESTY MEETING NEXT WEDNESDAY, 11/10

HW due Wed., 11/3

Please bring in any signed quizzes. After Wednesday, they will be considered late assignments.

Read CSG, pp. 32-35, on ratification of the Constitution. Answer p. 35, but please don't do the last question. We will check pp. 31 and 35 in class on Tuesday, but I will check that you have the work on Wednesday during Life Awareness.

Please also check the "horse race" website on ABC to see who might win/lose in the election. If you have any influence, you might persuade an adult to vote. These elections affect things like tax rates and even health care -- the people being voted in or out get to vote on items that will affect you and your family quite a bit. Research says that the more money and education you have, the more likely you are to vote.Are people being fooled by the popular media into thinking it doesn't matter? Does your vote really not count, or does it mean that only rich people's votes count?

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/