1/30/14

We began class with notes on Alexander Hamilton, the national bank, and the different political parties.  Student took notes on slides 8-12 and 19-21.

See previous blogs for PowerPoint and note sheet.  

Next, we watched a video clip on Hamilton and the bank.

Video- Hamilton and the Bank

As students watched the video they took notes onto a two-column note sheet, writing down information given either in support of having a bank, or against the bank.

Should We Have a National Bank- video sheet/reading/questions

Then, as a class we reviewed this information.

Next, students read an article on Ron Paul and his view of the Federal Reserve bank.  As students read the article they added to their two-column note sheets.

Reading- Ron Paul and the Fed

After reading the article, students answered the two questions at the bottom of the "Should We Have a National Bank" sheet in complete sentences on a separate sheet of lined paper.

Homework is: 1- Study for tomorrow's test.  2- Finish the 2-column notes and two questions on the national bank for class on Monday.

1/29/14

We began class with current events.  Last night was the State of the Union Address.  To begin class I showed part of CNN Student News from yesterday's class, and part of the broadcast from today's class.

Next, students finished the station activity from yesterday's class.  See the blog from 1/28 for information.

At the end of class we reviewed the information from the station activity.  Students recorded any information they missed onto their organizers.

Homework: Use the study guide to prepare for Friday's test.  See me with any questions you have tomorrow.

1/28/14

Today we began our look at Washington's presidency.

I collected last night's homework at the beginning of class.

Next, I gave a short lecture on Washington and his cabinet.  (PowerPoint slides 1-7)  During the lecture students took notes onto the note sheet.

New Republic PowerPoint

New Republic Note Sheet.

We then watched a video clip on George Washington.

Following the video, student participated in a "Museum Activity" about Washington's cabinet. First they defined the terms on the top of the sheet, then visited the stations (two by the end of class today).

Museum Activity Terms and Organizer

Museum Activity Stations
Hamilton
Washington
Knox
Adams
Jay
Jefferson

We will finish the museum activity tomorrow.

Homework is to use the study guide to prepare for Friday's test.  See yesterday's blog for the study guide.

1/27/14

I began class by handing out the study guide for Friday's test.  I will not collect the study guide for a grade, but all the questions on the test are on the study guide.  Use your class notes and assignments, along with the textbook to complete the information on the study guide.

Test Study Guide

Textbook Readings

pg. 221-228
pg. 228-233
pg. 234-237
pg. 248-279 (U.S. Constitution)

Students had the entire class today to continue the lesson from Thursday.  Students read articles, wrote brief summaries of the articles, and made connections to the powers held by the three branches of government (see Thursday's lesson for more information).

Once students finished their readings, they answered a short-response question.

Three Branches Short Response Question (1-2 Paragraphs)

If students finished the question they worked on the study guide.

Homework is: 1- answer the short-response question on the powers of the three branches of government, and 2- work on the study guide for the test on Friday.

1/24/14

We had shortened classes today in the morning due to the math midterm in the afternoon.

During class I ran the bathroom ticket raffle, and student cleaned old papers out of their binders.

No homework over the weekend.

1/23/14

We began class with a warm-up on the Elastic Clause in the constitution, and how it relates to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

As students worked on their warm-ups I collected their homework.

We then transitioned into looking at the specific powers held by the three branches of government.  Students read articles that somehow relate to one of the powers held by the government.  They recorded the following information onto their graphic organizers:

• the name of the article
• a brief summary of the article
• the branch of government and the specific power it holds that relates to the article.  Cite the paragraph and explain how it relates.

Honors should read and respond to 8 articles,  CP 6, and Academic 4

Three Branches Powers and Graphic Organizer

Below is a selection of readings you can use if you miss class.

Reading 1
Reading 2
Reading 3
Reading 4
Reading 5
Reading 6
Reading 7
Reading 8
Reading 9
Reading 10


Homework:  If you missed class, read three articles and enter information into the graphic organizer.  Otherwise, none- bring your organizer to class with you on Monday.

1/22/14

Students handed in their 3 Branches of Government projects at the beginning of class.

Next, students took a quiz on the 3 branches of government and their major functions.

I then ran a short activity on the Elastic Clause.  Students compared the Elastic Clause to CMS's dress code.

At the end of class, students read a short reading on the Elastic Clause. They took Cornell notes on the reading and answered reading comprehension questions.

Elastic Clause reading and questions

Period 6 did not meet today due to the EHS guidance presentations on high school transitions.  They must complete the homework on the Elastic Clause.  

Homework is to finish the Elastic Clause reading and questions. 

1/21/14

To start class, we reviewed the three branches of government, their top positions, and their major functions.

Next, students had the remainder of class to finish their "3 Branches of Government Visual" projects.  Projects are due tomorrow.

Homework is to finish your "3 Branches of Government Visual" project.  For information on this project please see last week's blog.

1/17/14

We began class with a short video on MLK Jr. day and the reason we do not have school on Monday.

Students had the rest of class to work on their 3 Branches of Government Visual projects.  Please refer to Thursday's blog (1/16/14) for specific instructions on this project, and any related materials needed. 

Homework is:  If you missed class, or were in period 7, you need to work on the 3 Branches of Government project for at least 20 minutes over the weekend.  Also, if you were unable to find specific pictures required to finish your project, please find them over the weekend and bring them to class on Tuesday.  Projects are due at the beginning of class on Wednesday. 

1/16/14

At the beginning of class I collected homework, which was a paragraph about the Bill of Rights.

Next, I walked students through Preamble and the first three Articles of the U.S. Constitution. Students completed the Three Branches of Government graphic organizer using the constitution on pages 248-261 of the textbook.

Three Branches of Government graphic organizer

After finishing the organizer I introduced the 3 Branches of Government Visual project.  Students must follow the instructions on the sheet to create a visual that represents the three branches of government.

3 Branches of Government Visual project

Students began planning this project in class today.

Homework is:  Finish the 3 Branches of Government graphic organizer.  Also, grades close tomorrow (Friday 1/17).

1/15/14

We began class by finishing our review of the Bill of Rights station activity, if we did not finish the discussion in yesterday's class.

Next, I assigned students a writing assignment on the Bill of Rights.  There were three different levels of the assignment.  Students need to choose a level, and answer the corresponding question.  I provided students class time to work on this assignment.

Bill of Rights writing assignment

pages236-237

Constitution and Bill of Rights

I then split the class into small groups.  Each group read about Miranda Rights.  Following the reading they discussed the questions on the next page of the reading.

Miranda vs. Arizona Reading and Discussion Questions

At the end of class we had a "Take-A-Stand" style discussion on two of the discussion questions.

Homework is to finish the Bill of Rights writing assignment.  See the blog for the writing assignment.

1/14/14

At the beginning of class I passed back  a number of papers.

We then finished the Bill of Rights station activity from yesterday.  Students read the scenarios and had to find the Amendment from the Bill of Rights that related to the scenario.  They recorded this information onto their organizers and explained what part of the amendment was related to the situation.

At the end of class we discussed the scenarios.

Homework is: if you missed class, go to Monday's blog and complete the graphic organizer.

If you were in class there is no homework.

1/13/14

I began class with a warm-up assignment as I collected the homework.  We then discussed the warm-up questions.

Next, I gave a lecture on the ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Students took fill-in-the-blank notes on their note sheets.

Ratification Notes

Ratification Note Sheet

Next, I split students into 9 groups.  Each group went to a station where they read a situation, and had to decide which Amendment from the Bill of Rights applied to the situation, and explain how.  They recorded the information onto the "Our Living Bill of Rights" organizer.

Our Living Bill of Rights Stations 1-9

Our Living Bill of Rights Organizer

Bill of Rights from Textbook

There is no additional homework.  Tomorrow we will finish and discuss the stations.

Homework is to check PowerSchool for missing assignments because 2nd quarter grades close on Friday.

1/10/14

We began class with an open-homework quiz on the Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, and the Great Compromise.  We corrected the quiz in class.

Next, I gave a short lecture on the two plans, the compromise, and the 3/5 Compromise.  Please see Thursday's lesson for notes and note sheets.

At the end of class students calculated the effect of the 3/5 Compromise on the number of representatives from each state.  Students worked on the "3/5 Compromise" activity for the rest of class, calculating the number of representatives and plotting them on a map. 

3/5 Compromise Activity

Map pg. 223

Homework is to finish the 3/5 Compromise Activity

1/9/14

At the beginning of class we had a quick discussion about whether Daniel Shays should be considered a hero or a traitor.  I then collected student's homework from last night.

Next, I distributed a note sheet on the constitutional convention.

Creating the Constitution Notes

Creating the Constitution Note Sheet

I gave a short lecture on slides 1-6 of the PowerPoint.

I then split the class into three groups.  Each group had to devise a plan for an assembly.  They had to determine the appropriate number of members to have in the assembly, and the number of members each state should have.  We then reported this information out to the class.

Finally, students returned to their seats and read a passage about the Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, and Great Compromise from their textbook (pg. 230-232).  They took notes about the plans and compromise onto a graphic organizer.

VA vs. NJ Plan Graphic Organizer

Textbook pg. 230-232
Textbook pg. 249 & 261

Homework is to finish the VA vs. NJ plan graphic organizer using the readings on the blog.

1/8/14

To start class I passed back the Revolutionary War tests from a few weeks ago. 

Next, students got out their video sheets.  We finished the video on Shays' Rebellion, and during the video students took notes on their video sheets.

The video and video sheet are both available on Tuesday's blog (1/7/14)

At the end of class students responded to the following prompt:

Was Daniel Shays a hero or a traitor?  Use information from this video sheet to write at least one paragraph on a separate sheet of lined paper.

Homework is to write one paragraph responding to the prompt (5-8 sentences).

1/7/14

We began class by reviewing some of the major ideas from last night's homework.  Using their Cornell notes, students answered three questions.  We then reviewed these questions as a class.

I then split the class into smaller groups.  Students read through the a play about Shay's Rebellion.  See yesterday's blog for the play. 

After reading the play, students discussed four questions about the events leading up to Shays' Rebellion.

Shays' Rebellion Discussion Questions

After the discussion, students returned to their seats and we watched the first 15 minutes of a video on Shays' Rebellion.  As students watched the video they recorded information onto the video Sheet.

Ten Days that Unexpectedly Changed America Video

Ten Days that Unexpectedly Changed America Video Sheet

There is no homework tonight.  

1/6/14

We began class be reviewing the Articles of Confederation.

We then finished the notes on the AOC.  Students filled in their note sheets as we went.

Articles of Confederation Notes

Articles of Confederation Note Sheet

I then introduced a reading on Shays' Rebellion.  Students followed the instructions on the sheet.

Shays' Rebellion Reading and Questions

Homework is to: 1- Finish the reading.  2- Take Cornell-style notes on a separate sheet of lined paper.