Sunday, January 3, 2010

Week of January 4th, 2010

Welcome back from the holiday break!

Announcements:

Quiz on Wednesday - The Preamble Scramble!
HW: Family Trees are due on Thursday

** The academic quarter closes on January 15th. Therefore this week is the final week to make up work and/or take advantage of extra-credit assignments.

**Geography Bee sign-ups in History classes this week. The Bee will begin on Thursday, January 14th.

** Unit essay grades have been entered. If you have no grade entered in power school, please see Mr. Wells asap! Nice work - these were an excellent demonstration of historical knowledge and writing skills.

** Evidence of family interviews are due on Monday, January 4th.

Agenda:

Monday:
1. A look ahead as a class. We will examine out curricular progress as a class. Blog updates.
2. Instructions and rubric review for the family tree project. This will be due on Thursday.
3. Nation Building Simulation!! Students are assigned the heavy task of designing a government -- the same task that faced the Federalist and Anti-Federalists after the Treaty of Paris was signed.


Tuesday:
1. Preamble scramble! Students will identify the fundamental reasons that the US Constitution by rephrasing its dense preamble.
Quiz on Wed: Students recite the preamble!
2. Students finish work on the Nation Building Simulation and present to their peers.
3. We begin an outline of the functions of each of the 7 articles of the US Constitution.

Wednesday:
1. Preamble Quiz!
2. Three Branches of Government activity
3. Complete Outlines: Articles I-VII
HW: Family Trees are due at the start of class tomorrow: Students will present to peers. Students will be assessed based on 2 criteria: Evidence of Interviews; synthesis of the actual product; the presentation to peers.

Thursday:
1. Students present family trees to their peers. We keep track as a class of ancestral origins, and compare to US Immigration trends.

Friday:
1. Finish family tree presentations (absent or late projects will be presented to Mr. Wells at an alternative time. Please make an appointment).
2. Imagine a life without the basic freedoms that US Citizens enjoy daily? What if the Bill of Rights was repealed? Students will look into just such a scenario via the Discovery "United Streaming" clips " Bill of Rights Repealed!"