Ch. 16 Government Test

Our Chapter 16 Government test will be Friday, September 27th. Study guide can be found by clicking on the government link a the top of the page.  The study guide questions are below. Students should have this complete by Thursday.

1.  What branch of government has 100 senators and 435 representatives? ____________________________

2. What branch of government has the President?  _____________________________________

3. What branch of government has enforces the nation’s law?  _______________________________

4. What branch of government has makes the laws for the nation?  _________________________________

5. What branch of government is made up of two house of Congress? _______________________________

6. What branch of government can declare a law unconstitutional? ______________________________

7. What branch of government has can veto a bill passed by Congress? _______________________________

8. What branch of government has officials that are not elected? ____________________________________

9. What branch of government has officials that are elected?  ___________________ __________________

10. What is the title give for the head of the state government?  _______________________________

11. What is the title give for the head local government?  __________________________

In the space provided, write a brief definition of the terms below:

12. Republic: ______________________________________________________________________

13. Bill of Rights____________________________________________________________________

14. Checks and balances _______________________________________________________________

15. Why do people register to vote? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

16. How old do you have to be to vote? ______________

17. How old do you have to be to run for President? _________________

18. Who is President of the United States of America? (spell correctly) ___________________________

Bill of Rights Matching

___ 19.  First Amendment                                                           a. It guarantees freedom of press, religion, assembly, speech, and petition.

___ 20.  Second Amendment                                                     b.  It protects the rights of the accused.

___ 21.  Third Amendment                                                          c.  The government cannot make people house soldiers in peacetime.

___ 22.  Fourth Amendment                                                      d.  It protects people against unfair searches.

___ 23. Fifth Amendment                                                            f.  It protects people’s rights to have weapons

Checks & Balances

Use Complete Sentences!!!!

24. The President checks Congress by

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

25. Congress checks the President by

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Published essays are due between Wednesday, September 25th and Friday, September 27th.

9/18-9/25/13

Today Dr. Porkchop made us work like mad. We had to narrow our original five choice down to three and then ONE!!

Students then had to create an outline showing their evidence for why they picked this one particular amendment.

Step 4:  Dr. Porkchop has now decided to allow Americans to retain only ONE fundamental right. You must use all of your knowledge to convince him to keep your top choice. You will need to write a five paragraph essay in which you argue for your top right. Each body paragraph will contain one piece of evidence to support your choice. Your conclusion should acknowledge that there were other amendments you could have chosen. What you write below will help you start your rough draft!!

Right	Amendment #
1.

Introduction: (Write your HOOK sentence! Remember you want to convince Dr. Porkchop to let us keep this one right).

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Evidence #1 – used in body paragraph #1   ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Evidence #2 – used in body paragraph #2  ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Evidence #3 – used in body paragraph #3  ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Conclusion: (what other amendments could have been chosen?)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On Friday students will begin their rough drafts of their five paragraph essay.

What Rights Do I Value Most?

9/18-9/25/13

For the next week we will analyzing the Bill of Rights to determine which right students value most. Today is the first stage where we brainstorm and narrow down the ten right to five.

Here is the scenario:

Which Rights Do I Value Most?

            The United States has been invaded by hostile forces from a terrorist organization, led by the evil Dr. Porkchop! He has overthrown the federal government. Being a benevolent dictator, Dr. Porkchop is allowing American citizens to retain five of the fundamental liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. It is up to you to determine which five of those rights will be retained. Select five of that are the most important to you and list them below, along with their corresponding amendment numbers. Beneath the chart, provide evidence (Why this right should be kept, could be examples or specific reasons) to support your choices. Remember if there is no clear evidence, Dr. Porkchop will not allow us to keep any rights.

Step 1: Choose five fundamental rights from the Bill of Rights.

Right	Amendment #
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Evidence: ­­­­­­­________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The worksheet is in the government link section.  There is a family assignment that is due tomorrow.  Be sure to help them out!!  Here is the assignment:

STEP 2: Homework!!  Ask an adult (other than your Social Studies teacher) which five amendments they would keep and why!  Record their answers below. You may need to review what the amendments are with them. Record their answers below. You may ask more than one adult, if needed.

Name of Adult(s) _________________________________________________________

Right	Amendment #
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Evidence:    ­­­­­­­___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Constitution Day

9/17/13

Today is Constitution Day!!!!

We will be examining what life would be like without some of the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

In this game students will use the interactive website to find out what happens if we didn't have certain rights. To view this at home, simply go to the link below.  

http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/student-resources/play-games/life-without-the-bill-of-rights/

Students will be filling out the charts seen below. As always, these worksheets can be found in the government link section at the top of the blog.

Close Reading of Jean Fritz's book Shh! We are Writing the Constitution

9/16/13

Today students are doing a close reading activity over Jean Fritz's book, Shh! We are Writing the Constitution. Working in pairs students were given a passage pertaining to one of five areas:


1: The plan for government

2: Compromise

3: A Work in Progress

4: Checks and Balances

5: Ratification

Tomorrow is Constitution Day and we will looking at what would happen without certain rights.

Preamble to the Constitution

9/12/13

Today we analyzed the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. In the Government Links section you can find a pdf version of the annotation done during 3rd period today (all of the classes were the same). Below is what it looks like:

Tomorrow we will be annotating the 1st Amendment. All of this is preparing students for Constitution week, which starts on Monday.  Be looking for a family assignment next Wednesday!!!

9/11/13


Today we are remembering the events of 9/11. Take time to discuss these events with your children. Go over these questions with your students.

1) Where were you when the events of 9/11 unfolded?

2) What did you think was happening?

3) How did it make you feel when the towers started falling?

4) How did you feel once more information came out?

We will be viewing a short video about the timeline of events, followed by a video of the memorial.

Then students then were given the following writing prompt about the memorial and events surrounding 9/11.

American Symbolism

This memorial is designed using imagery often associated with America, as well as symbols that come from nature. Name three symbols used in the memorial. Explain what each symbol means and how that object/thing has a greater meaning. 

Notes for the class

Have you ever wondered what notes students have been taking in Social Studies class or what they have been seeing?  Now is your chance!!  Just click the Notes link at the top of your page and then click on the appropriate chapter. Each set of notes will be in PDF format so you child can print them out or simply read from the screen. There will be two options. One option will be with a slide on each page or four slide on each page.

WARNING: If you select the option for one slide on each page it will be a lot of pages to print, usually twenty or more! So kids ask your parents permission first :)

Review of the Branches of Government

9/10/11

We are reviewing the information we have learned about the branches of government. Students have been working hard on the What Branch Am I? worksheet.

Review worksheet

On the back side is a preview of the material we will be discussing in the upcoming days on the Bill of Rights, followed by a short open response. Students should remember to use their "Star" vocabulary in their open response answers -- Executive Branch, Legislative Branch, Judicial Branch, veto, separation of powers, and checks and balances!!

Bill of Rights and open response

As always you can find these worksheets in the Government link at the top of the page.

State Branches of Government

9/9/13

Today we are examining the branches of our state government and the requirements of each position.

It is interesting to note the differences and similarities between both state and national offices. Do you think federal officials should have term limits like our state officials do?

Checks and Balances

9/5-9/6

Yesterday (9/5) we concluded our examination of federal branches of government and examined the requirements of federal officials (seen above). If students did not get all of the information, they can copy this chart.

Today (9/6) we analyzed the system of checks and balances to understand how each branch is able to keep the other two in check so no one branch becomes to powerful. We used the worksheets "A Balance of Power" and "Checks and Balances."  (seen below - a pdf version of all worksheets can be found above in their respective link, either Government or Geography). Check out question ten! Students had to decide who they would rather be and give three reasons why they chose that one. Who would you have picked?

Government Unit

9/4/13

This week we are starting our review on Government. As it seems the government is always in the news, it would not hurt to discuss current events with your student to make sure they understand what is going on and how it relates to what they are studying.

At the top is a link for all of the government worksheets we will be using, in case someone forgets theirs at school. Today and tomorrow we will be reviewing the national and state branches of government.

Federal Branches of Government

State Branches of Government

End of Geography Unit

September 3, 2013

I hope everyone had a well rested Labor Day weekend. Today we will finish up our geography unit by reviewing the countries of North America and examining the location and some landforms of Arkansas.

Arkansas - location and landform

Countries of North America

The next unit we will cover will be Government (Ch. 16). Most of the chapter may be a review, but we will also introduce new material. Be on the lookout for a family assignment in the upcoming weeks!!