Week of 26 April 2010

New Unit - State & Local Government. I want to give everyone a heads up, this is the information that students do the worst on the EOC, so PLEASE pay attention, keep up and do not cut corners! It isn't difficult, but students tend to get confused. I highly recommend viewing the videos from the Success Series regarding Goal 3. This will be our last dedicated Civics unit, after this we will focus our attention on Economics.

You will also be receiving the third and final set of Landmark Supreme Court Cases Monday. Make sure you remember to cut and paste all the correct information into the correct charts. We will be having the BIG QUIZ on these cases Wednesday, May 5. As I have mentioned too many times to count, if you do not have ALL of the charts cut and pasted you will not get to use any of them during the quiz. The inverse is also true, if you have ALL of the charts cut and pasted you will get to use ALL of them during the quiz! (I had to throw the logic concepts at you (P→Q, inverse of ∼P→∼Q).

Week of 19 April 2010

I hope everyone has had a chance to visit the new page added the website: Quarter 4 Handouts. The link will be in the "Handouts" section on each page from here on out. It will make it easier to determine what assignments were handed out to which class, when, and when and if they were collected. Take a look.

This week we will be working on the next set of Landmark Supreme Court Cases. These cases go beyond the 1st Amendment; they involve due process found in the rest of the Bill of Rights. Next week we will research Supreme Court Cases involving the remaining amendments. Remember, in a couple of weeks (exact date to be determined) we will have a BIG quiz in which the students will be able to use their notes from these online cases during the quiz if, AND ONLY IF, they are completely cut and pasted into place, on all three charts! If they all are not completed, the student will not be allowed to use any of their charts.

This week we have an early release day on Wednesday - not the normal "Wake Wednesday" but an actual 2-hour early release. No lunch will be served that day and the students will be dismissed from school at 12:28pm.

New Feature!

I have been working on a new way of making the list of handouts for the quarter more accessible and easier to find. On the right, in the "Handouts" section is a new link. The first item is "All 4th Quarter Handouts." Clicking on the link will open up a new window showing all of the handouts so far this quarter sorted by class period and by date assigned. If the handout was an assignment that was collected, the collection date is also shown. I hope that this table will make it easier for students and parents to keep track of what students are missing and will make it easier for students to keep up and catch up when they are absent.

Please forgive the appearance, I am still working on some of the formatting aspects of the page.

Week of 12 April 2010

We are really rolling now! 3rd Quarter is over, Civics is winding down and Economics is on our doorstep. This week we will be finishing up Unit 4B, Executive and Judicial Branches and beginning Unit 5: Laws and Cases. As we wrap up unit 4B I have assigned a timeline project for each of the President's cabinet offices. This poster size timeline is due on Monday, April 19. We will also be testing on Unit 4B by the end of the week (the plan is Friday for Period 1, Thursday for Periods 2 & 4).

Enjoy the week, the weather is going to be beautiful. But that also reminds us to make sure we are adhering to the dress code. And we should also consider the walk we have out to the trailer. As the temperature heats up outside I will be running the air conditioner inside. Unfortunately the location of the vents were not well planned and blow directly down on top of the students. So please carry with you a light jacket or sweater.

Week of 4 April 2010

Welcome back, I hope everyone had a good and restful break. If you were out on Monday last week, you missed the conclusion of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - no I am not going to show the end of it again, we need to keep moving. Speaking of keep on moving, we are into Unit 4B: Executive and Legislative Branches. This week we will focus our attention primarily on the executive branch, the work of the president both here and abroad. We will also be watching the movie Dave. It is a cute movie starring Kevin Kline who fills in as President and must learn the job on the fly. I am sure you will enjoy it. I am also planning a current event activity - more on that when we get to it.