Thank you to Mr. MacBeth, Mr. and Mrs. Curry, Mrs. Eshu, and Mrs. Barrientos for being a part of this amazing field trip and for sending me the pictures you took! Here are so many pictures.
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Peirce hosted the election and I got us set up on a mini 'field trip' to see the voting process. The election judges were very kind and gave 208 several demonstration ballots. Each of them spoke to the class about what election judges do, and about specific roles each of them plays. Students also got to see paper ballots go into the machine and they were led through how the digital booth works. Today we turned classroom 208 into a Nation. Table groups became states, and students ran for Senate and House of Representatives. Each 'state' got 1 senator and every 3 students got a representative. After lunch, Presidential Primaries began. Students engaged with the voting process, where they told their representatives their opinions, but then the Electoral College (senators and representatives) made the final votes. Afterward, the top 3 groups campaigned for 10 minutes and had different strategies. Some chose to offer positions in the cabinet in exchange for votes and some tried to ask individuals what they would like to see in the classroom. Then, after short speeches, students voted silently. The electoral collage was informed on who won the popular vote in their table state and then they voted. The President chose the cabinet and then I chose the Supreme Court. All students are in a position and they will begin their jobs by Monday. Students may dress professionally on Monday for official pictures.
We are voting in 208 next week! Every student will be placed in one of the 3 branches of government. Your child will represent the table group as part of the senate, house of representatives, or represent the class as a supreme court leader, as class president, or serve in the cabinet. We will use this system and our knowledge of government to determine what our paw party should be. We have earned 101 paws as a class this year and I'm excited to see what happens! I'll post many pictures next week.
This week has been limited in time due to Parcc testing, so I do not have photos to share. Testing does not mean we stopped learning enriching content, though.
As part of our unit, we are learning about the U.S. constitution. We are learning about the Bill of Rights and in great detail. We first learned about the continental congress, and basics about the preamble and bill of rights. To engage students and to start the conversation, I facilitated as students engaged in a whole group discussion about what they thought should be in the bill of rights. Students engaged, challenged, and supported one another. They had an opportunity to question topics that don't have clear cut answers, and to experience the possibility of engaging in respectful discourse without coming to a consensus. Their final list is below in no particular order: 1. The right to free speech. 2. The right to equality. 3. The right to education. 4. The right to food and shelter. 5. The right to be respected. 6. The right to vote. 7. The right to own property. 8. The right to be yourself. 9. The right to work and get paid. 10. The right to a fair trail. We are no working through understanding the actual United States Bill of Rights and making connections between their ideals and the ideals of the constitution. For example, the first amendment can be connected to numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 of their list. Once we complete this, we will dissect the preamble and take a quick look at the UN list of Universal Human Rights. |
AuthorMrs. Heinlein is excited to document what happens in this great year of learning! Archives
September 2019
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