Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week in Social Studies students will deepen their knowledge of our government by playing an iCivics game called Branches of Power. In this game, students will learn how the three branches of government work together to pass a law. They will also learn about the checks and balances that each branch has on the other so that one branch does not become too powerful. Students will then participate in a simulation on how a bill becomes a law. We will divide up into four states where students will learn about the demographics of their state, the influence of constituents when trying to create laws. Students will then debate the bill and see if they can reach a consensus and  pass a bill to ban headphones and earbuds when walking in public. 

 

Constitution Graphic Novel Study due 9/5

How a bill becomes law due 9/11

 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week in Social Studies students will complete their  investigation of the preamble to the Constitution to uncover what we can learn about the goals our Founders had for the country as they created the Constitution. Students will then read excepts from a graphic novel to learn about the seven articles of the Constitution and how they lay out the framework for our government. They will also be reading to understand the roles and responsibilities of the the three branches of government laid out in Articles 1 - 3.

 

Preamble to the Constitution due 9/2

Constitution Graphic Novel Study due 9/5

 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week in Social Studies students will learning about the Articles of Confederation: our nation's first government. They will be looking at different vocabulary words and then studying the weaknesses of this document. As they analyze each weakness, they will be brainstorming possible problems that these weaknesses will cause. Following this lesson, we will look at the Constitutional Convention and some of the debates that happened as the Founders decided how best to replace the Articles of Confederation.

Articles of Confederation due Wednesday, August 20th.

Email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week students have discussing the meaning of the words hero and villain. Next we will look at the life of Thomas Jefferson by reading two essays: Thomas Jefferson the American Hero and Thomas Jefferson the American Villain. Students will gather evidence from both essay and then determine if they think Jefferson was an American hero or villain. In this analysis, students will also look at the word presentism: the concept of judging a person from history by the standards, morals, and laws of today. They will understand the dangers of doing this and apply this learning to the life of Jefferson so that they will be making their decisions based on Jefferson's life in context to the time he was living. Students will then participate in multiple mini debates where I will assign them the position they will be arguing so that they have to be prepared to argue either side. We will then pivot to the founding of our country as we uncover our nation's first constitution: The Articles of Confederation.

Jefferson: Hero or Villain due Thursday 8/14

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

 

Greetings 8th Grade Families,

This week in Social Studies we went over the syllabus and I asked students to take that home, go over it with you, sign it and bring it back. If you haven't see it yet, please ask your student to show it to you. We then analyzed 6 reasons why it is important to study history. Students read the quotes and then in their own words, explained why that reason was important. Students then ranked the 6 reasons. Finally students wrote two paragraphs using their #1 and #2 rankings. This assignment is due on Monday, so students who did not finished put the assignment in their blue folder and should complete it over the weekend.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan