The Constitution and Middle Schoolers

The Constitution, although written over 200 years ago, is one of those documents in our 7th grade Social Studies curriculum that can be really challenging for middle schoolers to understand.  The concepts of federalism and separation of powers can be especially difficult.  Over the years I have used many strategies to help students tackle this challenging, but really important topic!

Strategy #1:  Federalism by way of good ol' fashioned cutting and pasting

Yes.  It is time for your middle schoolers to dust off the old scissors and glue sticks that they used way back in primary school.  I am teased by my colleagues for doing this "elementary" activity in middle school, but I really believe there is value in this as a differentiated learning activity.  It hits on two major methods of learning:  bodily/kinesthetic (moving into groups and cutting and pasting) and interpersonal (group work).  Students are actively engaged the entire class period.

Prior to this activity, students have a basic knowledge of the terms delegated, concurrent and reserved powers.  I have a handout with a list of powers (some delegated, some reserved and some concurrent) and have students cut the powers intro strips of paper.

Then I have students lay them out on their desk and, in small groups, categorize into delegated, reserved or concurrent powers.  Once the group thinks they have them categorized correctly, I check over their work.  If all is correct, they are given glue sticks and then glue the power strip (ha ha!) intro the correct area of an accompanying venn diagram.  The venn diagram has a circle for delegated powers, a circle for reserved and the interlocking party is designated for concurrent powers. 

Students leave the class with their completed venn diagram showcasing the powers delegated to the federal government, reserved to the state governments or shared by both.  Parents, students and even resource room teachers have told me in the past that to help prep for the unit test on this topic, they will print out a new, clean copy of the power strips and venn diagram and complete the activity again for review.

Hope you find this helpful as well or maybe will help spark a new idea of your own!

Stay tuned for Strategy #2!

I have a dream...with preschoolers!

Recently my husband and I were guests in my son's pre-kindergarten class.  We were asked to complete a project with the class that was appropriate for the theme and topic the class was working on at the time.

But what kind of project could we complete with preschoolers?

My husband is a woodworker so we came up with a simple project where the kids created a paper clip note holder.  He pre-cut blocks of wood and brought them to the class.  We divided the class in half.  He took one half of class (10 kids) and helped them personalize their wood block with their name (he brought metal letters that the kids tapped into the wood with a small hammer)

My half of the class worked on the "I have a dream" part of the assignment.  I had photocopied a cloud shape that had the phrase "I have a dream..." pre-printed on it.  I had the kids brainstorm what they dreamed they would be when they grew up.  They then would draw a picture of themselves doing that particular job.

The kids had a lot of fun with the project and loved that they each were able to go home with their finished note holder!

Party Theme: U.S. Presidents!

Happy 2014!  In honor of our nation's upcoming celebrations of the U.S. presidents, I wanted to share a party idea that may seem a bit unconventional-especially for a child!  My 8-year old son loves the presidents so instead of a character/movie/TV show theme party, we focused on the U.S. presidents.  

Decorations
I was able to use some items from my classroom like red, white and blue bunting and small American flags as decorations.  I also used posters of the presidents that I bought from allposters.com.  I stuck to his favorites (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, Truman, Kennedy and Reagan) and hung them all around the house.  A colleague of mine has a life-size cutout of Andrew Jackson and we placed him right by the front door of the house to greet everyone as they arrived :)  Everyone wore red, white and blue too!

Food
We looked up favorite foods of the presidents to help create our menu.  This was really fun!  Some of the presidents foods we included on the menu were:

Hot dogs-George H.W. Bush
Macaroni and cheese-Ronald Reagan
Nachos and guacamole-Barack Obama
Burgers-Bill Clinton

I made an ice cream sandwich cake and had a local bakery make an edible color copy of my son dressed in a shirt tie.  












We served the ice cream cake and fresh fruit for dessert but also had jelly beans (Reagan's favorite) and chocolates that had wrappers that looked like money.  (Found them at Bed, Bath and Beyond)


Activities
We had pin the hat on Abraham Lincoln.  I also had paper that looked "antique" and a quill pen and ink I had bought at a museum years ago.  Kids were able to dip the pen in ink and write (or draw) on the old paper.  They had lots of fun with that!  The highlight of the party, though, was a visit from President Theodore Roosevelt himself :)