Dear 7th Grade Students and Parents,

What a great class we had with Ken Burns last Friday. Today we talked about his visit and wrote about and shared some of the salient points of his time with us. What may have caught our attention, stood out as important moment or idea he may have shared with us. Ken will be back sometime after the new year.

Today I handed out the ever popular UpFront Magazine. I assigned two readings and then encouraged the class to read other articles and discuss them with you. This issue contains some great articles parents will be interested in.

Looking Ahead - Homework

Read two articles for Tuesday: pps. 10-12 Freedom Riders and pps. 14-15 Corporal Punishment in Schools

Friday: Our first Test. Students will be taking the U.S. Citizenship Test themselves - Questions 1-40. I hope they study and do as wll as most of you did. They should have all the answers to the questions in there binders.

Hoping you all have a great holiday.

Best,

Steve

Hello Seventh Grade American Studies Parents and Students,

Todays class was fantastic as students shared their homework and thoughts on the second amendment. We could talk for another two or three classes but move on we must. What a bright and informed class of young people. They really showed me today their level of maturity and responsibility as I got hung up in a special meeting and was late for class. Although Madame Jo and William Chambers were downstairs these students took it upon themselves to call over to my office and then actually send messengers to find me. Without too much of a wrinkle we had a fine class.

Assignments for Thursday class.

Please have a question ready for Ken Burns about his work, his take on history, his study of the constitution and the amendments or any thing you want to know about what he does and why he does it.

Assignment for Friday class.

Students should have watched all or a part (segment) of one of Ken Burns films. Many children took copies of one of his films home from my collection and others said they had his films at home already.

Best,

Steve

Dear 7th Grade Parents and Students,

Today in class we briefly discussed Veterans Day and the idea of service to ones community and to ones country and the many forms that service takes: whether it be public service, community service, social service or military service. Students shared that many of them had friends, neighbors and relatives that were or had been in the military service. I asked each of them to communicate with a veteran this weekend and to tell the Vet thank you for their service. Many of the students said they had relatives who had served (my mother was in the Navy). They were a bit hazy on details so I suggested that they may want to find out what those medals in the closet were about or what it was like to be a doctor, or radio man, or an interpreter, or on the front lines, etc....

Thanks for assisting your student with his or her homework assignment. I am very proud of you parents that took part two of the U.S. Citizenship test. Your scores, as they were reported to me, were very good. You have set a high standard for your child when they take the first half of the test themselves after Thanksgiving Break.

Finally, in class today we read the first Ten Amendments of the Constitution, The Bill of Rights and then began some very spirited discussions (we ran out of time) about the first and second amendments. To be continued.

*Homework fo Tuesday:
*Say thank you to a Veteran.
*Write a paragraph or more about the Second Amendment (The Right to Bear Arms) and how you feel about the amendment and the controversy that seems to surround it in todays world. I suggested that they might use current events, talk to you about it, or do some research to help form their opinions.

*Homework is due on Tuesday at which time we will continue our discussion of this and some of the other amendments of The Bill of Rights.

Have a good weekend.

Best,

Steve

PS Amazing presentation by DR. Steven Kiruswa from Tanzania, ask your child about it.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

*Homework for Friday----Administer the second part of the U.S. Citizenship Test to your parents. Bring results to class on Friday.
The class took the test, in teams, on Tuesday and what we knew and did not know was very interesting and revealing in terms of our individual knowledge base.

*The class will be administered the U.S. Citizenship test as part of this semesters mid term grade. There was a gasp from the class when I announced this and some disbelief on their part.

*This Friday, during class time, we will begin reading and discussing the 27 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. I am hoping this will create some great discussions about individual and states rights.

*This Friday, tomorrow - 11:00am- 12:00noon- Grades 5-8 will meet with Dr. Steven Kiruswa (in the auditorium) for a presentation about the Maasai culture, growing up in Leyeyo's village and his work as a wildlife conservationist. Please feel free to join us.

*Next Friday, the 18th, Ken Burns will be with us from 8:30am-9:30 am to discuss his study of history, the U.S. Constitution and more.
Feel free to join us in the 7th grade homeroom.

Best,

Steve