7th grade social studies 2011-12

Hello All,

In class today we read Lesson 24 in the We the People Book. This lesson was on How does the Constitution protect freedom of religion? As you know this part of the first amendment is not really cast black and white and is somewhat complicated. This part of the first amendment has been challenged many times at the Supreme Court level ! We also defined four terms to know: establishment clause, free exercise clause, Lemon test and parochial school. At the end of the class the students cashed in their extra credit points for some treats.

The homework assignment due on Monday (conference day, no school on Thursday) is to answer this question: Some religious groups have suggested adding an amendment to the Constitution permitting voluntary prayer in public schools. Would you support such an amendment? Why or why not?

On Monday we will discuss the homework, review Lesson 24 and then tackle some problem solving questions and what ifs in small group and large group discussion around Religion and the Schools and the Lemon test. Ask your students what the Lemon test is or does. It comes form the case of Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) They may need to look it up again.

For the next several weeks we will be talking about, how does the Constitution protect our basic rights while studying five fundamental rights afforded to us by the Bill of Rights. We will also continue to use the NY Times Upfront magazine for current events reading and discussions. I think the students really enjoy this magazine, which is also used in 8th grade.

More later,

Best,

Steve