Social Studies:

We continued discussing the Bill of Rights (1st 10 amendments of the Constitution) this week.  The students had to read scenarios and determine which amendment they pertained to.  Additionally, we acted out and learned the meaning of due process (steps taken before government can take your life, liberty, or property).  

Reading:

While learning how to infer (read between the lines/use clues to determine meaning not explicitly stated) and accurately support inference with evidence from the text, we are reading the poem “A Nation’s Strength” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.  This connects with learning about the Bill of Rights and establishment of the Constitution, since Emerson is referring to how to build a strong & powerful nation.  We analyze the poem one stanza per day, since it’s very complex and peppered with metaphors.  Next week, we will wrap up analyzing this poem and working our way into a performance task assessment for the students to show their understanding of inferring and supporting it with text evidence.

A Nation’s Strength