US Budget Alternative Assignment

If you did not turn in your Budget Worksheet and want to makeup the 15 points, here is what you can do.

1. Come up with a question you have about the federal government and its taxing or spending.
2. Do some research to find an answer to your question.
3. Type a paragraph explaining what you found out in response to your question.
4. Type a paragraph reflecting about how you feel or what you think about what you found out.
5. Cite your source of information

Before you do much research or writing, come and see me with your question and I can give you some feedback about a) is it a good question b) is your question too broad and thus needs to be narrowed c) does your question fit the assignment at all. If you have questions come and see me.

When complete, (probably 1/2 to 1 page in length) turn it in and I will score it out of 15 points but don't wait it too long.

Thanks,
Mr. Thompson

Alternative Assignment for Powers of Congress

If you failed to complete your Powers of Congress assignment in a timely fashion here is your alternative:

1) Look at the examples of powers given to Congress or just the House or Senate. Choose one you are curious to learn a bit more about.

2) Write a question based on that power that you wish to answer.

3) Do some research to try and answer the question. Write up a response about what you learned from your research. Please cite your source of information.

4) Write a reflection. Tell me what you think or how you feel about what you learned.

This should be typed, single spaced, 3/4 to one page in length, written well (spell checked) I will score it out of 25 points and should be turned in before we start finals. If you have any other questions be sure you ask me. Better to ask now than do this incorrectly and have to redo or edit a bunch.

Thanks,
Mr. Thompson

What am I (when it comes to politics)

Take a few minutes to take the quiz. At the end, you will get a description of who you are based on your answers to the questions. Post a comment based on what you found out about yourself. Be sure to comment on how these results compare with the results of the survey we took in class. Pay attention to how you responded to the question and the topic of the questions as this could only help when it comes time for us to take our Political Ideology quiz. This is an assignment and must be completed by the time we have class on Friday, March 24th.



If you want to take other online quizzes here some other links. Have fun!
Mr. Thompson



Political Ideology Quiz
Political Typology Quiz
The Political Compass
I Side With

Makeup assignment

For those of you who didn't complete your Constitution assignment, here's what you can do:


1) Come up with a question you have about some power given to our US government by the Constitution. Write your question.


2) Go do some research to answer your question. Write an amazing paragraph about what you found out that answers your question.


3) Write a reflection. Compose a second paragraph that explains how you feel about what you learned


Write this well and in your own words. Type it up into a paper that is probably 1/2 to 1 page in length and submit. I will score it out of 20 points and replace your 0 with this score for your Articles and Amendments assignment.


Enjoy,
Mr. Thompson

Outline of the US Constitution

Parts of the Constitution  

Article 1 – Legislative

Congress = Senate + House of Reps

                        Qualifications to be members

                        Membership in each house

                        Meets once per year

                        Rules for conduct

                        Powers denied to Congress

                        Powers given to Congress

                        Elastic clause/Necessary and Proper Clause

                        Immunity

                        Impeachment – Process

                        Process of passing laws

Article 2 -        Executive Branch

                        President, Vice-president, and the Cabinet

                        Qualifications and length of term

                        Powers of the President

                        Succession

                        Impeachment -

Article 3 -        Judicial Branch

                        Jurisdiction

                        Trial by jury

                        Impeachment – Chief justice of SC is the judge of

 impeachment trial

                        Treason          

Article 4 -        States must have a republic (democracy)

                        Full Faith and Credit Clause

Article 5 -        How to add an amendment

Article 6 -        Supremacy Clause

Article 7 -        How to ratify the Constitution

Wednesday US Government 6/1

A) Passed back Supreme Court Justices assignment. Spent some time with the political ideology of current court and the significance of the next judge being appointed.
B) Took Landmark Court Case quiz
C) Reviewed for Judicial Quiz tomorrow

Mr. Thompson

Tuesday US Government 5/31

A) Prep for quiz tomorrow on Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Mr. Thompson

Friday US Government 5/27

A) Handed in test corrections
B) Handed in Supreme Court Justices assignment
C) Completed our work with the US Supreme Court questions from Judicial sheet.

Reminder
Landmark SC case quiz is Wednesday
Judicial Unit Quiz is Thursday
MC part of Final is Friday
and written component will be following Monday

Enjoy the long weekend,
Mr. Thompson

Thursday US Government 5/26

A) Passed back your written responses on most influential political figures in US History
B) Passed back Exec Test and went over options for test corrections. (Corrections due Friday)
C) Set date for Landmark Supreme Court Case quiz. It is next Wednesday 10 cases 20 points
D) Spent some time answering questions in small groups about the Supreme Court and its justices.
E) Handed out Supreme Court Justices assignment (Due Friday)
F) Below is the review for our final exam in US Government. Let me know if you have any questions.

US GOV’T FINAL

Your US Government final will make up 15% of your semester grade. The final will be made up of 60 multiple choice questions and one 20 point essay. Pay close attention to the number of questions that will be included from each unit that we have studied.

I.  Introduction    Government                            Events leading to independence

                        Types of Government (4)       Articles of Confederation
7 ques.           Types of Economies (3)         Declaration of Independence

                                 Democracy/Republic

II.  Constitution                         Preamble                           Limited Government

      and Amendments                 Articles                             Checks and Balances

                                                      Amendments                    Separation of Powers

12                                                  Supremacy Clause            Federalism

                                                      Popular Sovereignty         Necessary and Proper Clause

                                              How to add Amendments Judicial Review

III.  Federalism                          Concurrent

                                                      Enumerated/Expressed

                                                      Implied

5                                                    Reserved

IV.  Legislative Branch      Facts about members of Congress

                                         Powers of Congress
                                         How a Bill becomes law
                                         Study of the US Budget

12                                            Types of Committees, Committee system and the

                                                significance of committees in Congress today

V.  Executive Branch          Facts about President and Vice President

                                             Powers of the President (Roles of President)
12                                         Cabinet
                                       Bureaucracy-EOP, Regulatory commissions, govt.
                                           corporations and independent agencies

                                       How the President is elected (Electoral College)

VI.  Judicial Branch        Facts about Federal Judges

                                             US Supreme Court at Work
7                                           Types of Jurisdiction

                                             3 levels of Federal Courts

                                             Landmark Supreme Court Cases

VII.  Political Parties         Liberals/Moderates/Conservatives

      and ideology                 Demographics – Who we are

                                            Topics – What we think or believe

5

Lots done today. Ask questions if you have any as we don't have many days left,

Mr. Thompson

Wednesday US Government 5/25

A) Finished our activity on Famous American Political figures. After reading the article and writing about the significance of Washington, Lincoln and Marshall, students will pick the 4th most important figure in American political history and in 5 minutes explain why they chose that person. Hand in when completed

B) Went through the 3 levels of federal courts and explained their purpose, their jurisdiction, what type of cases they can hear and how decisions are reached. (all of this is described on sheet you received on the judicial branch)

C) Time to work on landmark SC cases and vocabulary.

Mr. Thompson

Tuesday US Government 5/24

A) Completed our intro to the US Judicial Branch from yesterday
B) Read an article on the significance of Justice John Marshall
    Wrote about the significance of three famous Americans: Geo Wash, Abe Lincoln and John      
    Marshall

C) Continue to work on Judicial terms and Landmark Supreme Court cases

Mr. Thompson

Monday US Government 5/23

A) Quick review of Exec Test results
B) Introduced the Judicial Branch
     Run down of the next 8 days of class including 2 quizzes
     Identified key parts of the Judicial Branch
     Identified the organization of the federal courts by looking at a map and a chart of the organization
     Answered key questions about federal judges including qualifications, length of term and how selected.

Mr. Thompson

Friday US Government 5/20

A) Test on Executive Branch
B) Handed out Judicial Branch information

Mr. Thompson

Thursday US Government 5/19

A) Discussion of the relationship between President, Congress and the Federal Courts. Students were asked to come up with examples of how the president can influence Congress and vice versa and how the president can influence the federal courts and vice versa.
B) Review for test tomorrow on Executive Branch.

Mr. Thompson

Wednesday US Government 5/18

A) Quick review of Cabinet and Executive Office of the President
B) Completed the bureaucracy with Regulatory Agencies, Gov't Corporations, and Independent Agencies

Reminder of Unit Test on Friday

Mr. Thompson

Tuesday US Government 5/17

A) Took a short tour of some of the sites of Wash. DC
B) Met some of the key people and offices within the Executive Office of the President
C) Preview of tomorrow's content

Mr. Thompson

Monday US Government 5/16

A) Passed back
     Claim/Support/ Questions from discussion of the Electoral College last week.
     Congress test written questions on Mandatory v Discretionary and why debt is bad
     Exec Vocab quiz we took last week
B) Handed out review sheet for Test on the Executive Branch this Friday. Provided some insight into some of the questions/content and the written component of the test.
C) Discussion of the Cabinet including the 6 questions about the Cabinet and the mission or goal of each of the 15 Cabinet departments.
D) Went over the outline for class each of the days this week as we study the Bureaucracy.
     Monday - Cabinet
     Tuesday - Executive Office of the President
     Wednesday - Regulatory Commissions, Independent Agencies, and Government Corporations
     Thursday - Wrap up Executive Branch and review for test
     Friday - Test on Executive Branch

Last big test before finals so be ready for it,
Mr. Thompson

Friday US Government 5/13

A) Wrap up of yesterday's claim/support activity
B) In small group and then large group, we tried to answer the questions generated by students from previous day on Electoral College.
C) Briefly discussed where we are headed next week with the bureaucracy.

Mr. Thompson

Thursday US Government 5/12

A) Collected Electoral College papers from students gone on Friday of last week
B) Passed back Congress tests and we went over opportunities for makeup
C) Did a claim, support, question activity on the Electoral College
D) Continued to work on Cabinet 6 questions and mission statements on the 15 departments

Mr. Thompson

Wednesday US Government 5/11

A) Took Executive Vocab quiz
B) Introduced Cabinet
   Time to work on intro questions about Cabinet and to identify purpose of each Cabinet department

Mr. Thompson