Craig and I researched and discussed the Barbary War, the Barbary pirates, and the book "Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates" by Brian Kilmeade. We have decided to read this book in class. We looked to maps and research to learn about this "forgotten war." Afterwards, we discussed how the founding fathers succeeded in limiting government - checks and balances and the separation of powers. We reviewed the structure of the government, the three branches of government and their powers, and the organization of our Constitution. We watched SchoolHouse Rock "How a Bill becomes a Law" at Craig's request - again! Afterwards, we played a board game that challenged him with geography and civics trivia and facts (in preparation for standardized testing)!

Henry was absent today.

We began with a review of earning, spending, and saving with a Brain Pop Jr. learning video and a Florida Studies Weekly packet on the topic. Danny scored a 5/5 on the follow up easy quiz. We learned about various ways to earn money, reasons to save, and the importance of spending on things we need before buying things we want. Danny wrote that he could take out trash to earn money. He had to choose if he likes to save or spend and he chose spend because he likes to buy toys. We had fun playing a game where we earn and spend money to learn more about the concept. We continued our discussion about Earth Day. We watched a Brain Pop Jr. learning video about reduce, reuse, and recycle. For Danny’s Interactive Notebook, Danny wrote about ways to reduce water, electricity, and gasoline as we watched the video. We also talked and wrote about ways we can reuse items such as bags, silverware, and cups.

Charlie and I continued our examination of communism. We compared and contrasted it to other forms of government and looked to real-life examples. We watched a BrainPop video on communism and looked at pie charts comparing different systems of government. Related to this topic, we discussed economies. We learned about our own government, the founding fathers, their intentions in framing the Constitution and the enlightenment ideas they were influenced by. We reviewed civics concepts, but still need work on the three branches of government, the separation of powers, checks and balances and the structure of our Constitution. We discussed how government in Rome is like the republican government we have today.

Craig and I looked at the modern history timeline and discussed recent events in the news. We read from Howard Zinn's "A Young People's History of the United States" about the War in Iraq and conflict at home - disapproval of Bush, Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, and weapons of mass destruction.

We continued our study of economics. Today we discussed saving and spending. We reviewed earning money then read, Saving Wisely by Heather E. Schwartz. We read about using a piggy bank, short term saving and long- term saving. Danny wrote in his Interactive Notebook project that saving helps us buy things we want or need. We also read, Spend Wisely by Heather E. Schwartz. Danny wrote for his project, that we have to buy what we need, first. We then watched a reading of the story, A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams. In this story, we examined an example of a family earning and saving after they lost their home to a fire. We saw how a community pulled together to share their resources. As Earth Day is also a worldly topic, we are including the subject in our social studies as well. We added to Danny’s interactive notebook project about taking care of the Earth. For his flip page entitled: I can recycle, Danny wrote that he can recycle cans such as soda and soup, papers such as newspapers and school papers, and finally, plastics such as cups and water bottles.

Henry did a lesson today on the American Revolution and the events leading up to it. We read an article on the Boston Tea Party and watched a video on the history channel on it. We read about the different events such as the French and Indian War, the Royal Proclamation, the Stamp act, etc. that led the colonists to want to revolt against the British. He began making a flip timeline where he wrote the event and the date on the outside and drew a picture and then glued a description on the event on the inside for nine causes leading up to the war.

Arianna and I summarized the U.S. Constitution together today. She learned about ratification, amendments, veto power, the three branches of government, and the preamble and the organization of our government, by way of the Constitution. We watched a short video about the three branches of government on BrainPopJr. This seems a bit complicated yet for her to grasp, but she understands the basic idea - minus the checks and balances! We also watched SchoolHouseRock "The Constitution" and "No More Kings." She loves these songs! Finally, we read "The Story of the U.S. Constitution" by Marilyn Prolman to understand why it was necessary to organize a strong central government so that our country could grow.

Craig and I continued to learn about presidential powers, the powers of each of the three branches of government, and checks and balances. We looked to images and marked them up - to post in his room. Craig played a game on iCivics to learn how the three branches of government work and what types of duties they have. In our second session, we played "Guess My President" in which we used trading cards and gave clues (trivia) about our President and the other player had to guess. We looked at a presidential timeline for assistance. We also looked to interesting trivia - Presidents who wore powdered wigs, former lawyers, born in log cabins, named James, etc. We looked at famous quotes and descriptions of imperialist war-hungry Theodore Roosevelt. Craig completed the chart "Aligning Power to the Constitution" to understand the power belonging to the different branches of government - checks and balances. We discussed the president and foreign policy and summarized the organization of the U.S. Constitution.

Henry and I will work on an activity that will help him become more familiar with angles, ie acute and obtuse. I will have him use a protractor to determine the type of angle and the angle's degree.