7th Grade ELA/History

Guiding Question: What issues in our community can we help solve through the legislative branch?  What are the origins of some of the most popular Halloween myths?   Objectives: Students will work to increase their Lexile levels by determining the central ideas of an Achieve article about the powers of government, completing all five tabs including summarizing the Dig Deeper section, and score at least 75% on the activity.  Students will work to brainstorm issues in their community by engaging in a collaborative discussion with their groups and filling out a form with 100% completion.  Standards: HSS.8.2.6 - Enumerate the powers of government set forth in the Constitution RH.6-8.2 - Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source SL.8.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions ELD A.1 - Exchanging information with others through oral collaborative discussions Do Now (Voice Lev...

Guiding Question: What can and does our government do?  How can every day citizens participate in their government? Objectives: Students will identify the powers of government set forth in the Constitution by reading their textbook and answering guiding questions with at least 80% accuracy. Students will investigate and determine the central idea of the stories of nine teenagers who helped to fix problems in their own communities by watching a video and answering questions with at least 80% accuracy. Standards: HSS.8.2.6 - Enumerate the powers of government set forth in the Constitution. R1.8.2 - Determine the central idea of a text. ELD.B.6 - Read closely to determine how meaning is made. Do Now (Voice Level 0) 5 minutes:  Write today's objectives in your own words. What are the activities you will be completing and how do you know whether or not you completed them?  Whole Group (Voice Level 0) 10 minutes:  What is the pur...

Guiding Question: How does the Constitution guard against tyranny?  Objective: Students will be able to guide and support their peers by peer-editing so that they are able to revise their CEREAL paragraphs on the Constitution and score at least a 3/4 on the rubric.  Standards: W.8.5 -  With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, and/or rewriting.  HSS.8.2.7 - Describe the principles of federalism, dual sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances, the nature of majority rule, and the ways in which the American idea of constitutionalism preserves individual rights. Do Now (Voice Level 0) 2 minutes:  Write today's objective in your own words. What is the activity you will be completing?  Whole Group  (Voice Level 1-2) 40 minutes:  Task 1: What makes a good CEREAL Paragraph? Review exemplars from Valley Forge CEREAL Para...

Guiding Question: How does the Constitution guard against tyranny?  Objectives: Students will work to increase their Lexile levels by determining the central ideas of an Achieve article about Benjamin Franklin, completing all five tabs including summarizing the Dig Deeper section, and score at least 75% on the activity.   Students will determine the central ideas of a news source and draw evidence to reflect by completing a Who/What/When/Where/Why graphic organizer and summary with at least a 3/4 according to the rubric.  Students will describe the ways in which the Constitution guards against tyranny by analyzing primary  sources that cover federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances and writing a CEREAL paragraph with a score of at least 3/4 according to the rubric.  Standards: HSS.8.2.7 - Describe the principles of federalism, dual sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances, the natu re of majority rule, and...

Guiding Question: How does the Constitution guard against tyranny?  Objectives: Students will investigate the federalists and anti-federalists by reading a text and answering guiding questions with at least 80% accuracy.  Students will determine the principles of federalism and checks and balances by watching a BrainPop on the Constitution, taking bullet point notes, and writing a 5-7 sentence summary with at least 80% accuracy.  Students will describe the ways in which the Constitution guards against tyranny by investigating and annotating primary and secondary sources and completing a Say-Mean-Matter chart and guiding questions with at least 80% accuracy. Standards: HSS.8.2.7 - Describe the principles of federalism, dual sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances, the nature of majority rule, and the ways in which the American idea of constitutionalism preserves individual rights. RH.6-8.2 - Determine the central ideas or information ...

Guiding Question: What major debates occurred when drafting the Constitution?  Objective: Students will evaluate the major debates that occurred when drafting the Constitution by participating in a simulation of the Constitutional Convention and score at least 3/4 according to the rubric. Standards: HSS.8.2.3 - Evaluate the major debates that occurred during the development of the Constitution and their ultimate resolutions in such areas as shared power among institutions, divided state-federal power, slavery, the rights of individuals and states Do Now (Voice Level 0) 2 minutes:  Take out your simulation preparation handout, take a look at the "script" for today and figure out which group member is sharing which information. Every single group member needs to introduce themselves during roll call, only certain group members will need to share the other three pieces of information. If you were not here on Monday/Tuesday, you need to copy one of your grou...

Guiding Question: What were the major debates that occurred when the Founding Fathers were creating the Constitution?  Objectives: Students will work to increase their Lexile levels by determining the central ideas of an Achieve article about the Constitution, completing all five tabs including summarizing the Dig Deeper section, and score at least 75% on the activity. Students will draw evidence from a BrainPop video on the Constitutional Convention to do research by answering guiding questions with at least 80% accuracy.  Students will investigate the major debates that occurred during the drafting of the Constitution by doing research to prepare for their simulation on Wednesday and answering guiding questions with at least 80% accuracy.  Standards: HSS.8.2.3 - Evaluate the major debates that occurred during the development of the Constitution and their ultimate resolutions in such areas as shared power among institutions, divided state-fede...