The Constitution & the Bill of Rights

Today was our 2nd program in the Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips (CW EFT). (I highly recommend these and bought them through Homeschool Buyers Co-op!) It was called "A More Perfect Union" and was primarily about ratifying the Constitution. 

In preparation for this EFT, we have been studying the Articles of Confederation (which was what our government was based on before the Constitution), the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. With our subsription to CW EFT, I was able to read some background information and there were 4 activities. With the craziness of life this week, though, we didn't get to most of it. We did, however, read some good books including:

• The Bill of Rights (True Books) by Christine Taylor-Butler
• The Bill of Rights in Translation: What It Really Means by Amie Jane Leavitt
• The Constitution of the United States by Christine Taylor-Butler
• We the People: The Story of the Constitution by Anne Cheney (plan to read tomorrow)
• requested Shh! We're Writing the Constitution but haven't received it yet

We also watched some BrainPop videos:

• U.S. Constitution
• Branches of Government
• Bill of Rights

I found some other activities to do that we'll try to do tomorrow:

• Bill of Rights Concentration Game at Quia
• Preamble Scramble
• Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists game
• Branches of Government game
• other games (including those above) found at this Constitution Day site

And we sang the Preamble song (we know one from Classical Conversations and the School House Rock song) and the Bill of Right chant several times (from Classical Conversations.)
And, from my husband's favorite show, here's Barney!

Emmissaries of Peace

We bought a subscription to Colonial Williamsburg's Electronic Field Trips (CW EFT) from Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for 2009/2010. We recently had our first EFT which was entitled "Emmissaries of Peace." Here's a short description of this lesson from their site: "During the turbulent era of the French and Indian War, the Cherokee people struggled to preserve their independence. Follow Cherokee leader Ostenaco and Virginian Henry Timberlake on their 1762 journey from Chota (the capital of the Cherokee nation)."

With CW EFTs, there are several different parts. The shows air live on a particular day, so you should do the background reading and activities ahead of time. (I didn't realize that, so we got that backwards this time.) With "Emmissaries of Peace", we read the historical background which was about the history of the Cherokees and particularly their interaction with Eurpeans.

Besides the very interesting background, we also had several activities to do. Alex and I really enjoyed the activity where we compared Cherokee and Colonial life. She read about the Cherokees and I read about the Colonies and we both did a presentation. There was also a lesson on Cherokee symbolism. In addition, there were 2 interactive online activities: one about negotiating a treaty and another about the Trail of Tears.

On the "live" day, there are actors in the studio portraying various people from the program. They play the show in 3 clips and during breaks students can email or call in their questions. They also have additional time to call in their questions after the show is over.
We really enjoyed learning about the Cherokees especially since Alex is Cherokee. She is a direct descendent of two of the primary men in this episode of history, Ostenaco and Lt. Henry Timberlake. Ostenaco's daughter had a child with Timberlake, and he is Alex's direct ancestor! The drawing at the top is from 1762 when Ostenaco traveled with Timberlake to London.

This program ended with the Trail of Tears. One of Alex's  female ancestors survived the Trail of Tears and Alex's family still has the land she was granted in Oklahoma.
I highly recommend this program. The next program airs live on Thursday, Nov 19th (though members can watch the video segments before or after) and is entitled "A More Perfect Union." The site reads: "Witness the conflict and compromise that accompanied the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Join young eighteenth-century observers, unseen by convention delegates, as they travel from state to state tallying the vote. Learn about the ratification process and Americans’ growing interest in their fledgling nation’s new government."

FREE Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip

I just signed up for a FREE Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip (CW EFT). We used these programs a few years ago and they are a wonderful learning resource! You can buy the year-long program through Homeschool Buyers Co-op at various times throughout the year. The FREE episode is in September and is called The Will of the People. Below is what the email said about it...

The Electronic Field Trip "The Will of the People" examines the presidential election of 1800, one of the most bitter in U.S. history, and provides a surprising lesson for a 21st-century student. Thomas Jefferson explains how negative campaigning, partisan politics, and contested elections have been a part of our political system since the earliest days of the republic.

Complimentary access to the field trip includes:

• Online video streaming available 24/7 from September 1 to September 30, 2012
• Email Thomas Jefferson
• Interactive online games
• Downloadable resources, such as the teacher guide and program script (PDF)
• Comprehensive lesson plans for grades 4-8

P.S. My friend, Laurie, over at Teacups in the Garden, has been using these programs with her children for years. Here's her review of "The Will of the People."

The Constitution & the Bill of Rights

This year we are using the Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips which we bought through the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op.  The first show was today, though they are recorded and you can watch them anytime throughout the school year. I highly recommend them!

 

We started out by reviewing the Articles of Confederation and the Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist compromise while creating the Constitution.

 

We started with this video about The Making of the American Constitution. You can also watch the video on this TED ED site. It also has multiple choice questions about the video and a "Dig Deeper" section. 

 

 

Next, we watched this short video titled "Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists: A Compromise." Then, we did all of the activities that were included in the CW EFT. The two major components were summarizing the 10 amendments and then reading about cases and documents and determining to which amendment they corresponded.

 

Tomorrow, we will actually watch the presentation as we spent two hours doing these videos and activities. I found two more videos I'd like to use...

 

A 3-minute Guide to the Bill of Rights, which is also from TED ED and therefore also has multiple choice questions and a "Dig Deeper" section.

And, "The Bill of Rights Hand Game: US History Review" by Keith Hughes. I have watched several of his videos and really enjoy them. This particular one is to help you remember the first 10 amendments that appear most often on a particular test and Mr Hughes uses hand 'signals' to help you remember what each of them mean.

As I've been teaching Alex again this year, I'm just amazed at all of the available resources! A lot of teachers now "flip" their classrooms and you can find some wonderful videos to explain difficult concepts!