Government

After World Government week I interviewed the kids. Above is the video.

World Goverments

What we did

Poem

The Pledge

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Livi taught the boys this and drew pictures to help them remember.

Monarchy Monday

For one hour I was the queen. I wanted to show them that having was often unjust. Listed are few things we did:

-We played Crazy Eights. I dealt the cards. I only gave myself two, Ezra two, Noah five, and Livi 12. We started playing and my card didn't match up, so I said, "I'm going to pretend it's green. I win!" The second round I told Ezra he couldn't play. When I didn't have the card I wanted I searched through the pile to find it, then played and told the kids that I won. They realized pretty quickly that it wasn't fun to not have rules when playing a game.

-I told them to clean up the playroom. I had Noah clean up one pillow. I had Livi and Ezra clean up the rest. I told them they would get paid in some form. Sam got to sit on the couch and read books with me. When they finished I gave Livi and Ezra four M&Ms. They then had to pay two back in taxes. I gave Noah 5 M&Ms tax-free. Sam got 6 M&Ms.

-While we were doing school if I made silly laws that the kids were breaking, like you can't sit on the teetor -totter, or you can't look at that book. Then I would put them in the dungeon (under the couch).

-They had to address me as, "Your Majesty." If they failed to do this they had to spend more time in the dungeon.

They thought the activity was pretty funny. It worked well to illustrate some negative parts of having a monarchy.

Communist Tuesday

-I wrote down three tasks on slips of paper and had the kids draw one. For forty minutes: Noah had to play soccer, Livi had to color on one piece of paper and Ezra had to sit on the couch and read two books. They got pretty bored.

-Every ten minutes or so I had them stand and say our communist pledge which was, "Our leaders are the best. They know everything."

-After the first forty minutes I had them all come to the rug and do a new task. For twenty minutes: Livi had to tie and untie a shoe, Ezra had to fold and unfold a towel and Noah had to dump the sock basket and clean it up.

-They didn't like communist day. They thought it would be better than king day because I told them that in communism things were laid out and "fair." They didn't like not being able to make choices and have to do things just because I said so.

Anarchy Wednesday

-I was nervous for this one, but it turned out great!

-I made pancake batter and turned the griddle on. At 7:00 it started. I told the kids there were no rules. They could eat what they wanted and do what they wanted. They had great plans to play the computer and eat ice cream. I told them that Mike and I also weren't bound to any rules and didn't have to help them.

-I told Livi if she wanted lunch for school, she would have to make it. She did and it took her 30 minutes. I stole her nuts at one point and she had to pack new ones. She had to keep track of the time and remind me if she wanted to get to school on time.

-It took Ezra and Noah almost an hour to make and top their pancakes. They had about 5 minutes to play on the computer. There were no clean forks, so Ezra ate with a butter knife. We all stole bites of each other's pancakes whenever we wanted to.

-The kids had fun with this, but realized it was nice to have help with things and rules.

Democracy Thursday

-After dinner we had democracy hour. I had them vote on honey or jam on the bread. Jam won.

-Livi created a "bill" for us to vote on. She proposed that they get to see the pictures during the bedtime story. I usually make them lay down while I read. Her bill passed and became a law.

-Ezra proposed that we read the story twice. He got the popular vote as well.

-Mike chose a few books for them to vote on for the bedtime story.

-The kids had fun voting and creating laws. At first they didn't like want to follow the new law if they didn't vote for it, but we told them that that is how our government works. Our vote may not always win, but have to follow the laws anyway.

Interviews on Friday

To review what we had learned I interviewed and recorded the kids. Livi and Ezra thought democracy was the best government. Noah loved anarchy.

U.S. Government

We want to know

-why do we have a government?
-why do they put stamps on papers?
-why do you have to give money to them
-why do they do that kind of work

What we did
Song
"Preamble of the Constitution"
we learned it with School House Rock

We the people of the United States,
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our Posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_the_words_of_the_preamble#ixzz1E2whAuUP

Set up a government at our house

Three branches of our government

legislative- Livi, Ezra, and Noah

executive- Dad

judicial- Mom

The kids made laws
1. drink milk with breakfast or you will have to stay upstairs for an hour doing nothing
2. everyone has to wear socks for three days or they will have to eat for an hour
3. if they teetor totter every morning they will have to smell a stinky sock
4. everybody has to wake up early, whenever the first person wakes up, everybody else does too, or they will have to count to 130
5. every Saturday you have to exercise, or you have to hold your breath
6. wear socks all day and night for one week you will have to get covered with a blanket for one minute
7. be nice or you'll have to wear a hat for an hour or go in jail for 20 minutes
8. you have to go outside everyday or you'll get spanked by the president

-Mike vetoed numbers 1 and 6.

-He signed numbers 3, 7 and 8

-He changed number 2 to say- Everyone has to wear socks at least once in three days or they will have to eat for an hour.

-He changed number 4 to say everybody has to wake up early, whenever the first person wakes up, everybody else does too, or they will have to count to 130 sometime during the day.

-He changed number 5 to say, every Saturday you have to exercise, or you have to hold your breath for 20 seconds. The kids went back and changed it 15 seconds.

After the changes he signed them all. Next step enforcing them and going to court for disobeying.

Court Cases

-Sammy, Ezra, and Noah teetor tottered

-all of the kids woke up later than me on Wed

Math, Cutting, Creating

we made U.S. flags. I printed the stars. The kids cut them out and counted them as they glued them on to the blue paper. We cut stripes with white, red, and orange paper. We ran low on red. They counted the stripes as well and placed them correctly.

U.S. Flag to print and color

http://www.internetfamilyfun.com/images/ameriflagcolorprint.gif

Good Websites for teaching about the U.S. and government

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/k-2/index.html

We Learned

Ezra- congress makes the laws, then the laws go to the president, he saw if he wanted those laws, he gets rid of some, changes some, and keeps some, he gives them back to congress to change, you have to talk to the judge if you break the law

we elect a president by voting, the constitution is the document of the rules and laws, the preamble says we should stay together, we should obey the laws

Owls

We Want to Know
-if the little owls really know how to fly

-why they are here on earth

-maybe I have saw an owl and I might see one if I did not see one, they might look cool, I might recognize it, or I might not
-how do they talk

-how do they say their sound

What We Did

Poem

"There Was An Owl"
http://www.101kidz.com/poems/birds1.html
There was an owl
Who lived in an oak.
The more he heard,
The less he spoke;
The less he spoke,
The more he heard-
We all should be
Like that wise old bird

http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mhandprintowl.htm

http://www.dltk-kids.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/image/bshapesowl.gif

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/snowy-owl/

Writing

question words: who (owl sound), what, when, where, why

Ezra read and wrote them

Math, Cutting, and Coloring

Identify the shapes of the owl cut out. Color, cut and assemble the owl.

Owl (needs hand cut outs)
Print This


Print This
Print the bottom two images and get a blank piece of paper to trace the kids hands and add them as wings.


Story

"The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" Amazon mp3 download, we chose this because of owl in the stories. It's really cute. It has a lot of classic Pooh Bear stories and songs.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00138D17M/ref=s9_simh_gw_p340_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=124RCD3D37BNNX6Y0H70&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

We Learned

Snow Owls- male hunts, they catch their food with their claws, they are the bird of prey that can live in the Arctic year round, they can fly well at 6 weeks old