Who Knew Alexander Hamilton Could Be Funny?

We are currently learning about Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and the emergence of political parties in the United States. As some of you may already know, Hamilton was shot and killed by Vice-President Aaron Burr in a duel on
July 12, 1804. Here is a pretty accurate re-enactment of what took place at that famous duel (for the record; due to the illegality of this event, spectators were not allowed at the actual duel).



Now here's a funny milk commercial from the 1990's that references the Burr/Hamilton Duel.

Constitution Jeopardy

As a final review for the Constitution Test, we played Constitution Jeopardy.

The Electoral College

As a part of our study of the U.S. Constitution, we learned about how the President is elected through the Electoral College. I found a cool website, 270towin.com, that let's you look up the Electoral College results of every Presidential election in our nation's history. You might want to look specifically at the elections of 1800, 1824, 1876, and 2000, and see how the actual votes of the people (popular vote) match up to the results of the Electoral College.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Here is the famous "I'm Just a Bill" video from Schoolhouse Rock. It does an excellent job of explaining the process by which a bill can become a law.

Me and Phil

Since our study of the U.S. Constitution includes learning about the U.S. Congress, I thought I would post this picture of myself with former U.S. Representative Phil Crane. Crane represented parts of northern Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1969 to 2005. He visited North Prairie in the Spring of 2004.

Constitutional Law Competition

We have spent the past week studying the Constitution. Students reasearched the three branches; Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, and also learned about the system of Checks & Balances, the Amendment Process, and how the Federal System works. On Thursday, we took the "Bar Exam", a quiz on what we have learned so far. Based on the results of their "Bar Exams", students were placed into "law firms." The "law firms" then participated in a Constitutional Law Competition in which they were presented with a number of legal dilemmas. They had to use their knowledge to come up with a solution to the problem, as well as cite where in the Constitution the anwer can be found.

Here are some pictures of the law firms at work:

Is It Really This Bad?

Wally Cleaver explains school:

Particle Man

Here is the video that I told the Core D students I would post: