This is a very exciting week in our country, as the National Election for the 45th President of the United States will be held on Tuesday, November 6! You will continue learning about our political system, and will even get to read excerpts from books that have been written by our two candidates for President.
On Monday, you will have a spelling and vocabulary test over the words from the Preamble to the Constitution. I have included some definitions below that you might want to study before Monday. Our new words are also below for a test on Monday, November 12.
On Tuesday, you will be required to say the Preamble from memory. You will also get to vote for President, Vice President, US Senator from Texas, and two Texas seats to the US House of Representatives.
Your homework for Tuesday evening, with your parents' permission, will be to try and watch at least one hour of incoming election results before you go to bed. I would suggest either television channels CNN or C-SPAN--neither will be too partisan. Your assignment is to take home an electoral college map of the US, and as a state's electors are awarded to one of the candidates, you will color that state the appropriate color for that political party: Red=Republican=Romney; Blue=Democrat=Obama. If your parents would rather you not watch the television news, you can probably find an online source for this information when you wake up on Wednesday morning and can color before school. We will finish this process in class on Wednesday.
Before the week is over, we will have time-traveled back to the year 1000 and the "discovery" of North America by the Vikings (NOT the Minnesota sort!) who probably had no possible way of predicting that this land they settled in for a short while would eventually be a leading world power! They might have stayed had they known!
I have included some website connections to several Viking sources that you will use on Friday in the computer lab. I thought it might be easier to access them from the blog.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/
Enjoy your Sunday and be blessed!
Mrs. H
READING ASSIGNMENTS for Week of November 5-9, 2012
Monday night--read the excerpt by Mitt Romney from his book, and fill out analysis
Tuesday night--read 30 minutes in a book of your choice; watch 1 hour of election
returns and color in the states on your electoral college map for either Romney=red
or Obama=blue as they are announced.
Wednesday night--read 30 minutes in a book of your choice. Begin to memorize the
list of prepositions to the tune of Yankee Doodle--DUE on Wednesday, Nov. 14.
Thursday night--read Norse legend that will be given to you in class. This will be due
on Monday, November 12, with the reading guide filled out.
Friday-Sunday--read Norse legend, fill out reading guide, and read 30 minutes each night
in a book of your choice. Study for spelling test on Monday.
SPELLING/VOCABULARY TEST for Monday, November 5
STUDY THESE DEFINITIONS!
The verbs are highlighted--I think they are the hardest to remember!
Preamble=an introduction to a document (must be capitalized)
Constitution=a document that organizes how a country is to be ruled (must be capitalized)
establish=to set up on a firm and lasting basis
justice=fairness
ensure=to make sure or certain
domestic=of a home or homeland
tranquility=calmness or peacefulness
provide=to give what is needed
common=belonging equally to all
defense=protection
promote=to further or make important
general=common to many or all
welfare=health, happiness, well-being
secure=make safe and lasting
blessings=gifts from God
liberty=freedom
posterity=future generations
ordain=pass or establish as law
SPELLING TEST for Monday, November 12
candidate
Electoral College
president
election
nominee
Constitution
amendment
citizen
democracy
republic
liberalism
conservatism
political
campaign
federal
