U.S. Court System Look Book

Hello from the land of the Judicial Branch!  We started our study of the national judicial branch in room 207 a week ago.  After we discussed the court system with the column notes the kids made a look book.  So here is the finished product and then I'll walk you through the "construction" process.

First you will need two sheets of notebook paper.  Turn them portrait style and take one and fold it not quite in half.  You will want to leave about two inches between the two ends.  Then take the other paper and fold it so there are now four places to write your titles on.  I'm sorry if this is confusing- hopefully the pictures work.  Here is a tutorial that may help you.

The top flap should be labeled "U.S. Courts" the picture to the right is the same picture from my column notes.  If you can't read the triangle the bottom layer is "U.S. District Court", the middle is "U.S. Court of Appeals" and then the top (or as I like to say in class- the pinnacle) of the triangle is "U.S. Supreme Court".

The next flap down is the U.S. Supreme Court.  The information inside is is answering Who, What, Where and How.

Who: Justices hear case, no jury
What: limited original, mostly appellate cases from U.S. Court of Appeals (you could get technical and add that cases come from state Supreme Courts but I chose not to do that)
Where: Washington, DC
How: U.S. Constitution sets up Supreme Court 

The next flap down is the U.S. Court of Appeals.  The information inside is answering those same questions.

Who: Judges hear cases, no jury
What: appellate cases from U.S. Circuit Court
Where: 12 Regions, we are 4, closest is in Roanoke (You may need to change this if you are in the eastern part of the state.  I am pretty sure that your court is in Richmond.  You can double check here.)
How: U.S. Constitution sets up U.S. Court of Appeals (Now, I know technically that the Constitution does not set up the lower inferior courts; however, they are set up by Congress, which is outlined in the Constitution.)

The bottom flap is the U.S. District Courts.  They will be answering those same questions.

Who: Judge hears case, sometimes has a jury
What: hears original Federal cases
Where: 94 Districts, Western District of Virginia is located in Roanoke (Again, you may need to double check and see where you locality is located.  You can do that by clicking here.)
How: U.S. Constitution sets up U.S. District Court (Again, same deal with the Appellate courts- Congress has authority to set them up but found in the Constitution).

Today, we read about the different Supreme Court Justices and answered questions.  Such questions included: Who is the oldest justice?  Who is the youngest justice?  How many were nominated by Democratic presidents?  How many were nominated by Republican presidents?  What happens after the judges are nominated?  

Then we started discussing four landmark Supreme Court cases: Marbury v. Madison, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education and Miranda v. Arizona.  I always enjoy the conversations that come from our discussions- especially about Plessy v. Ferguson and Miranda v. Arizona.

Tomorrow the kids are writing a RAFT about Marbury v. Madison.  They have to be sure to discuss the importance of the case (it set up judicial review, which is the check that the Supreme Court has over the other two branches).  They have a choice of writing a dialogue between a reporter and Supreme Court Justice, the case talking about itself (we reminded ourselves what personification is) and then their other choice is a text conversation between two siblings- a college age and a younger one where the older one is explaining the importance of the case.  I look forward to reading them tomorrow.

Happy Teachings!
C

New Life for Old Textbooks

I am so excited!  This is my first blog post that has been contributed by a fellow Civics teacher.  Her name is Beth and she teaches in Caroline County.  We met this past summer at James Madison's Montpelier during the We the People conference.

She has me inspired!

New Life to Old Textbooks

Folder games are great for stations and seat work when students need some extra reinforcement. The problem? They are not made for middle school Civics students. So I made my own.

Materials Needed:

- Old Textbook (I used one district then I use in the classroom to prevent repetition)

- Colored file folders

- glue sticks, scissors, markers, post-it notes

- cut-out shapes- Dollar Tree has a variety of sizes

  

I previewed the textbook to get an idea of how I could organize the information. I prepared all of my supplies and began tearing up the textbook. 

I sorted the pages as I tore into the following piles: political cartoons, review questions, skill builders, debate topics, branches of government, and pictures. It took me several hours as I was reviewing the information to evaluate how I could use it and I decimated the entire book.

I took the sections that were similar to construct the activities in the folders. For example, each chapter had a political cartoon with questions. I combined 4-5 together to provide more focused practice.

Above Left: Cover                        Above Right: Inside of Political Cartoon Folder

The textbook had enough political cartoons to create 5 folders. I have used them for a station when reviewing media. In total, I have 30 separate folders. The folders topics are as varied as their uses , and even I have levels for my Self Contained classes, Inclusion, and what is used in tutoring. The debate topic folders were used in small groups for discussion then rotated to another group. The Supreme Court cases have been used for writing prompts and for discussion. I have found the more I use them, the more uses I have found for them.

Another way I have used this is to isolate specific skills. The textbook uses a lot of charts and graphs, so they can be used with the Students with Disabilities that struggle with these skills and can be presented in a format that is more user friendly.

I had all folders laminated for durability. All folders are numbered and have a generic answer sheet. They can be adapted for group work, extension activities, or however to fit your needs. The students are kinesthetic and visual learners like this format more than the traditional textbook.

Rubric for State Government Lapbook

I use rubistar for my rubrics.  The website is http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ and the rubric id is 2277281.  If for some reason this doesn't work here is the rubric.  

Virginia Government Lapbook Teacher Name: Mrs. Fairchild Student Name:     ________________________________________

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Required Elements	The lapbook includes all required elements.	The lapbook is missing one foldable.	The lapbook is missing two foldables.	The lapbook is missing three or more foldables.
Use of Class Time	Used time well during each class period. Focused on getting the project done. Never distracted others.	Used time well during each class period. Teacher had to speak to me once or twice.	Used some of the time well during each class period. There was some focus on getting the project done but occasionally distracted others.	Did not use class time to focus on the project OR often distracted others. Teacher spoke to me multiple times.
Legislative Foldables	Included all three legislative foldable and all information.	Included all three legislative foldable but missing some information.	Missing one of the legislative foldables.	Missing two of the legislative foldables.
Executive Foldables	Included both executive foldables and all information.	Included both executive foldables but missing some information.	Missing one of the executive foldables.	Has no executive foldables.
Judicial Foldable	Included the judicial foldable and all information.	Included the judicial foldable but missing some information.		Missing the judicial foldable.
Attractiveness	The lapbook is exceptionally attractive in terms of layout and neatness.	The lapbook is attractive in terms of layout and neatness.	The lapbook is acceptably attractive though it may be a bit messy.	The lapbook is distractingly messy. It is not attractive.

Date Created: Jan 20, 2013 08:11 pm (CST)

All together

Now is the time to put the lapbook together!  Woot-woot!

You need to have a manilla folder for each student.  Have each student make a window pane foldable with their folder.

This is how I glued in the foldables.

On the far left side I glued the governor and lieutenant governor window pane.  Then at the bottom was the pocket for the roles of the governor.  Remember to not glue the top- just the sides and the bottom.  Once the glue is dry then the students can put the slips in.

In the middle on the left I have the steps look book and then right beneath that is the window pane Legislative Branch.  Directly beside that is the Primary Legislative Issues in Virginia.

On the far left side is the window pane court system.

Happy Teaching!
Cori

Judicial Foldable

This our final foldable!  This foldable is for SOL CE.7a.  This is going to be another window pane but it will have a cut in the middle to make four flaps.

To make this foldable you will need to cut six college ruled lines below the middle hole punch.  I think this is about an inch and a quarter.  Turn the paper so the hole punch side is down and make your window pane fold (you will bring the outside edges to the middle and make two folds).  Then have students make on cut in the middle on each side.

This is the finished product:

The foldable will read left to right, top to bottom.  The first (top left) has a big 1 (first).  Then write level of Virginia Courts.  Then the next one will have a big 2 on it and will read Second level of Virginia Courts.  Do the same for the 3rd and 4th.

The information I put inside I got from notes I took at a Civics summit at the Capitol Building that I attended this past fall.

The first level of Virginia Courts is General District Courts.  The outside flap should read "Virginia District Courts, incudes small claims and juvenile and domestic relations court."  The inside flap should read "Custody disputes, minor traffic, caes up to $2500, no jury"

Second flap, outside should read "Virginia Circuit Court".  The inside part should read "Appeals from General District, original for felonies, has a jury".

The next flap should be "Virginia Court of Appeals".  The inside should read "Appeals from circuit court, no jury".

The last flap's outside flap should read "Virginia Supreme Court". The inside flap should read "appeals from court of appeals, no jury".

Please feel free to add or change as you feel your students need to know.

Remember, have your students write their name on the back!

Happy teaching!
Cori

Roles of the Governor

The second foldable for the Executive Branch is the Roles of the Governor.  Students should be familiar with these roles as some of them are similar to the President's.

This foldable is a pock with slips of paper.  To make the slips of paper have students cut the margin off with the holes.  Then fold the paper in half vertical or height wise.  (We call this a hot dog fold because it resembles a hot dog bun.)  Then fold that in half vertical.  (We call this a hamburger fold because it resembles a hamburger bun.) And then one more hamburger fold.  Have the students shave their fold- see lawmaking process foldable to for shaving the fold.

For the pocket have students fold a piece of paper like you would fold a paper to put in an envelope.  Then do a hamburger fold (resembles a hamburger).  Have the kids shave the fold.  There will be six of these papers so students can share.

On the pocket part have students write "Governor Bob McDonnell".  When students glue into their lapbook remind them that they are to only put glue on the sides and bottom.  If they glue the top the slips of paper will not go in.  :-)  You may want to have some extra's handy because a few will glue it wrong.

For each slip of paper, students will be copying the titles from the Essential Knowledge.  The explanations are mine.  Again, if you like them keep them.  If not, change them as you see fit.

Chief Legislator: Proposes state Legislation in State of Commonwealth speech.  (I also take this time to ask the students what speech the President uses when he proposes legislation.)
Chief of State: ceremonial leader of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Commander-in-Chief: head of Virginia's National Guard
Chief Administrator: makes sure all state agencies run effectively (Virginia has a Department of Administration.  This department runs 5 different agencies: elections, human resources for the state,  general services, minority services and compensation.  To read more about this department click here.)
Party Chief: top member of his political party

Happy Teaching!
Cori

Virginia's Executive Branch

The next foldable for the lapbook is a similar to one for the legislative branch.  This foldable is another windowpane.  This lapbook is for SOL CE.7a.

The left side should be labeled "Virginia's Governor".  The right side should be labeled "Virginia's Lieutenant Governor".

Okay- as a side note.  Every time I teach this I think of Forest Gump and Lieutenant Dan.  I shared that with a group of students a few years ago and they looked at me like I had two heads.  I guess that movie was a bit before their time.  Oh well....

Then, on the "Virginia Governor" side have the students write on the outside flap: "Bob McDonnell (R) can serve only 1 four year term".  Then have them cut and glue his picture to the inside.

Then on the "Lieutenant Governor" side have the students write "Bill Bolling  (R) can serve multiple 4 year terms".  Have students cut and glue Mr. Bolling's picture on the inside.

Have students write their name on the back.

Happy Teaching!
Cori