Apr. 11, 2007: The Bill of Rights

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain News. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).

Activities:

1. Select someone in the newspaper who you think would be a good judge of your classroom rules. Paste the person's picture on a piece of paper. Write a sentence telling why you would like that person.

2.Work with your family to develop a list of three rules you should follow in the house, like cleaning your room or doing your homework at a regular time. Next to each rule, put down what will happen if you do not follow the rule. Post your rules in your room.

3. Select six comic strip characters that you think would make good jurors. Paste their pictures on a piece of paper. Next to each character, write a sentence telling why he/she would be good on a jury.

4. Think about a rule in your school classroom that you would like to change in some way. Write a paragraph explaining how you would change it and why it should be changed.

5. Follow a local trial in your newspaper. Collect the stories. Write at least two paragraphs that discuss the way the trial demonstrates amendments six, seven and eight. Use these questions to guide your discussion:

• Who was on trial?
• What was the charge?
• Who was the prosecutor?
• Who was the defense attorney?
• Who were the witnesses for both sides?
• What did the jury finally decide?
• If the defendant was found guilty, what was the sentence?
  
  

This week's standards:

• Students understand the purpose of government. (Social Studies: Power, Authority and
  Governance)
• Students identify key ideals of the United States' democratic republican form of government. (Social Studies: Civic Ideals and Practice)
  
  

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)