8th Grade writing assignment

Your assignment for tomorrow is to write a well constructed paragraph about what you personally can do to be a better citizen. Be specific and elaborate. This will not be a typical 5-8 sentence paragraph. This needs to have 3-5 ideas with supporting sentences for each point. I am looking for half a page minimum. 20 points due tomorrow.

Notes Chapter 8 Section 5

These notes are due in your notebook tomorrow. I gave you friday, Saturday, and Sunday to get 3-4 notes and more than half of you did not bother to do that. We need to get back into the habit of using the blog. I will not change the format of the class, you will adapt to me.

Here are the notes.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship
Chapter 8
Section 5
What is a Citizen?
• Citizen- Person who owes loyalty to a particular nation and is entitled to all its rights and protections
– To be a U.S. citizen you must fulfill 1 of 3 requirements
• 1) Be born on U.S. soil
• 2) Be naturalized- completed the official legal process to becoming a citizen
• 3) Be under 18 when your parents were naturalized
• Becoming a Citizen
– Resident Alien- noncitizen living in a country
– After 5 years alien can apply for citizenship
– Naturalized citizens enjoy all the same rights as natural-born citizens
– Rights are not free…..citizens have some responsibilities
• Civic Virtue and Democratic Values
– Civic Virtue- willingness to work for the good of the nation or community even at greater sacrifice
– Copied Roman model
– Patriotism- feeling of love and devotion towards ones country
– Total respect for everything
– Personal and public responsibilities
– Physical and moral courage
• Responsibilities of Citizens
– Voting
– Obeying the Law
– Defending the Nation
– Serving on a Jury
– Serving the Community
– Being Informed

8th Grade Notes

Here are the notes from Section 3 & 4 from Chapter 8. Expect a quiz tomorrow over this material.

Changing the Constitution
&
State & Local Government
Sections 3 & 4
Changing the Constitution
• Amendment Process
– Complex process that takes months or even years
– Can be ratified- approved 2 ways
• 3/4Th's of state Legislatures must approve it
– Every Amendment but 21st happened this way
• By special convention, approved by 3/4Th's of states
• Bill of Rights
– 1) Protects Basic Individual Liberties
• Freedom of religion, speech and press
– 2-4) Protect Against Abuse of Power
– 5-8) Protect Rights of the Accused
– 9) Citizen’s rights are not limited to the ones listed in Constitution
– 10) All powers not given to the national government or denied to the states are reserved for the states or the people
• Later Amendments
– 13-15) Civil War Amendments
• Dealt directly with slavery and the treatment and rights of African Americans
– 19) Gave women right to vote
26) Lowered voting age from 21 to 18
State and Local Government
• State Constitutions
– Every state has its own Constitution
– Follow the framework of Federal Constitution
• Preamble
• 3 Branch System
• Amendments-approved by people through a vote- 2 ways
• Constitutional Initiative- signatures on a petition
Constitutional Convention- still needs votes
• States Provide Services
– Maintain Law and Order
– Supervise Public Education
– Public Health and Welfare Programs
– Build and Maintain Infrastructure
• Ex. Roads, Bridges, Tunnels
– Operate State Parks
– Regulate Use of State Owned Land
– Issue Drivers License
• Local Government
– Government on the County, Parish, City or Town, or Village level
– This government has the greatest impact on your every day life
– Perform all the same functions as a state government on a smaller scale

7th Grade Notes

here are the last set of notes for chapter 17. It is also the end of the Unit. We will be moving to Asia when chapter 18 begins..... here are the notes


South Africa
Chapter 17
Section 2
Beginning of White Rule
• Prior to whites arriving in 1652, Africans lived there for 1000’s of years
• Dutch-Boers set up first colonies
• Called themselves Afrikaners
• Spoke Afrikaans
• Britain and France arrive in 1700’s
• By late 1800’s whites had forces most natives off the good land
• Cultures Clash
• British vs. Afrikaners (1899-1902)
• Fight over resources
• British forces Afrikaners off farms
• 1910 British created Union of South Africa unifying all land they controlled
• Unequal Treatment
• British passes laws to control land and wealth
• Blacks could only hold low paying jobs
• Segregated land
System of Apartheid
• British grants South Africa independence in 1931
• 1948 Afrikaners win elections
• New Laws Take Hold
– Apartheid- treating whites and non-whites differently
– Apartheid- “apartness”
– Discrimination- treating people differently, and often unfairly based on race, religion, and sex
– Separated into 4 groups- Whites, Blacks, Coloreds, and Asians
– Colored are of mixed races
– 12% are Coloreds and Asian- few rights
– 75%- Blacks practically no rights
– 13%- Whites all rights and privileges
– Effects of Apartheid
– Blacks are forced onto homelands
– Dry, least fertile land
– Not allowed off homelands unless they can prove they are valuable to Whites
– Took away citizenship from Blacks
– Took away right to vote
– 3 non-white groups could only hold low paying jobs and access to lower quality education
– Separated them in all public facilities
– Struggle to End Apartheid
– 1950’s people start to fight Apartheid
– Police fight back violently
– 1970’s countries around the world put pressure on South Africa to end Apartheid
– Stopped trading and lending money
– Banned from the Olympics
– 1990 international pressure forced F.W. de Klerk (president) to begin abolishing policies
– Nelson Mandela- Jailed leader of ANC during 50’ and 60’s. Becomes South Africa’s first post Apartheid president and de Klerk is V.P. in 1994
Building a New Nation
• ANC and Mandela win easily when everyone is allowed to vote
• New Challenges
– End divided society
– Educate all races
– Better jobs for all
– Write a new constitution (1996)
• Democracy Continues
– June 1999 2nd elections
– With Mandela retiring, Thabo Mbeki runs as ANC candidate
– Mbeki wins
– Able to focus on economy and strengthening new democracy
– Mbeki is reelected in 2004

7th Grade Notes

Cultures of Southern
and Central Africa
Chapter 13
Section 4
Diversity in Southern Africa
• Variety of ethnic groups and cultures
• Largest number of European descendants
• European Influence
– Portuguese arrival in the 1500’s
– Dutch and British in the 1600’s
• Slave trade
• Mining
• Farming
• European Ethnic Groups
– 3 main groups of Europeans
• British
• Speak English
• Dutch (Afrikaners)
• Speak Afrikaans (language related to the Dutch)
• Portuguese Speak Portuguese
• Urbanization
– Before Europeans Southern Africans lived in villages and small cities
– Now there are still the small cities and villages, but also very large cities like
• Cape Town
• Durban
• Johannesburg
• Industry for South Africa
– Richest country
– Most urban country
– Most industrialized country
• Mining is a large part of it’s economy
– Migrant Workers- workers who travel away from where they live to find work
– Compounds- fenced in groups of homes
• New Role for Women
– Migrant workers mostly men
– With men gone women now had to
• Take care of families
• Farm
• Herd
• Make community and household decision
• Had very little to no training
• Gained new rights, responsibilities, and skills
– women found their new roles very rewarding
Life in Central Africa
• Economics and Culture
– Coastal region
• have a lot of oil reserves
• Wealthy
• Exposed to wider range of cultures
– Interior regions
• Family farming
• Poorer
• Isolated and organized into kinships
• Diverse Ways of Life
– Culturally diverse (over 200 different ethnic groups)
– Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and a blend of Christianity and African beliefs
– “Old, new and mixtures of the two live on in all regions of Africa”