Friday, September 17, 2010

¡Feliz Día de la Constitución!

Today is Constitution Day. As some of you know, a federal law requires that all American students study the Constitution--our national plan of government--today. Believe me--we followed that law today! Remember, we talked about religious freedoms related to the proposed mosque near Ground Zero. We also learned about the right of petition: we are free to contact our government leaders to express our opinions. We might want to think about writing petitions to Eric Schneiderman, Adriano Espaillat, or other political leaders as the year goes on.

If you're hoping to learn more about the Constitution, here are some things to check out:
  • Here's a pretty tricky quiz about the Constitution.
  • Here's a treasure hunt--a list of twenty things that you can find in the Constitution.
  • Here are a bunch of crossword puzzles about the Constitution that you can print out.
  • Here's a game that asks you to place quotes from the Constitution into the correct category.
  • RECOMMENDED! Here's a pretty sweet "game show" game with multiple choice questions.
You can find more fun stuff by Googling "Constitution games."

By the way, let's remember why it's Constitution Day: in 1787, the writers of the Constitution finally agreed on and signed a final copy of the plan for government. The writers, who were actually delegates to a meeting called the Constitutional Convention, had spent the entire summer arguing about what should be included in America's plan for government. It was a hot, sticky summer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and many other brilliant political minds argued until they could agree on the Constitution.

What a coincidence: I'm in Philadelphia now. I left after school and I'm visiting my friends. We'll go to a Phillies game tomorrow and I'll be back in New York City by Sunday night. I'll post more tomorrow. See you Monday!

4 comments:

  1. Who are Phillies gonna play with?

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  2. They're going against the Nationals, Adrian. Last night, Oswalt pitched for Philadelphia and I think Halladay pitches tomorrow. I think Hamels is pitching tonight, which is all right, but I wish I'd gotten to see one of the Phillies' aces.

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  3. Did you see A-Rod last night? Incredible! http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=12168781&topic_id=11493214&c_id=nyy

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  4. Kyle Kendrick ended up pitching for the Phillies. They won. Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard hit home runs. Beautiful ballpark. I'll post pictures soon. We got there early, so we went down to the field. I said hi to a couple of former Yankees who are on the Nationals--Tyler Clippard (who wouldn't say hi to me) and Wil Nieves (who turned around and waved as soon as I said his name). Then I said to Wil, "Sorry, er, wish you were still on the Yankees." He kind of smiled and nodded, as if to say, "Yeah, me too, but what can I do?" Fun times.

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