Class Preamble & Bill of Rights

It is here! We have worked hard to research, write, listen, and agree on our class constitution. All of the learning began by thinking about our values, and what we value in our community. We talked with our parents about rights and how the US Constitution impacts their lives. We studied and made sense of the Preamble, and then wrote our own. Once we had a rough draft, we worked in partners, then in groups of four, then in groups of 9 to revise our drafts, striving to create a document that reflects our intentions for the community. Coming to the conference table, we began to understand how challenging it is for our ideas to be heard and accepted in a large group, which we could easily parallel to Congress. Finally, we had to create a name. After researching our own names, we believed that a name must: represent our personality, tell our story, and reflect our identity. Much creative conversation ensued, voting occurred, and the results declared we would be called The K-9s in Shades. It was established that K-9s are smart, loyal, good at digging things up, and amazing. It is hard to argue with that!

The real learning happened though after the vote, when 8 won, and 10 were spread amongst four other ideas. We asked, "How do we celebrate when we also realize that more than half our class did not feel victorious?" Regardless, a declaration to take selfies with our favorite four-legged family members wearing shades quickly spread throughout the class. Stay tuned for a collage of the upcoming photo op! Below is our Preamble and Bill of Rights.