Today

Today in class, we were talking about the Constitution and Constitutional Convention.

We do a mock constitutional convention.
It's one of my favorite activities that we do all year.

I had never done it with classes quite this large, so it was an added challenge.

(especially with one particular class that drove me up a wall--little monsters today)

But the students all said they loved it.

They are basically divided into 11 states (because 13 was too many for the game..ha)

and they are all trying to get certain "items" passed in the constitution.

Each "item" (slavery, representation, etc) is worth a certain amount of points if it gets voted in.

It's super fun, and I think it really helps them understand all of the concepts.

(there's mr. president and scribe leading the convention)

I make my students memorize the first ten amendments (aka the Bill of Rights, you non-history-people;))

To help them remember, I teach them hand signs for each one.

While on "freedom of speech," I was telling the class how sometimes your "freedom of speech" is limited (airports, movie theaters, school, etc.).

We were talking about how there are some things you can't say on airplanes.

Then I told them this riddle:

A man is sitting on a plane and he sees his friend.

He says hi to his friend and then gets arrested.

(can you solve it?)

I always tell the students that whoever figures it out first gets extra credit AND the title of "smartest kid in the class" for the rest of the year.

(by the end of the year, so many of them own "titles," it's cray cray ha)

The students always come up with the craziest answers.

One student said, "OH! I get it! His friend's name was OSAMA!"

We all started laughing.

It was one of those laughing moments when I knew I needed to stop laughing and continue being a teacher, but I just couldn't stop.

Then another student chimes in,

"I'VE GOT IT! His friend's name was O-BOMB-A!"

That one killed me.

I have to give it to them for their creativity.

I think we all got an awesome ab-exercise today.

It's times like these that I wish I could hug all of them and tell them how awesome they are.
And it's times like this that I wish that society would stop knocking our youth down.
These kids are so innately good until society tells them they just aren't good enough. 
It breaks my heart.

Oh, hey, have YOU solved the riddle yet?

His friend's name was Jack. ;)