Monday, November 2, 2020 - 9:24 am
Glacier Creek fifth-grade students in Chris Conohan's class had an opportunity to learn more about the U.S. Constitution and how the first three articles created the three branches of the federal government -- legislative, executive, and judicial -- as part of a recent unit.
Fifth-graders learned about qualifications, how to obtain various positions in each branch, duration of service, and major responsibilities, Conohan said.
To experience how legislation occurs, students also simulated the experience. One section of fifth-grade students served in the House of Representatives, while the other section served in the Senate. The House of Representatives selected eight bills and took them to committee to fine-tune the wording. After the committee work, the House voted and approved five of the eight bills. The Senate discussed the five bills and voted to approve four of them, Conohan said.
The four approved bills were formally written and sent to Glacier Creek principal Ken Metz, who served as President. President Metz signed two of the bills into law and vetoed two of the bills. Here’s video of the signing ceremony and one of the signed bills.
As the fifth-graders moved to study the judicial branch, a petition was made with Supreme Court Chief Justice Ann Hague, who is a seventh grade social studies teacher at Glacier Creek. The petition regardied the constitutionality of one of the signed laws. Conohan wrote an argument and several students wrote an opposing argument. Chief Justice Hague’s civics class discussed the merits of the arguments and ultimately ruled the law was unconstitutional.