In the is activity students will study and explore which candidate for President they most identify with. Students will take a series of online tests to discover where they stand on the issues, the candidate who is the closest to matching their political ideology and which political party platform is most congruent with their beliefs. Students will also read and answer what it takes to be a great President and the characteristics that defined great Presidents of the past. Also included is an activity that explores how physical characteristics of men and women can influence voters and why men may have an evolutionary advantage in politics. The activity explores how men and women have different leadership styles.

These bell ringers/ bell work/ class starters are an excellent way to motivate your students for the upcoming lesson, manage your classroom, and assess student comprehension. These bell ringer prompts allow you to smoothly transition into your lesson. A majority of the bell ringer questions also have projects and activities or video links that accompany the question (some are free, some are paid). In this bundle there are over 210 prompt ideas addressing many different topics that you can give to your class! I used these questions everyday to Segway into my history lesson that day. These Bell ringer questions are geared towards students from 7th to 10th grade. Topics: Getting pumped for the upcoming school year Introducing Social Studies American Revolution US Constitution/Bill of Rights/making laws US Civil War Imperialism Industrial Revolution Progressive movement-immigration women and workers rights World War 1 1920's Great Depression World War 2 Cold War The Modern World-1990 to today Politics Finance Psychology technology

1. Religious Freedom: Engel vs. Vitale-School Prayer This activity is very excellent when studying the first amendment, religious freedom and the separation of church and state. Students will be researching and having a Socratic seminar on whether prayer should be allowed in school. Provided is videos, resources and links to scaffold student research etc... Students will also have a worksheet to help them fill out arguments for their respective side. -3 day assignment with debate 2. Four Supreme Court cases Students will examine four Supreme Court cases and research how they relate to the Bill of Rights. Great homework assignment! -1.5 hour assignment

Students will be brainstorming ideas and creating a Bill to make their school a better place. Students will put their knowledge of the process of how laws are created and ultimately submit their ideas to the Principle if their Bill is chosen. A very fun 3 day assignment. Great essay assignment on how to change your school. This was my final benchmark for my 8th graders, after we had finished studying Constitution, US government and the democratic process of how ideas become laws.