2nd Six Weeks Newsletter - Region 13

2010—2011 Second Six Weeks PreviewSocial StudiesGovernmentUnit 3: The Legislative Branch: Congress. With the “background” of U.S. government filled in, students now begin acloser study of the three branches of government. The Legislative Branch, “The People’s Branch,” is discussed in ArticleOne of the Constitution, which outlines the many powers delegated to Congress, including the power to make laws, coinmoney, tax, declare war, and impeach judges and the president. In this unit students investigate questions such as,“How does the legislature work? What are the functions of Congress? What powers does it have and how are thosepowers limited? What impact have legislative decisions had on America?”Unit 4: The Executive Branch: The Presidency & The Bureaucracy. Article II of the Constitution describes the role ofa new kind of leader. The Founders wanted a strong leader, but one with limited power and a set term of office. Sincethe 1780’s, the role of president has changed significantly, and today the President of the United States is considered bymany to be the most powerful person in the world. This unit investigates the executive branch, headed by the president,and the eight distinct roles the president and executive branch of the government play: chief of state, chief executive,chief administrator, chief diplomat, commander in chief, chief legislator, chief of party, and chief citizen.EconomicsUnit 3: Macroeconomics: Government Policy. A market economy is prone to alternating periods of growth and contraction,and thinkers throughout modern history have offered different visions of the role of the government in regulatingor moderating the effects of the free enterprise system. Today, our government actively monitors the performance of thenational economy through measures such as gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, and unemployment, and uses fiscalpolicy to try to achieve the goals of growth and stability. Over the last century and a half, organizations such as laborunions have sought to protect workers participating in a market economy, while successful entrepreneurs have oftenbeen those people who found new ways for the market system to better meet the demands of producers or consumers.Unit 4: Macroeconomics: Money and Banking. All economic operations depend on the flow of money and creditthrough the economy. Unit 4 examines the functions of the financial system and how they have evolved over time, thefoundations of borrowing, lending, and investment decisions by households and institutional lenders, and how the FederalReserve controls the volume of this lending to achieve macroeconomic goals.This unit focuses on Money and Banking - how individual consumers acquire goods and services, how the individualsdecide to participate in the financial system through investments, and then how monetary policy (actions of the Fed) canaffect the amount of consumer interaction in the economy (domestic and global).27