Cherry Blossom Candy Leaf

No, this is not porn, but a statement of fact. In early June, my class participated in a Congressional Hearing at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. We spent months learning about the Constitution, and more specifically, the rights and responsibilities we have as citizens. We read a book called "We the People" and presented our discoveries to a panel of judges. The judges were important members of our community, like judges, principals, doctors, politicians, etc.,. Needless to say, the kids were absolutely petrified, but not as much as their teacher.

We finished presenting our units, which spanned the Framers declaring their independence to the present day. The kids exceeded my expectations and we even had 3 groups out of our 10 that scored in the highest bracket, which is a tremendous accomplishment when my students are predominantly English language learners and belong to low income families. We are definitely the "have nots" in the district and as much as I want to say that it doesn't impact academic performance, I would be lying.

We had about 40 minutes to explore the Library after our presentations. Then there was a lovely awards ceremony where the kids could celebrate their accomplishments. Just as we entered the auditorium, Nancy Reagan arrived to pay her respects to her late husband on the anniversary of his death.