U.S. Government:

Using the elections of our current elected officials on the Federal and State levels, two of the three levels of government in the United States, we introduced the nature of the Two-Party System in the United States and its impact on the Executive and Legislative branches of Government. We'll expand our discussion to the origin of the party system in the United States and the growth of the American party types. We'll consider third party systems and obstacles they face.

New Terms: political party, theocracy, ideologies, coalition government, third party, single-member district, proportional representation, Bull Moose Party, Green Party, American Independent Party.

Economics:

The use of Journey was demonstrated for use as a review of class activity, topics, assignments, and links to enrichment sources. Students developed a Bubble Chart of Macroeconomic Policies, understanding that macroeconomics examines the behavior of the economy as a whole, with our government's policy goals including: economic growth, price stability, full employment, and attaining a sustainable balance of payments between the United States and other countries. The Bubble Chart was a first step in helping us realize how far reaching are macroeconomic policies.

On Thursday, we'll take a look at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) discussed in Chapter 13: Section 1, "Measuring the Nation's Output." Students should be apprised of the Chapter Overview for activities in class.