​Good morning!  This week the students have received their login information and done the "Practice Run" for our Civic Mirror simulation game. They have also voted on symbols for their simulated countries.  Many students are excited, so hopefully they'll be sharing their excitement at home.  If you have internet access at home, they can show you the site (civicmirror.com)

For the next few classes we'll be going over the rights and freedoms in the Canadian Charter and how these empower citizens and limit the governments authority.  These are the same rights they will have in the simulation. 

The students will then be receiving a "Hidden Agenda" which represents their political philosophies and include ways to gain points in the game.  These range from environmentalists to capitalists, fascists to humanitarians in order to foster interesting discussions on rights, laws, distribution of wealth, etc.  This could be another interesting discussion topic at home.  

The students will then be forming political parties and electing a parliament of 7 MPs, giving us the chance to review our Canadian parliamentary system.  

Following the election there will be a test on Charter rights and freedoms and our electorial and parliamentary systems.