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Following the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v F.E.C., the growth of Super PACs, and the influx of negative ads this campaign season, some Americans are concerned about the influence of money on our electoral system and our democracy itself. Others point out that wealthy individuals, corporations, and labor unions have always influenced politics and point to the loopholes of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act as the origin of unlimited contributions. Does money = speech, and do any restrictions on campaign contributions violate the First Amendment?  Does money unfairly influence our political process? In this election year, help your students understand and develop their own opinions about these campaign financing issues. Watch a variety of C-SPAN video clips explaining the varying sides, read articles with opposing viewpoints, complete associated activities, and engage students in classroom deliberations.

The federal education program appropriated funds "based on good test scores in math, science, and reading," she said, but it did not distribute money for history or civics. O¹Connor¹s new web site aims to right that wrong. Launched on May 24, iCivics.org is a rebranded, expanded version of an earlier site called OurCourts.org. "Barely one-third of Americans can even name the three branches of government, much less say what they do," O'Connor said. "… I'm worried." Games on iCivics include "Do I Have A Right," in which the player runs a virtual firm specializing in constitutional law; "Executive Command," which offers a chance to play president; "Supreme Decision," about the Supreme Court; "Branches of Power," which gives the player control of all three branches of government; and "LawCraft," in which the player is a member of Congress. The iCivics program is based at Georgetown University Law School. O'Connor is the project founder and leads the board of the nonprofit iCivics Inc., iCivics spokesman Jeffrey Curley said. The project began in 2007 and is in use at schools around the country.

a fun interactive game that allows students to learn fractions in a engaging and interactive way. As an adult playing a student's game, Motion Math made me think. It truly tested my understanding of how fractions, decimals, pictorial representations of fractions and how number lines actually work. The way it works is simple. A ball, looking like the sun, falls from the sky and you as the player have to lean your device to one side or the other to have that ball, with it's fraction, fall on the correct location on the number line. A student will have to have a basic understanding of fractions and decimals in order to play this game. Although I think early learners of fractions could get a lot out of this App, I personally think this is an App that would help solidify understanding. I can see teachers doing a high score challenge and or having students try to to beat their own high scores for class cash. I look forward to any updates that allow students to start from where they left off. I played several times and had to start from the beginning each time. The game went on for quite sometime and I never got to an ending point. I really liked that it was tiered in difficulty. Just when I thought it couldn't get any harder they changed the number line so that zero was not the beginning, it was actually a negative number. It made you think even more because then the fractions where coming across as negative and positive fractions, so as to confuse your mind a little more. Overall, I love this app. I actually think it is one of the better math Apps I have played with over the past few years. I do think it has some room to improve, but as a teacher and a parent, 99 cents for this App is definitely worth the money. My 4th grader thought it was really cool and it definitely challenged him to clear the cobwebs and put all of his learning into motion in a fun way. If you are a teacher or parent in the need for a good fractions app, this would be a great edition to yo