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Elections are important and exciting events in the United States. Children can be involved and invested in this process, even though they are too young to vote. This collection of titles takes children from the conception of the United States government, through the women’s suffrage movement, the commonalities and originalities of the first forty-two presidents, and into a unique view of the job of a senator. Additionally, children will gain a deeper understanding of the qualities needed for leadership and how leadership can come from anyone, at any age.

Learning Objectives:

• Children will understand the steps of the election process. • Children will increase election specific vocabulary. • Children will investigate and analyze campaign techniques. • Children will learn about the history of the U.S. Constitution. • Children will identify the three branches of government and their responsibilities. • Children will identify qualities of past U.S. presidents and use this knowledge to infer qualities of strong leaders. • Children will deconstruct stereotypes and learn about how women fought for their right to vote. • Children will identify and practice ways to become involved in school and community issues. Titles Titles for for Elementary Elementary School: School:

+ Otto Runs for President by Rosemary Wells There is a big school election at the Barkadelphia School. Who will win? Tiffany, one of the popular girls; Charles, an all-star sport; or Otto, a good friend and listener?

+ Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, ill. by Betsy Lewin Duck works his way through the political ranks, all the way to the highest office in the United States.

Titles for Elementary and Middle School: + I Could Do That! Esther Morris + So, You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George, ill. by David Small Gets Women the Vote by Linda Arms White, ill. by Nancy Carpenter

In the time-honored tradition of political commentary, the public and private lives of forty-two Presidents are celebrated with humor and flair.

This is the true story of Esther Morris, who started out life believing she could do anything, and then proved it!

Titles for Upper Elementary and Middle School:

+ Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution

+ My Senator and Me: A Dog’s

by Jean Fritz, ill. by Tomie dePaola

Eye-View of Washington, D.C.

Jean Fritz introduces children to the delegates at the 1787 Summer Convention in Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, and many others traveled there to draft a plan that would unify their states while preserving their sovereignty.

by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, ill. by David Small Senator Ted Kennedy and his dog, Splash, invite children along on a typical whirlwind day on Capitol Hill.

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Understanding the Election Process: Duck for President and Otto Runs for President Before Viewing: Outline the hierarchy of leadership in the U.S. government system. Using a pyramid as a graphic organizer, put mayors at the base, governors in the middle, and the President at the top. Tell children to watch for how Duck works his way through these ranks. Investigate campaigning with the children. Discuss the reasons that candidates campaign and read about campaign history and slogans on the following websites: www.multied.com/elections/campaigns.html www.presidentsusa.net/campaignslogans.html www.teachervision.fen.com/elections/history/2676.html Talk with children about how campaigns can persuade and dissuade voters. Ask them what kinds of information and messages would be important for candidates to communicate while campaigning. Discuss “smear campaigns” and challenge children to debate whether or not these types of campaigns are useful, ethical, or productive. Tell children to watch for the campaign tactics used by the characters in Otto Runs for President and Duck for President. Revisit the discussion after viewing the movies.

After Viewing: Compare and contrast the three characters in Otto Runs for President. What were the general issues that Tiffany, Charles, and Otto were tackling in their campaigns? What tactics did each candidate use? Which tactics proved to be effective and which were not? How was Otto’s campaign different from Tiffany’s and Charles’? Have children each create a campaign poster for themselves. Encourage them to focus on one issue that they would work to improve in the school or their community. Help children brainstorm strong vocabulary to use on their posters. Remind children of the values that they discussed which were important for leaders to have. Which values will they bring to a leadership position? How? Have children create speeches that would convince others to vote for them for class president, vice president, secretary, or treasurer. Guide children through the writing process of brainstorming, planning, writing, and revising. Give children the opportunity to present their speeches to the class.

Culminating Activities: Hold a class election for a class president or larger student government. Model the example set in Otto Runs for President and have each student collect a certain number of names for an endorsement to run. Give children time to form campaign committees, posters, and speeches. After the elections, set aside time for the student government to meet at a lunch period at least twice a month. Encourage other children in the class to become involved by writing letters to the student government, volunteering at events, and heading up smaller committees. The role of the government could be as small as organizing classroom jobs or as large as enacting a recycling program for the school. Research issues affecting the school or the childrens’ communities. Present children with basic information about various issues such as books for the library, school beautification, or recycling in the school or community. Then, have children write persuasive letters to the principal, school board, or city council, outlining changes that they wish to see made. If possible, bring student representatives to staff meetings, school board meetings, or city council meetings to present their case. Help Children think of solution-oriented ideas that they could suggest.

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Building and Eliciting Background Knowledge: Discussion Questions: • How does a person become the President? • Who gets to vote for the President? • What other kinds of people work in the government to help the President? • Besides the country, what other organizations have presidents? • What are the responsibilities of a president?

Preview Important Vocabulary: • Election • Campaign

• Ballot • Vote

• Candidate

Establish Historical Background: So You Want to Be President? Before Viewing: Tell children that many of the United States’ Presidents have some things in common. They also have many differences. Provide children with a T-chart, labeled “Different” and “Similar/Common”. Ask children if they have any ideas that they could put in the T-chart. (For example, some children may know that all presidents so far have been men). Then, tell children that they are going to watch a movie about the first forty-one Presidents of the United States (George W. Bush was not yet president when the book was published). As they watch, encourage children to fill in differences and similarities between presidents on their T-charts.

After Viewing: Revisit the T-chart. Ask children what they added in each column. Record their answers on a class T-chart. Ask children to share any similarities or differences that surprised them. Then, ask children what values are important for ALL presidents to have, despite name, place of birth, or appearance.

Guiding Questions: • Why is honesty important in a President? • What sort of challenges does a President face? What character traits would help a President meet those challenges? • What are some of the positive traits that our past Presidents have displayed?

I Could Do That! Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote Before Viewing: Discuss the historical background of voting rights with children. Explain that both women and people of color had to fight for their right to vote. Discuss prejudice and stereotypes with children. Make a list of things that children think are “boy things” and things that children think are “girl things.” Ask children to explain why they have these views. Ask children if boys can ever do any of the “girl things” or vice versa. Explain that stereotypes are categories that groups of people or things are placed in that are based on one characteristic or idea, but that do not accurately reflect all of the characteristics of those people or things. Give children examples, such as: Native Americans are stereotyped as always wearing feather headdresses, when in fact only some tribes of Native Americans wear feather headdresses. Help children understand why stereotypes may make people feel bad and create false impressions. Generate a list of stereotypes that children have heard or experienced. Using this list, break children into groups of 4-5. Have them choose one stereotype from the list to deconstruct.

After Viewing: Talk with children about how Esther Morris helped people in her community deconstruct their stereotypes about women. Then, have children break into groups of all boys and all girls. Have each group brainstorm the top five concerns or issues that they would like to see changed or addressed in the school. After the groups have finished, have them come together to share their ideas. List the ideas on a graphic organizer labeled: “Girls and Boys”, “Girls Only,” and “Boys Only”. Note that there are some issues that are important to both boys and girls, while other issues are more gender-specific. Ask children why it would be important for everyone to have a chance to both vote and run for office. Emphasize that a leader must be able to work for the good of all of his or her constituents, while staying true to the values or character traits highlighted in the earlier discussion.

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Use the unit plan designed for the Elementary level, adding the titles Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution and My Senator and Me.

Extending Background Knowledge: Preview Vocabulary: • Sovereign • Executive Branch • Impeach • Representative

• Delegate • Legislative Branch • Senate • Constitution

• Federal • Judicial Branch • Vice President

Extending Historical Knowledge: Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution Before Viewing: Discuss the purpose of the Constitution as a document that outlines the rules for the government. Guiding questions: • Why are guidelines or rules for the government important? • How do rules prevent the government or the President from becoming too powerful? • What problems might arise if the government did not have rules to guide it? Preview some of the main ideas of the Constitution. Include: • Three-branch government • State and Federal System • Term and age limitations for presidents and senators • Bill of Rights

After Viewing: Review the Virginia Plan and the three branches of the federal government. In the movie, a tree with three branches was used to represent this system. Challenge children to think of their own visual representation of the three branches of government. For each branch, have children outline the responsibilities of that branch. For a greater challenge, have children show how the branches work together to check each other’s power. Investigate the Bill of Rights with the children. Why were these rights so important that some delegates would not ratify the Constitution without them? Pose hypothetical situations to children in which they discuss what might happen in various situations if basic freedoms such as freedom of speech, religion, or trial by jury were not protected by the government. Discuss with children what kinds of rights are important in the classroom. Together, write a Bill of Classroom Rights. This might include: the right to a safe environment or the right to express opinions. Post the Bill of Classroom Rights on the wall.

Understanding the Government: My Senator and Me: A Dog’s Eye-View of Washington, D.C. Before Viewing: Discuss the historical background of voting rights with children. Explain that both women Identify your state’s senators. Using each senator’s webpage, provide childrewith a brief biography of each. Create a “My Senators” chart with the children. For each senator, guide children through filling out the following categories: • Political party • Years as a senator • Job before becoming a senator • Committees • Personal information

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A Dog’s-Eye View of Washington, D.C.

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After Viewing: Guide children through writing a persuasive letter to one of their senators. Help children focus on a current issue that is important to their personal lives, school, or community. Children should identify three to four reasons why they feel strongly about the issue and support each reason with at least three details or examples. Children should complete the steps of the writing process: brainstorming, planning, writing, revising/editing, final draft. Model a business letter format for children. Send childrens’ published letters to their senators. Use the movie, My Senator and Me, to walk children through the steps of how a bill becomes a law. Create a flowchart for children to summarize the steps in the book. Break the group into two parts, representing the House and the Senate. In each group, form smaller “committees”. Then, introduce a mock bill for children to vote on, acting as the Congress. The bill should be related to an element of the school, classroom or community, such as extended library time on Fridays, or personal computer time for children who reach certain goals. Have each committee discuss the pros and cons of the bill and present any suggested changes to the class. Then have the Senate and House groups vote on the bill. If it passes, have children create a poster that explains the law. Post this on the bulletin board and stick to it!

Culminating Activities: Hold a mock debate. During an election year, have children research the viewpoints of various candidates. Make a spreadsheet with issues on one side and candidate’s names across the top. Fill out with how each candidate feels about each issue. Use this information to support/argue your side in the debate. Divide the children into teams, with each team representing one of the candidates. The teacher or librarian can serve as the moderator and pose questions for each team to respond to, based on the candidates’ viewpoints and political stances. In addition to answering the questions, give each team an opportunity to respond to at least one other team. Finally, give each team time to write and present closing remarks.

Other American History titles available from Weston Woods: ★ And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?

★ What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?

★ George Washington’s Mother

★ Where Do You Think You’re Going, Christopher Columbus?

★ Jean Fritz: Six Revolutionary War Figures

★ Who’s That Stepping on Plymouth Rock?

★ Just A Few Words, Mr. Lincoln

★ Why Don’t You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?

★ Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution

★ Will You Sign Here, John Hancock?

by Jean Fritz, ill. by Margot Tomes

by Jean Fritz, ill. by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan by Jean Fritz

by Jean Fritz, ill. by Charles Robinson by Jean Fritz, ill. by Tomie dePaola

by Jean Fritz, ill. by Margot Tomes by Jean Fritz, ill. by Margot Tomes

by Jean Fritz, ill. by J.B. Handelsman

by Jean Fritz, ill. by Trina Schart Hyman by Jean Fritz, ill. by Trina Schart Hyman

To order Weston Woods productions call 1-800-243-5020 or visit our website at www.scholastic.com/westonwoods This guide may be photocopied for free distribution without restriction. 5