Because teaching children about government is very important. It shows them their roles and responsibilities as citizens. Don't we wish that all U.S. citizens took their rights with more gratitude? Well, voting is a great right that we have and what better way to encourage today's children to appreciate the government, its complexity, and citizens' role within it than with books? Literature is a wonderful, effective way to teach about the government since, again, the topic can be difficult and confusing. The book America Votes: How Our President is Elected, by Linda Granfield, covers a wide variety of topics relating to politics, many of which meet the Common Core standards. Throughout the book are important lessons for students to learn, such as elections are not actually boring, and voting makes each of us a powerful part of our community. There are also lots of facts - and we mean a lot! Take a look at this comprehensive summary we made for you (who needs Amazon for information on books when you have us?):
- The history of voting
- Voting (what it is and how it works)
- Congress (who is in it and what it does)
- Roles of the President
- Primary Action
- Campaigns
- Election day
- Political Parties
- Symbols related to voting and campaigning
Also, like we promised, the topics included in the book meet some different Common Core standards. Of course, it depends on what grade you're teaching. Here are a couple examples, one from 5th grade and one from 2nd:
SS5H2 The student will analyze the effects of Reconstruction on American life.
a. Describe the purpose of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
SS2CG2 The student will identify the roles of the following elected officials:
a. President (leader of our nation)
b. Governor (leader of our state)
c. Mayor (leader of a city)
So it depends on what you're focusing on when you teach and use this book. The first standard we listed is part of Historical Understandings, so maybe you could do a little curriculum integrating (Mrs. Dickens would be so proud!) and mix history and English. The second standard listed is part of Government. There are so many fun activities you could do as a post-read aloud activity.
Of course, there's always the classroom elections idea, which is a wonderful, interactive way for students to be involved in learning (always a good idea). And look at that kid in the picture. He is very serious about his vote! He looks like a responsible school citizen, doing his civic duty. Don't you want all of your students to take voting that seriously when they're adults? Another fun activity would be to create or use real people running for an office and "campaign" for them. The class could be divided up and create posters, fliers, or even commercials. One last idea: drawing out some political cartoons to relay information about parties. This could be fun during a real election year or after doing a little research on previous runners in an election.
Don't you wish you could have done cool activities like that to learn more about the government and it's details? We would probably remember a little more than the "I'm Just a Bill" song from Schoolhouse Rock (no offense to S.R. - we learned so much from you're awesome songs!). There are many options available. So again, this plea goes out to all you teachers, present and future: improve it, please.
Don't you wish you could have done cool activities like that to learn more about the government and it's details? We would probably remember a little more than the "I'm Just a Bill" song from Schoolhouse Rock (no offense to S.R. - we learned so much from you're awesome songs!). There are many options available. So again, this plea goes out to all you teachers, present and future: improve it, please.
Yes I do wish we had a cool activity like that when I was learning about the government! It would have really made me more engaged and actually want to learn. I love everything about this post. I would definitely use this book in my classroom and incorporate a fun activity to get my students involved. It is so important to get our young students involved and wanting to learn more about the government and how it works because they are the future leaders of America!
ReplyDeleteNows a days it is so important to educate children, and people in general, on government and politics. These are very important people that make very important decisions that affect everybody. Nobody from our generation seems to cares, so maybe we can get the next generation to care. I love this book and all that it goes over. I would defiantly use this book in the classroom. I also plan to use your class election and campaign idea. Political cartoons might be too much depending on the grade though.
ReplyDeleteI like this book a lot. Its seems like a great read. The students from growing up now need more books like these. Student can read and learn about the government and the Presidential Election. I most definitely would use this book in the future for a less. We as teachers should make it a focus of teachers to teach more about the government and it ins and outs.
ReplyDeleteYes, I also agree that cool activities like this one will help the students remember the lesson, instead of forgetting it the next day. To me, government and politic lessons are extremely dry and boring, so therefore it's hard for me to pay attention and learn something from them. I would like to use activities and projects like the example given to keep my future students on their toes and not dosing off in the middle of class, and integrating different subjects makes the lesson that much more interesting in my opinion.
ReplyDelete~Jenni
I love that you did find a book that is something that is hard for students to understand. I mean I don't understand half the roles of the people in government and all the stuff that goes on. So I am going to have to go check this book out and try to learn stuff myself. I feel like you did a good job giving us multiple grade standards, because you could read this book and teach this book for years because it is such a hard thing to understand. You guys did good making up activities, y'all also did a great job making it entertaining. Great job!
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