Who Will Be President?

• Introduction
• Learners
• Standards
• Process
• Resources


• Student Page

by Mrs. Margaret Boggs, St. Joseph Elementary And Middle School

In this curriculum web you will learn about the Democratic and Republican candidates for President of the United States. You will explore different news and informational websites to learn about the important issues facing our nation. We will look at editorial cartoons and examine different opinions about the candidates. Lastly you will create a journal of your travels across the internet as you try to determine WHO WILL BE PRESIDENT?

Teacher Introduction

Aim

    The "Who Will Be Our Next President" curriculum web aims to promote 5th grade students' understanding of the U.S. presidential election and the relationships among the candidates, the political parties and on the current issues facing us this November.  This is accomplished by sending students on fact-finding missions to a variety of web sites and creating a journal of their findings.  They also work in cooperative groups to create a scrapbook of articles, editorials and cartons related to the presidential election.  Lastly, they complete an online activity that poses the question, what if you were president?

Rationale

Everyone in America loves a good contest.  Once every four years our nation engages in the most important, hard fought, hotly debated contest of all-the presidential election.  Unfortunately only about half of the eligible voters in this country exercise their constitutional right of casting a vote for one of the candidates!  Voter turnout is even more dismal during off-year elections when only local, state and congressional offices are at stake.  Many potential voters do not participate because they are ignorant of the issues or turned off by all the negative discourse between candidates and political parties.  Through this curriculum web it is hoped that students will become engaged in the American political process. They will understand how a candidate becomes a candidate and how the political primaries and caucuses work.  They will form their own opinions about the issues that face America and how to deal with them.  The idea is to get students interested in thinking, writing and discussing the upcoming election.  Hopefully they will learn that elections are about more than negative advertisements and 10 second sound-bites on television.  By studying the candidates, their party platforms, and the election process, students will become more educated and informed citizens who will someday play a part in our democratic system.

Prerequisites

Before using the "Who Will Be the Next President curriculum web, students should be able to

• Read at a fourth or fifth grade level
• Use a web browser to move from web page to web page
• Be able to use a word processor and the copy/paste function
• Be able to save their work to their document folder
• Be able to print documents
• Be able to work cooperatively with others

Subject Matter

This curriculum web is centered on the 2008 presidential election.  Topics included are

• The candidates for president
• The primary process
• The national convention
• The running mates
• The issues
• The Electoral College
• Election Day

Goals

    Students will locate, read and analyze articles in newspapers in print and online and provide information identifying

•     Personal  background  of the two major candidates running for office
•     Major issues confronting our nation
•     How each candidate would solve our nation's problems
•     Editorial cartoons on each candidates and how the media uses satire to influence people
•     How people in Michigan might vote
•     Results of 2008 Presidential Election

    Students will offer their opinion on how federal budget should be balanced.

    Students will respond to questions about their federal budget choices with informed written opinion.

    Students will defend their first priority in the federal budget they created with informed written opinion.

    Students will pick three top advisors for their cabinet from a list provided and defend their choices in a written argument.

    Students will recognize the three qualifications needed to run for the presidency of the United States.

    Students will be able to list the duties of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government.

    Student will understand how the two major political parties in the United States pick their presidential nominees.

    Students will learn who the two major candidates for president are.

    Students will recognize how presidential nominees choose their running mates.

    Measurable Objectives

At least 90% of students will score 85% or higher on the scrapbook portion of the assessment.

At least 90% of student will achieve an 85% or higher grade on their newspaper article.

At least 90% of students will achieve an 85% or higher on  their final assessment.

Use the links on the left to move through the teacher pages!