Setting the Scene. filling out ballots for their favorite books, candidates, or other issues and placing them in the ballot box.

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1 Tap into the special energy of upcoming elections with this theme that celebrates American democracy and invites kids to speak up and be heard. Power to the Readers! Setting the Scene Campaign Headquarters: Set up a cheerful reading corner that invites kids to curl up and read, and to express their opinions about what they re reading. Define the space with folding room divider screens decorated inside and out with Vote for Books or other campaign posters, crepe paper streamers, bunting, balloons, flags, etc. Hang a Campaign Headquarters sign between two screens to make the entrance. Inside, place a small desk with desk chair and a beanbag chair or two. Equip the desktop with a toy telephone, pens and pencils, paper, etc. Add a ballot box and ballot forms or place a separate voting booth nearby, so kids can make their opinions about books or issues count. Voting Booth: Make a voting booth in or next to your Campaign Headquarters. Cut away most of one side of a refrigerator box as an entrance. Fashion a red, white, and blue crepe paper streamer door. Use a separate box or parts of the cut away side to create a shelf on the back wall for a ballot box. Decorate inside and out with Vote for Books or campaign posters, balloons, flags, etc. Let students get a feel for the authentic voting experience by filling out ballots for their favorite books, candidates, or other issues and placing them in the ballot box. Bulletin Board: Create a bulletin board display based on Upstart s Vote for Books posters. Back it with starry or red and white striped wrapping paper and make a border of crepe pa- per or bunting. Add covers from books about elections in your collection, or from your readers favorite titles. Complete the effect with Vote for Books campaign buttons or your own buttons made with a button maker or cut from colored paper. Book Display: Use tables or shelves placed under Vote for Books posters to display books on elections or titles most often named by your readers as favorites in different categories or genres. You might set up the display and change the books periodically to feature winners in different genres. For example, you could feature favorite historical fiction one week and general nonfiction the next, as determined by polls taken throughout the week.

2 Incentives: Reward game or contest winners or program participants with small American flags, bite-sized candy bars or suckers inside inflated balloons, or Vote for Books bookmarks, buttons, or stickers. 0 for blue-whites, 180 for yellow, 360 for red). Have each child decorate the front with his/her name and appropriate images. Games/Contests Election Balderdash Game: Use this game with small groups of older elementary or middle school students. Make a set of flashcards with election-related terms or phrases on one side and their definitions on the other. Include jargon like stump speech, straw poll, or lame duck. Seat kids around you in a circle of numbered chairs and give each a stack of note cards and a pen. Use a white board to keep track of definitions and votes each round and to keep score, if you choose to do so. Show a flash card. Children will have a short time to write a definition on a note card, identifying it with their chair number. They may write the correct definition if they know it, or make up a believable-sounding definition. Collect the cards and read each to the group in random order. After reading through them once, repeat them and let kids vote for their choice by show of hands. Record how many votes each numbered definition receives. If you re keeping score, award kids three points for writing an accurate definition, two points for voting for the correct definition, and one point for each vote their clever fake definition receives. For example, in a given round, a student might receive five points by writing and voting for a correct definition, or the same number of points because five others vote for his or her clever made-up definition. Hat-in-the-Ring Toss: Set this game up in a large meeting room or down a long hallway. You ll need three rings on the floor (smallest about 18" in diameter and largest about 36"), and an assortment of different kinds of hats. Rings might be fashioned from colored tape, or use a standard set of hula hoops secured to the floor in a zigzag pattern, with the largest ring closest to the tossers and the smallest farthest away. Arrange children in a row behind a tape line at least six feet from the closest ring. Adjust the distance for the age and skill of your participants. Explain that tossing your hat in the ring is election jargon for announcing your plan to run for public office. Give each child three hats to toss. Award one point for each hat that lands within the closest ring, two for the middle ring, and three for the farthest ring. Keep score and award small prizes to the best hat tossers. Election Scavenger Hunt: Challenge kids to search out election related items and facts hidden around your library or classroom or covered in your library collection. Make a list of items to suit your collection and goals. Send children off individually or in teams to find as many of the items as they can. Customize the challenge for different ages or circumstances by setting a time limit or requiring younger children to find fewer items. Kids who find the required items in the time allotted could win small prizes. If you re hiding actual objects for kids to collect, be sure to replenish the supply. For information gleaned from books, include a place on the list to record the answer and the source (book title, author, and page number). Here are some sample items: the number of Electoral College votes required to win the Presidency a campaign button (Use buttons from several different candidates or elections.) sample ballots or voter registration cards an editorial cartoon about someone running for public office a picture of someone currently running for public office a mailed campaign advertisement for a candidate (Be sure to use ads for more than one candidate.) 2

3 Recipes Campaign Button Cookies: Use colored icing and candies to make round sugar cookies that look like campaign buttons. You might create buttons for actual candidates in local, state, or national elections, or for favorite book genres or titles. For a more substantial snack, do the same thing with homemade pizzas, decorating with bits of meat or vegetables on top of sauce and cheese. For a fun look at campaign buttons over time, visit www. cyberbee.com/campaign/buttons.html. Election Day Cake: There s an old New England tradition of serving a rich loaf cake on Election Day. In fact, some say this cake was so delicious that votes could be bought or sold in exchange for it! Many cook books have recipes for versions of this cake, or find one on line searching Election Day Cake. Choose a recipe, bake it, and serve up slices along with this interesting story of delicious political corruption. Patriotic Parfaits: Create festive tri-colored parfaits in clear plastic cups by layering blueberries and strawberries, or blue and red Jell-o cubes, with whipped cream. Arts/Crafts Star Garland: Have kids help you decorate your classroom or library. Cut out red, white, and blue stars, about five inches across, from card stock, construction paper, or other heavy paper. Punch a hole near the top of each star. Invite kids to write the title or author of a favorite book on the front and back of a star each time they visit. String the stars on bright ribbon or yarn, tying a loose knot above each to space them, and hang the garlands around the room. Ballot Boxes: Create ballot boxes for the library or classroom, or to take home to encourage voting on family issues. Gather cans or jars with plastic lids. Cardboard oatmeal boxes or plastic peanut butter jars work well. Provide a variety of papers, crayons, markers, glue or tape, stickers and let kids cover the containers with creative designs. Cut slits in the lids, and your ballot boxes are complete. Math/Science Activity Polls and Percentages: Read The Grizzly Gazette, then demonstrate and practice showing the results of your mock elections as circle graphs. Extend these concepts by showing the same results as bar graphs, converting the resulting percentages to fractions, or trying other activities suggested at the end of the book. Special Events Mock Elections Issue of the Week: Give children several chances to I VOTED vote by choosing an Issue of the Week (or Day, if you use this theme for a short period of time). For Books! You might choose a local issue being debated in the community, nominations for favorite books, or simple choices of favorite snack foods, TV shows, I Made Reading Count I Made Reading Count kinds of pets Whatever you choose, keep it simple by presenting the issues as Yes/No propositions, listing three or four optional responses, or providing fill-in-the-blank statements like My favorite book of all time is. Feature your issues on a bulletin board and provide ballots. Children should show their library cards as Voter Registration Cards in order to receive ballots, then place their completed ballots in a ballot box. Compile results and post them on the bulletin board. Election Storytime: Build a storytime combining books, treats, and activities from this guide. Here s a good combination: Duck for President, Vote for Duck campaign button cookies, and Hat in the Ring Toss. For a historical focus, try Mr. Lincoln s Whiskers, Papa s Mark, or I Could Do That! with Election Day Cake and making ballot boxes to take home.

4 Candidate Visits: If you re using Vote for Books materials to tie in with a local election, invite a candidate or a pair of opposing candidates to talk to kids about the process of being elected and serving the public. Ask your guests to leave time for questions from kids about both the process and important issues in the current race. Invite candidates to start their visit by reading a short story from the list below to their young prospective constituents. Stump Speech Night: Give kids a chance to speak out on issues that matter to them. Plan an hour-long event during which children are invited to give one-minute prepared stump speeches stating their opinions about issues in the library, at school, or in the community. Try to find a short, wide section of tree trunk as an actual stump for children to stand on as they speak! Have kids bring notes identifying the issues they plan to address, to help you keep things calm and appropriate. Use a stopwatch or kitchen timer and enforce time limits. Invite candidates for office or appropriate officials to come and hear what the kids have to say. Reader s Theater: Prepare a reader s theater presentation of Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor to share with parents, candidates, other classes, or the community at large. Along with featured characters, you ll need a narrator to read text that is not dialog. Lines spoken by the press or the crowd could be shouted by planted audience members. Follow up with discussion about campaign strategies or promises, and candidate qualifications. Writing Projects Speech Writing Workshop/Learning Center: If you plan to host a Stump Speech Night (listed above), consider having a speech writing workshop or setting up a speech writing center to help children prepare. You might invite a professional speech writer or writing instructor to lead the workshop, or gather resources and present it yourself. Scholastic s Writing with Writers: Speechwriting Web site (teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/ speech/index.htm) covers the basics of writing, delivering, and recording brief speeches. You Can Write Speeches and Debates by Jennifer Rozines Roy and Johannah Haney (Enslow, 2003) is another good source. Include audio clips from great speeches. The CD Greatest Speeches of All Time (JERDEN, 1997, ASIN: B000001C10) has a good selection to choose from. Opinions on Display: In a variation on the bulletin board suggestion above, feature on your board kids written responses to daily or weekly issue prompts like these: It s important to vote because, If I were president, I would, or Kids can help change things for the better by Provide half-page forms for children to fill out. Include your prompt, lines for responding, and nice graphics. Dear Mister/Madame President: Invite children to write letters to the president expressing their concerns and sharing their advice about how to address those concerns. Collect letters in a binder and include them on a book display or place them in your Campaign Headquarters. You might make copies of letters to keep and encourage the writers to send their originals to the White House. Internet Activities The Democracy Project, pbskids.org/democracy. Kids can explore how government affects them, step inside a virtual voting booth, and make decisions as President for a Day. Enchanted Learning: Elections, offers an appealing, concise explanation of how American Presidents are elected, a U. S. Elections Quiz, and more. Online Election Word Games: Bookmark these Web sites for crossword puzzles and word searches about voting and elections: election.html election.htm teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/ instructor/crossword/0010/index.htm

5 Voting/Elections Resources Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor by Herman Parish. HarperCollins, ISBN K 3. America Votes: How Our President is Elected by Linda Granfield. Kids Can Press, ISBN Class President by Johanna Hurwitz. HarperCollins, ISBN Crown Me! by Kathryn Lay. Holiday House, ISBN Dork on the Run by Carol Gorman. HarperTrophy, ISBN Duck for President by Doreen Cronin. Spotlight Books, ISBN K 3. Election Connection: The Official Nick Guide to Electing the President by Susan Ring. Chronicle Books, ISBN Election Day by Margaret McNamara, illustrated by Mike Gordon. Aladdin, ISBN K 1. The Grizzly Gazette by Stuart J. Murphy, illustrated by Steve Bjorkman. HarperTrophy, ISBN K 3. I Could Do That! Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote by Linda Arms White. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN The Kid who Ran for President by Dan Gutman. Scholastic, ISBN Also check out the sequel, The Kid who Became President. Mama Went to Jail for the Vote by Kathleen Karr. Hyperion, ISBN Marvin Redpost: Class President by Louis Sachar. Random House Books for Young Readers, ISBN X Mom for Mayor by Nancy Edwards. Cricket Books, ISBN Mr. Lincoln s Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick. Boyds Mills Press, ISBN K 4. My Teacher for President by Kay Winters. Dutton Juvenile, K 2. Operation Clean Sweep by Darleen Bailey Beard. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN Papa s Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert. Holiday House, ISBN X Presidential Campaign Songs: performed by Oscar Brand. Smithsonian Folkways, 1999 (Music CD). ASIN: B00000IWN9. K 6. Riding Freedom by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Scholastic, ISBN So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George. Philomel Books, ISBN The Voice of the People: American Democracy in Action by Betsy Maestro. Sagebrush Education Resources, ISBN: Vote! by Eileen Christelow. Clarion Books, ISBN With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman s Right to Vote by Ann Bausum. National Geographic Society, ISBN You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? by Jean Fritz. Putnam, ISBN