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Kyle Yamnitz

Campaign '96 Social Studies Various Activities:

Grade Levels: Second through Fifth

Length: One or two class sessions.

Description: For a change, allow students to choose from the following variety of activities. Assessment will vary, but will essentially consist of judging the quality of the works students produce.

Math:

Materials: numerous magazines and newspapers, graph paper, and pens or pencils.

Have students work together to tally the number of times they see a picture of each presidential candidate in newspapers and magazines. After the results are in, have them create graphs showing who was featured most in the print media.

Art:

Materials: Imagination and any materials students could make a puppet out of (popsicle

sticks, yarn, paper bags w/ pictures of candidates, cloth, etc.).

Make puppets of the different candidates. Students would need to watch the candidates and draw a sketch of what they see prior to constructing the puppet.

Writing I:

Materials: television to view candidates' speeches, paper, and pen or pencil.

After watching your candidate make a speech, write a letter to him telling him what you agree and disagree with.

Writing II:

Materials: Imagination, paper, and pencil or pen.

Imagine that you are running for the president. Write about the day you are elected or pick another day in your life as president.

Game:

Materials: Index cards, scissors.

Candidate Concentration: Have the students collect pictures of the candidates and make sets of two candidate cards (using index cards). There should be at least 11 sets of candidate cards. Mix the cards and place face down. Students take turns trying to find a matching candidate pair. The student with the most candidate pairs wins. OR: To get the pair, a student must name the candidate pair.

Adaptations: For higher grades, eliminate the art project and candidate concentration,

since they are more geared toward younger students. For lower grades (second

and first), you may need to eliminate the math activity and the writing I activity.

Reference:

"Campaign '96 Centers." C-SPAN Network. http://www.c-span.org/classroo/centers.htm (14, Sept. 1996).