Today we are spotlighting a perfect book to when it is time for voting and elections. It does a great job of teaching students how an election campaign is run and introduces the electoral college. I love using a book to teach my students about social studies concepts and they will fall in love with the main character of this book. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
In school, a young girl Grace is learning about presidents. She is surprised to learn that there has never been a girl president. Grace decides that she wants to run for president and her teacher organizes an election.
Grace and Thomas, a student from another class, are running against one another. The students learn about the electoral college and Grace and Thomas both run presidential campaigns. They create slogans, buttons, posters, and come up with promises. Grace works really hard during her campaign and spends a lot of time working.
During the election, Grace and Thomas are tied when it comes time for the last state to cast their electoral votes. Thomas is certain that Sam is going to vote for him. Everyone is surprised when Sam chooses to vote for Grace and she wins the election.
When it comes time for career day, Grace knows exactly what she wants to be when she grows up, president.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Just because this book is a great for teaching social studies doesn’t mean it can’t be used in other subject areas as well. I try to incorporate reading comprehension, writing, grammar and social emotional learning into every book I read. Here are some ideas on how to do that in your own classroom.
- Stop as you read and encourage students to make predictions about what will happen next in the story. This is a great way to keep students engaged during a read aloud.
- Examine the author’s purpose for writing this book.
- Integrate informational writing by having students write about what they learned from the book.
- Have students form an opinion on the characters in this book and write reasons to support their thoughts.
- Explore proper nouns with students.
- Introduce the colon and identify its purpose.
- Use Grace as an example of perseverance and discuss the importance of this skill.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
The Starts With a Story book companion for Grace For President has over 30 comprehension questions teachers can ask students as they read the book. Each comprehension question have a possible student answer to help teachers with their discussion. We have also included 30 writing prompts, ideas for teaching three grammar skills, and discussion ideas for integrating social emotional learning. The book companion has graphic organizers and worksheets that are a great way for students to practice new skills or demonstrate their learning. We hope this resource makes planning and teaching so much easier!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges
- Not Quite, Snow White by Ashley Franklin
- Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty
- Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
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