Nov. 1, 2006: It's Voting Time

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain News. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).

Activities:

1. Pretend you are running for Congress. Design a campaign poster telling people to vote for you.

2. Find newspaper ads for two candidates running for a local, state or national office. Circle all the words that say good things about the candidates.

3. Look at the map in today's Mini Page. Put a star on your state. Now find three states that have either more or fewer representatives than your state has.

4. Find two people in newspaper stories or the comic strips that you would nominate to be in the U.S. Congress. Write a short paragraph explaining why each person or character would be a good national lawmaker.

5. Look at the different ways the Mini Page shows of how candidates try to get their message out to voters. Identify the three ways you feel are most effective in reaching voters. Write a paragraph explaining why you believe these messages are more powerful than others.

This week's standards:

• Students identify key ideals of the United States' democratic republican form of government. (Social Studies: Civic Ideals and Practices)
• Students understand the ideas, principles and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic. (Social Studies: Civics)
  
  (standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)