Read the current chapter online: “The Citizen.”
Citizenship and election day methods.
Suggestions
- Narration: Explain the meaning of “the well-balanced law-maker becomes so only through experience and growth.”
- At the time the book was written, women did not have the right to vote. This was changed with the passing of the 19th amendment to the Constitution.
- View a timeline of women’s suffrage.
- “There’s a Roland for your Oliver” is an idiom that refers to the two legendary knights that fought for Charlemagne. The idiom has the same meaning as “tit for tat.” Make a list of other idioms.
- View a timeline of U.S. voting rights.
- Explain how, according to the author, a person can have the rights of citizenship without the duties.
- Learn more about the Australian ballot system in the United States.
- Make a flip book showing the reasons voters register prior to voting as listed by the author on pg. 206.
- You, too, can sing “The Morning Light is Breaking.”
- Learn more about the duties of polling officers.
- Learn more abut the primary system.
- Copywork: Copy “The Poor Voter on Election Day” by John Greenleaf Whittier.
- Learn more about the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
- Read a biography of George Peabody.
- Read George W. Childs’s obituary.
- Read a biography of Peter Cooper.
- Learn more about Robert Morris.
- Read a biography of Thomas Starr King.
- Learn more about Henry Ward Beecher.
- Learn more about Horace Greeley.
- Choose one of the key citizens mentioned and write a character sketch of him/her.
- Use drawing and writing paper to create a notebooking page labeled “citizenship.” Include the descriptive quote on pg. 214–215. Illustrate the quotation by showing what citizenship means to you.
- Read the passage in Acts referred to on pg. 215.
- Provide a narration of the rights of American citizenship as listed at the bottom of pg. 215.
- Read the 10 Steps to Naturalization to learn more about the naturalization process.
- Review the requirements to become President of the United States.
- Read “Prophecy” by Tennyson quoted in the text.
- View an image of Thomas Circle as it looked in 1922.
Learn more about being a good citizen:
The core, the center, of every community is the family. Therefore, the first obligation that you, as a good citizen, must discharge is to those who live beneath the same roof with you. This sounds very simple; perhaps it may even irritate you. But it is often far easier to be well-mannered, considerate and helpful outside one’s familiar home than within it. Nevertheless, since the home is the center of the community, the payment of your debt to a free society surely begins with the cheerful performance of your duties within the four walls of your own house, with your willingness to co-operate with the other members of your family in order not to destroy or to weaken the structure as a whole. If you are selfish, sulky, inconsiderate, if you constantly shirk your responsibility and “pass the buck” to someone else, that structure begins to wobble dangerously at its very center.
“A Good Citizen” from The Book of Knowledge
Additional Resources
History of Voting Rights
From MassVote.org.
History of Women’s Suffrage
Background from Scholastic.
Understanding the Nomination Process
Background on elections along with discussion questions.
John Greenleaf Whittier Dies
Biography from MassMoments.org.
Activities
Activities to Teach Kids About Women’s Suffrage
At KidsDiscover.com.
History of Voting in America
Timeline download.
The Australian Ballot
Video explaining.
Elections 101: Why Voting Matters
Interactive from PBS.
Historical Timeline: Electronic Voting Machines
Interactive look at the way we vote.
Books
A Brief Illustrated History of Voting
Online book.
Poems and Songs Celebrating America by Ann Braybrooks
Collection published by Dover that includes Whittier’s poem along with many others!
Units & Lesson Plans
Electoral College Tools {Free}
A variety of resources to help understand the electoral college process.
Campaign 2016 {Free Lessons}
Videos, printables, discussion questions, and more from C-Span.org.
Presidential Elections: A Unit Study
Lots of resources!
Notebooking Pages & Printables
2016 Electoral College Map
Useful printout.
The Citizen Notebooking Pages
Our free and simple notebooking pages for copywork, narrations, dictations, or wrapping up.
Enjoy the entire series:
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