5th+Grade+Lesson

===Political Candidates Home Websites for evaluation Candidates websites 5th Grade Lesson 12th Grade Lesson===

5th Grade Lesson
This lesson is part of a unit on the presidential election and voting. The outcome for the unit will be for student teams to create a presentation on which candidate they feel should win the 2008 presidential election. Students will research the candidates formulate their arguments and present to the class in teams of three.
 * Introduction**


 * Pre-Lesson Instruction:**
 * **Students will have been cursory information on the candidates.**
 * **Students will have studied the election process**


 * Lesson objectives**
 * Students will learn to compare information and evaluate that information in the context of the presidential election.
 * Students will learn to critically evaluate the information sources about each of the candidates
 * Students will learn to evaluate information and communicate that information to others in an effective manner.

Indiana Academic Standards: 5.2.7 Describe various kinds of elections such as primary elections, general elections, local, state, and national elections, including ones to select congressional and presidential office holders.
 * Standards to be addressed**

American Association of School Librarians Standards for Information Literacy: 1.1.1 Follow an inquiry based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects, and make the real world connection for using this process in own life. 1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual,visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.

CNN: www.cnn.com Fox News: www.foxnews.com ABCnews [|www.abcnews.com] CBSnews [|www.cbsnews.com]
 * Materials`**
 * Web access for students, with links to the following pages:


 * Web site evaluation form
 * Candidate evaluation form

Review (5 minutes) Introducing the task (5 minutes) Exploring web pages (40 minutes) Analyzing web pages (10 minutes) Presentations (5 minutes each)
 * Procedures**
 * Review the election process.
 * Introduction to the main issues relevant to the presidential race.
 * Have students divide into teams of three
 * Distribute copies of both worksheets. Ask students to write their name at the top of each.
 * Allow students to explore each of the web pages gathering information about both candidates. Encourage students to try o find differences in the information posted on each of the sites. Are the candidates portrayed in the same light on each of the pages, are delegate counts the same on each of the pages...
 * Evaluate the web pages using the evaluation sheet. Which site(s) seemed to have the best information? Were there any sites that portrayed unique or different information than the others? Did it appear that any of the sites favored one candidate or party over the other(s)?


 * Accommodations**
 * Materials may be read aloud to the class or projected on the wall to aid students with reading disabilities.
 * Student groups will be composed of various ability levels enabling peer to peer help if needed.

Teachers can assess the progress of students in meeting lesson objectives from the following:
 * Assessment**
 * Students’ entries on worksheets
 * Students’ class presentations
 * Students’ class participation

Continue to follow the election at it progresses. Have class discussions/instruction on the following:
 * Follow-up activities**
 * Electoral college
 * (2) party system
 * Constitutional Requirements for Presidential Office
 * Term Restrictions
 * Impeachment
 * Checks and Balances