MiniPage Teacher's Guide

MiniPage activities meet many state and national educational standards. 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); students recognize national and state symbols and traditions, such as flags, seals and holidays. (Social Studies: Civics).
Activities:1. Create a poster welcoming the Democrats to Boston. Be sure to include some interesting Boston sites on your poster.
2. List five reasons why Boston is a good choice for the Democratic convention.
3. Collect words and photos from your newspaper to make a poster about your community. Then write a paragraph explaining why your town would be a good place for an important meeting.
4. Collect news stories about the presidential campaigns of John Kerry and George Bush. Which candidate is ahead this week? What issues are being discussed in the stories? How do you feel about the issues?
5. Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about the Democratic Party. Use these questions to guide your research: When did the Democratic Party begin? Why did the party form? What groups typically support the Democrats? What interesting things have happened at past Democratic conventions? What Democrats have served as president of the United States?