Last updated: October 7, 2019
Lesson Plan
Road to the White House
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 30 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 4.SL.1.d
- State Standards:
- SL71. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
- Thinking Skills:
- Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.
Essential Question
What career path is most preferable if someone wants to be the President of the United States?
Objective
Participants will know and understand the career track of Bill Clinton from High School to the Presidency.
Background
Bill Clinton is a native of Hope, Arkansas. His biological father died three months before he was born. He spent the first four years of his life living with his mother and grandparents in his grandparents house on Hervey Street. Bill Clinton's maternal grandparents came to Hope from Bodcaw, Arkansas to escape the ravages of the Great Depression. Neither of his grandparents finished high school. Edith (his grandmother) quit school in the 11th grade and received a "home health care provider" certification through a mail order correspondence course. His grandfather, Eldridge Cassidy came to town with a job of delivering ice house to house; which probably did not pay much. Edith Cassidy (his grandmother) worked as a home health care nurse in the neighborhood. They could only afford to rent the house when they first came to town, but had stabilized enough to buy it a decade later (around 1946). The Cassidy's gave their daughter the chance to provide for herself by allowing her to leave her son with them for two years while she attended nursing school in New Orleans, Louisiana. Despite the lack of education and worldliness on part of the Cassidy's; they imparted on young Bill, the need to make the most of educational opportunties, a progressive view of social justice and a staunch work ethic. His ascension through the academic ranks from meeting John F. Kennedy as a member of Boy's Nation, to graduating the program at Hot Springs High School to teaching law at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and eventually to the top office in the country was due in no small part to the specific circumstances and opportunities afforded to Bill Clinton.
Preparation
| Introduce the three branches of government. Explain, in depth about the Executive branch and the duties of the President. Ask students if they know who was the 42nd President. Create a KWL chart for requirements to become President of the United States. Research the requirements. Create an election poster as if you are competing for the Presidency, demonstrating that they have the proper requirements to run for office. |
Materials
Procedure
Students will organize a timeline for the professional life of Bill Clinton
Vocabulary
Great Depression
Biological
Maternal
Correspondence Course
Segregation
Social Justice
Renting versus owning a house (consider social startification of students before breaching this subject)
Enrichment Activities
Visit www.nps.gov/wicl
Contact Information
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Tags: president clinton