Unit Library

1. If I were President
Author: Catherine Stier
Illustrator: Diane DiSalvo-Ryan

2. On Vote, Two Votes, I Vote, You Vote

Author: Bonnie Worth
Illustrator: Aristides Ruiz

3. See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election

Schemes, and
the Race to the White House
Author: Susan E. Goodman
Illustrator: Elwood Smith

4. How the US Government Works

Author and Illustrator: Syl Sobel

5. We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the

United States
Author and Illustrator: David Catrow

6. The Bill of Rights: Protecting Our Freedom Then and Now

Author and Illustrator: Syl Sobel

7. What are the Three Branches of the Government? And

Other
Questions About the U.S Constitution
Author: Ben Richmond
8. Election Day
Author: Margaret McNamara
Illustrator: Mike Gordon

9. Why Are There Stripes on the American Flag?

Author: Martha E. H. Rustad
Illustrator: Kyle Poling

10. The Pledge of Allegiance

Author: Scholastic Inc.
1. If I were President gives children an insight on what it would be
like to be our countrys President. It explains in a simplistic way
about the President swearing in then, moving to the white house.
Also the book mentions the privileges of being the President such
as having personal cooks, drivers, and bodyguards. One line that
stood out to me was If I were president I would have to make
many important decisions that some people may not agree
with. This shows children at a young age that no political leader
or anyone for that matter will do things that everyone is okay
with; everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Finally this book
explains all the duties to American citizens that a President is in
charge of.
This book gives insight on what its like to be President therefore
children will have a better understanding of what exactly the
Presidents job consists of. This book correlates with explaining
the purpose for elections then what the President does after they
are elected.
2. The Cat in the Hats One vote, Two Votes, I Vote, You Vote is a
fun rhyming book that explains processes of elections and the
purpose for voting. It explains the different political parties and
how it ends up being one candidate from each party to run. Then
it shows what each campaign goes through in order to win
Americas vote. Also it adds history to explain when George
Washington was elected and then how it was changed to an
earlier date. It goes over what each citizen has to do in order to
vote and that each voter has complete privacy.
Immediately this book stood out to me because children need to
understand how important it is to vote. This is one of the most
important rights as a citizen therefore I will encourage my
 students that voting should be a top priority when they become
of age. This book also falls under explaining the purpose for
elections.
3. See How They Run is similar to the Dr. Seuss book however it is
written to a slightly more mature audience. It explains the
election process, the purpose for elections, and how citizens will
elect our political leaders. It gives points of views of both
candidates (a donkey and elephant) allowing better
comprehension from the reader rather than the 3rd person view.
Again, I plan to teach my students how important it is to vote
and I want them to have a complete understanding of the
political processes. This book also fits under the standard of
explaining the purpose for elections.
4. How the US Government Works is a nonfictional source and
easy read, which explains how our Federal Government works. It
also provides history on ways our Government has changed
through out the years. It includes information on legislative body,
composed of Senate and House Representatives, the executive
branch that is headed by the President with the help of his
cabinet, and the judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court of
the United States, and it extends to federal courts throughout our
nation.
This book contains a lot of writing on its pages therefore this is
the perfect text to break down the information. Different days I
will be doing different lessons with each branch of government
therefore I will be able to reference different parts of the book on
different days. This book covers the standards of defining the
principles and ideas shaping local government, identifying the
roles of the three branches of government, identifying services
performed by government, and explaining the purposes of rules,
laws, and consequences.
5. We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United
States reviews the Preamble of our Constitution is a fun way for
kids to understand. It adds a sense of humor as two friends
display each line of the preamble. There arent many words on
the page however the illustrations are very detailed. This will
serve more as a teaching aid for me; I will read each line on the
pages then explain it in other words and give examples.
This book serves as a great visual of each line of the preamble.
This falls under the standard of identifying key ideas about
government found in significant documents (the constitution).
6. The Bill of Rights: Protecting Our Freedom Then and Now takes
us back to when there were just the newly created 13 states. It
explains how the American citizens at that time feared the
government would take away certain of their rights. It was then
decided to add ten amendments to the Constitution in order to
guarantee certain rights to all citizens and states. Each
amendment is broken down into easier terms to understand. The
facets of American constitutional history and law are also
touched upon.
This book serves as a great guide for a teacher to present the Bill
of Rights to their students. Personally if one asked me to name
my amendments I could only name about two. Therefore I find it
very important that my students will understand all of our most
important documents. This falls under the standard of identifying
key ideas about government found in significant documents.
7. What are the Three Branches of the Government allows an
information and beautiful illustration of what each of the
branches of government are responsible for. This nonfictional
book contains a lot of information to one page followed by an
illustration on the page next to it.
This book will also be able to be used when I break down the
information about the three branches of government. This can
 also be used to assist in teaching about the constitution. This
falls under the standards of defining the principles and ideas
shaping local government, identifying the roles of the three
branches of government, identifying services performed by
government, and explaining the purposes of rules, laws, and
consequences.
8. Election Day is a cute, fun storybook about a classroom
election. The students will listen to each of their classmates
speeches about why they should be class President. Theres a
new girl that wants to try to run too however shes worried
because she has no friends. However she takes a chance and
makes her speech.
This would be a great opening book to read before my class has
their mock election. This book is a good hook to get them excited
to do the same activity we are reading about while still teaching
them about elections. The standard this falls under is explaining
the purpose for elections.
9. Why are there Stripes of the American Flag provides a cute
story of a classroom learning the information pertaining to the
meaning of our flag and a variety of other American symbols.
They also explore when the first flag was made and what the
significance of the Pledge of Allegiance. This book includes
information about the liberty bell, our flag, bald eagle, and many
more.
This book will serve as a great teaching tool during my lesson
about American symbols. The standard of American symbols is
what this is included under.
10. The
Pledge of Allegiance consists of our Pledge broken down by lines
with illustrations as well as a brief background of when and how
our Pledge was written. This book is nonfiction.
This book will be useful to review the Pledge with my students as
well as introducing them to why we say the Pledge and what the
significance of it is. The standard this falls under is identifying
key ideas about significant documents. It may not be a document
however it is an extremely significant part of being a citizen.