Book Of The Week: Grace For President

Grace For President by Kelly DiPucchio

Summary: 

When Grace Campbell's teacher, Mrs. Barrington, takes out a poster with presidential pictures on it, Grace becomes very aware that there are no girl presidents!  Thinking about the absurdity of it, Grace decides to run for school president. Her excitement is short-lived when she finds out a student from Mr. Waller's class, Thomas Cobb, is also running for president.  Thomas's legacy of success has Grace worried but her worry turns into hard work and campaigning while Thomas continues to think about himself.  Down by one electoral vote and only one student left to vote, will Grace win the election?

Vocabulary:

• stew - to be worried or annoyed
• election - the process of choosing someone to be a part of the government by voting
• snicker - to laugh in a sneaky or sly way
• announcement - a public statement 
• democracy - a government in which people get to for for their lawmakers
• nominate - to choose someone for a position
• assign - to choose someone to do something
• electoral vote- votes given by each state in the United States Presidential election
• candidate - the person who wants to be elected or chosen for something
• campaign - a plan that someone makes and does to make something happen
• constituents - someone who allows someone else to represent him or her
• rally - a gathering to make people feel good about something
• beautification - the process of making something beautiful
• assembly - to join together as a group for a reason
• podium - a raised platform for a speaker
• slogan - a short phrase or motto used during an election

There is a lot of great vocabulary in this lesson.  I found that it was difficult for students with language needs, more specifically with vocabulary weaknesses, to comprehend the text, so I decided to make these simple "I have…who has…" cards to practice the vocabulary.  What a difference it made!  You can find them here at our TPT store.

Questions:

Why did Grace decide to run for president?  

Why did Grace think it would be easy to run for president at first?

What did the author mean when she said, "Grace's heart sank"?

What kind of a student do you think Thomas was?

Why did Thomas campaign differently than Grace?

What qualities do you think Sam saw in Grace that he did not see in Thomas?

Who would you vote for?  Why?

I also used this awesome freebie from Megan Mitchell.  It was the perfect addition to this book!