The official race to the White House begins today, although unofficially, candidates have been traveling all over the country making speeches, appearing on television, attending rallies, and participating in numerous other kinds of ways of introducing themselves to the American people with the hope of getting their votes on election day, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November; this year that day will be November 6, 2012.
Everything kicks off with the Iowa Caucus today. What do you know about the Iowa Caucus? Who is running for president this time around? We begin to make sense about all of this today because things really heat up on this coming weekend when the Republican candidates hold another debate in New Hampshire, this one, the last one before the New Hampshire Presidential Primary which takes place on Tuesday, January 10, 2012; the New Hampshire primary is the first primary in the nation.
First, what do you know about the Iowa Caucus being held today in the state of Iowa? How does it work? What’s a caucus? What questions do you have about the Iowa Caucus?
What better place do begin than the state of Iowa and The Des Moines Register, the statewide newspaper. Go to the site to learn more about today’s caucus.
For homework tonight:
On a new left-hand page in your social studies journal, take notes, write down questions you have about the Iowa Caucus. Keep track of the links you visit and the notes from that link. Also, all the major news stations will be covering the Iowa Caucus tonight, check out as many of these sites as possible to see the coverage; you can also watch each news organization coverage on television:
Be prepared to share what you learned in class on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Animal Farm
Today we begin reading Animal Farm by George Orwell. Keep up with the nightly questions for today’s reading of chapter 1.