An Inauguration Day Lesson Plan

The first time I really paid any attention to the Presidential Inauguration was when George W. Bush was inaugurated in 2005. I was in law school and had spent months debating with other law students—and professors—about various political issues. I remember sitting in the lobby and watching the news as Bush took the Inaugural oath. In 2009, my sister and I made the trek to D.C. and met my aunt for Obama’s first inauguration. Although there was a huge mishap and we never made it to our seats to watch the swearing-in or the inaugural address, we will always have the memory of being bundled up, in the national capital on that historic day—and we DID get to see the We Are One Concert the Sunday before!

Four years ago I was feeling rather sad over where we were as a country and didn’t pay much attention to the Inaugural events. I was caught up in my own disappointments and struggles, and the state of the country just brought on more anxiety than I could handle. I was trying to live a life of hope, but everything I saw in politics shattered any hope I was clinging to.

The events of 2020 have put the Presidential election in the forefront of our home. This is the first Presidential election where my children are old enough to really understand what’s happening. We’ve spent three years learning about early American history, and they’ve seen the frustrations and hurts the world has experienced over the last four years. We have talked about the positive things that have happened over the last few years (not many in the world of politics), and we’ve talked about the struggles. We’ve talked about Black Lives Matter, we’ve put signs up in our yard, we’ve donated to campaigns. We’ve worn masks, we’ve stayed home. We read books about candidates, we walked to vote, and we cried when we heard the news saying Biden would be President. We watched the capitol insurrection just two weeks ago, and we continue to talk about the many struggles that our country will continue to face over the next 4 years.

It feels only right that this year, we celebrate Inauguration Day as the start of something new. As a day of hope in moving forward. I decided to postpone our normal lessons for the day and make it a day of “Presidential learning”. If you are looking for ways to incorporate Inauguration Day into your week, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Photo by David Rowe.

Read

I love using Picture Books in our Morning Time together. They help us center our thoughts and good snuggles on the couch first thing in the morning always help our day go a little smoother. Here are some of my favorite books to consider for this week. If you can’t grab any of these from your library before Wednesday, you can find almost all of them all online.

Joey: The Story of Joe Biden—This is a biography about Joe Biden written by Jill Biden, and it’s just delightful. It talks about Joe as a kid, and my girls found it very relatable. You can find a read-aloud video here.

Kamala & Maya’s Big Idea—A delightful story written by Kamala Harris’ niece about a big idea Kamala and her sister Maya had as kids and how they implemented it. It’s a great book for empowering kids to have dreams and work towards making them happen. The author does an online read-aloud here.  

Blue Sky White Stars—The images in this book are incredible. The words are simple, but when combined with the illustrations by Kadir Nelson, it becomes a profound book. This is one of my favorite children’s books about America. I highly recommend finding a copy of this one so you can look at the stunning images in person, but you can also watch a read-aloud here.

So You Want to Be President - This is a longer book works best with older elementary students. It has fun facts and great illustrations about every President through George W. Bush. We really enjoy reading this one together. You can watch a read-aloud here.

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez - SUCH a fun book about a girl who wants to make her neighborhood a better place. She learns about the many different steps one has to go through to make a difference, and how much determination it takes to become a leader. Especially President! Online read-aloud is available here.

The Buck Stops Here - This is the only one I couldn’t find as a read-aloud online. I found this one to be a little dry when we read it together, but my kids actually love it. They requested it from the library so many times that I finally just bought them their own copy! It has fun facts about all the Presidents through Clinton.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash.

Writing Exercise

Challenge your kids with this writing prompt: You’re president of the United States. What do you say in your inaugural address to help bring people together?

If you have younger elementary kids, or kids who struggle with the mechanics of writing, I encourage you to make this an oral composition exercise. Have them tell you what they’d say and you write it down as they go. You’ll be surprised how well they can compose something in their head, even though they may struggle with actually putting it down on paper!

Photo by Manki Kim on Unsplash.

Tea Time

We love to have Family Tea Time once a month or so. It’s a time when we sit around and drink tea (or sometimes hot chocolate or lemonade or whatever else we can find in the house) and read poetry together. This month we’ll have Tea Time on Inauguration Day, and we’ll read the Inaugural Oath, as well as a few poems like I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman and On the Pulse of Morning by Maya Angelou. There’s a great Youtube Video of Maya Angelou reading her poem at the 1993 Inauguration. We’ll sing the Star Spangled Banner with Lady Gaga and maybe even America the Beautiful because singing is good for our hearts and our lungs. And of course, we’ll have a yummy snack to munch on. Maybe popcorn with strawberries and blueberries?

Photo by ramya_aiyappan on Flickr.

Art

No lesson plan is complete without a little bit of Art! Part of the Inauguration week kick-off included Kolam, a traditional Indian artwork, created by more than 1800 people all over the world. i can’t wait to take a look at some of the designs, and maybe even create Kolam of our own!

We are also huge fans of Chalk Pastels with Nana. If you have some chalk and some paper, you can follow along with her and paint your very own American flag. If you are a member of her art club, you can explore the three branches of government. I have to say I splurged on a membership in a fit of COVID-induced rage back in March, and it was my best impulse purchase of 2020! I can’t wait to paint the branches of government picture … whether my kids do it with me or not!

Photo by David Rowe.

Play

Play is such an important part of a child’s learning, as well as being an important way for us parents to foster connections with them. I have seen firsthand how my girls incorporate the things they are learning in their imaginative play. This week, consider putting on a puppet show together. Or if you don’t have puppets, pull out all of your stuffed animals.

Who will be the next Puppet President?

How will they address their audience?

Will there be music? Other speakers?

Don’t forget the swearing in!

Watch

Honestly, you can do none of the other things listed here and watch the Inauguration and you’ve done a great job of incorporating this historic day. There’s no official start time—the swearing in happens at Noon EST, but you can expect news coverage to happen all morning. Typically things start sometime around 11:30am EST.

And if you’re looking for some background music while you’re making dinner, check out this playlist the Biden-Harris team put together. I’ve been jamming to it all day!

Have so much fun in your Presidential Learning! This truly is an inaugural year like none other.

A Letter to Mr. Trump

Dear Mr. Trump,

I guess I should call you "President-Elect". You'll probably never read this letter - and even if you do - I'm sure you won't care, but that's never stopped me from writing before. So here goes.

There was once upon a time when I thought you may be a brilliant business person. I can remember watching those early seasons of The Apprentice, when you would tell people so bluntly like it was. You were a truth-teller. There weren't many times when I didn't agree with most of what you said. And at times, I thought you were funny. But, like anything, after so many seasons I had had enough. And to be honest ... you kind of fell off my radar.

Then you entered the presidential race. At first I thought it was a big fat joke. I never dreamed it was something you would really want to do. I mean, come on - there's no money in that job. The President doesn't have a lot of friends. There's nothing but the accumulation of grey hairs. There's never been a President that everyone liked, and hell - the last several elections we've seen the country completely divided in half.

And then you continued to win. You insulted person after person ... and people in America continued to vote for you. You incited - encouraged even - violence among people all over the country. Hate crimes began to rise because of your words. Racism, sexism, bigotry ... that's what you represented throughout your campaign. And you weren't even apologetic. When it became apparent that you would be the Republican candidate, I felt sure that equality and the goodness of humankind would prevail over your hateful insults and terrible character.

But here we are ... three days after Election Day ... and you have won. Only because of an outdated system that you yourself once called a disaster. If it's such a disaster Mr. Trump, why don't you concede yourself? It's not too late, you know. I think it's a disgrace that the American people voted for the other candidate, and yet you will be the one taking office.

But this letter isn't about that.

No - this letter is about what's happened since you've been elected. It's about the violence that's happened in the streets. It's about the stories I'm hearing from the people I love all over the country. Stories of hate. Stories of insults. Stories of swastikas on buildings, and busted out windows. Stories of nasty names being written on cars, and of women being cat-called and grabbed. Stories of minorities being taunted and yelled at.

Is this what you had in mind when you said, "Let's make America great again??"

And if it's not - because surely it's not, right? Surely you, Mr. President-Elect, don't believe that we should go back in time to a land where only the white male was counted a citizen. Surely you, the soon-to-be leader of this great country that was founded on religious freedom, equality, and human rights, don't really believe this is the right way to treat people ... do you??

I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe that now that you've been elected you will stand up for the things that matter. I want to believe that you played the game well - however nasty you were - and that now you're ready to do the hard work of bringing people together. I want to believe in the goodness of humankind ... and that deep down, you have a big heart and you want to take care of America as best you can.

So, Mr. Trump, I'm calling on you to stand up for what's right. Stand up and speak out against the things we see happening. Stand up against the violence. Stand up against the hate. Speak out against racism, and sexism, and inequality. Reassure us, the American people, that the next four years won't look like the last few days have. I'm longing to hear a word from you, our next President, about how we can move forward together in a peaceful way.

Stand up Mr. Trump. It's time for you to begin the work you've been called to do. It's time to bring us together. Speak out against hate. Speak out against violence. Speak out.

That's what a President-Elect would do.

Because We Will Overcome

As I began this article, I was glued to the television - watching results come in for the Presidential election that were vastly different than anything I expected. I went to bed before the final votes were in, and cried myself to sleep in my husband’s arms. I said all along it could happen. I knew, in my head, that this man was appealing to all that is selfish about humankind. As the results came in, I wasn’t surprised. But that didn’t make me any less devastated. My heart believed that good would prevail. My heart believed that people would stand up against hate. My heart believes that God is Love … and that Love always wins. But last night, love did not win.

My husband and I laid awake for hours last night, wondering:

How do we raise daughters under him as President? How do we protect their rights?
How do we live in a country filled with so much hate and animosity?
Where do we go from here?

And now … as the final results are in … as we prepare for Donald Trump to become the President of the United States … I can’t help but think about how we got to the place where we are today.

Yesterday, I read my daughters a story about a black woman who walked to her polling place to cast her vote. As she walked through her town, she reflected on those who came before her, and the events in history that brought her to today. She looked back on her great-grandparents, who were sold as slaves and were forced to work in a cotton field. She looked back on the African American men who gained the right to vote in 1870, and the wives that stood beside them, even though they couldn’t cast their own vote. She looked back on her grandpa, who was charged a poll tax in order to cast his vote ... a poll tax he couldn't afford. Her uncle who had to take tests before he could vote ... tests that didn't have any right answers - only wrong ones. She looked back on the first women to be granted the right to vote - her own mother included - in 1920. She remembers the angry mobs, the burning crosses, the hate and animosity. She thinks about trying to register to vote, having to write down a section of the Constitution word for word ... yet another unpassable test. She remembers the people who died standing up for what's right. John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr, rabbis, priests, and other good-hearted Americans. She remembers the first time she cast her own vote - in 1965 - and in every single election after that. She walked and walked to cast her vote … and she did it because she knew the sacrifices that were made so that she had the right to vote.

I’ve voted in every single election since I turned 18. I don’t always make the most informed decisions, but I always try to research and vote according to my heart, my faith, and my education. I always vote for goodness. For equality. For love. I don’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t allowed to vote.

And this year, I voted for a woman. I voted for a woman who I thought would be the next President of the United States. I voted for a woman who has - for years - fought for rights for children, for women, for those most in need. I voted for a woman who makes me proud to be American. A woman who inspires me to do better. A woman who I believe in - and I think she probably believes in me. That woman lost the election, but she won my heart. And she inspired me to do better. To be better. To love harder. To rise up and go high.

Many people in my social circle voted differently than me. And while I don’t understand how they could possibly vote for someone who espoused hate at every turn, I do respect their vote. I respect their voice. I respect that they exercised their right to vote.

And now, even in the midst of our grief and despair … maybe because of our grief and despair, it’s time to move forward. If Hillary taught us anything, it’s that we are Stronger Together. It’s that we never give up. It’s that we get fired up and ready to go.

Men and women of America ... people of America, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Take a moment to grieve today, and then let’s get to work. Let’s join hands and show that united we are strong. Let’s work together to show that we will overcome hate and fear and animosity. Because we will overcome. And we will not be silenced. God is Love. And Love will always win.