Lesson Plan - Can a Kid Be President?

Watch a Video
Watch the video “Newsie’s Challenge: What It Takes to Be President.” Ask: What are the requirements for becoming the U.S. president?

Preview Words to Know
Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.

• candidate
• campaigning

Set a Purpose for Reading
As students read, have them identify three rules about who can be the U.S. president. 

1. What is the purpose of the article?
The purpose of the article is to explain that the 2024 race to the White House has already begun and to share important facts about how Americans choose the nation’s top leader.
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2. What three rules for who can be president are listed in the U.S. Constitution?
The U.S. Constitution says that a person must be at least 35 years old, must have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years, and must have been born a U.S. citizen.
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3. Share two facts you can learn from the sidebar, “Celebrate Presidents’ Day.”
Sample response: From this sidebar, you can learn that more U.S. presidents have been born in Virginia than in any other state. You can also learn that the U.S. has had 46 presidents so far.
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FEATURED SKILL: Text Features
Use the skill builder “Election Words” to deepen understanding of key election-themed vocabulary from the article.
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