Utilize the materials below to teach your students about the United States Senate. These resources can be used in conjunction with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute’s Virtual Senate Chamber Tour program or as stand alone activities in your classroom. 

 

ELEMENTARY RESOURCES

Traditions of the Senate: Bean Soup
This activity explains an odd senate tradition—keeping bean soup on the menu for over 100 years! Students will learn about this tradition, then have the opportunity to make their own bean soup.

Traditions of the Senate: Senate Decorum
In this activity students will learn about senate decorum, rules that outline how senators should behave while at work. Then, students will design their own rules to bolster cooperation in their home or classroom.

Traditions of the Senate: Dress the Part
This activity explores the Senate’s clothing traditions and challenges students to plan a “Fancy Friday” where they will dress up with their family or class.

In the Senate Chamber: The Candy Desk
This activity teaches students about a delicious tradition in the United States Senate—the candy desk. Then, students will solve math problems about their own favorite candy.

MIDDLE SCHOOL/HIGH SCHOOL RESOURCES

Senator in Training: Compromise
This activity teaches students about the importance of compromise in the United States Senate. Students will consider the importance of reaching compromises, then work on creating a just compromise for an important issue in their own life.

Senator in Training: Senate Committees
This activity teaches students about different committees in the United States Senate. Then, students will craft an agenda for their own senate committee.

Symbols of the Senate: Friezes
In this activity students will explore the United States Senate Chamber to learn about allegories and other symbols in art. Next, students will work creatively to design their own allegorical frieze.

Citizens of the Senate: Women’s Fight for Suffrage
This lesson teaches students about the women’s suffrage movement, and the courageous fight waged by American heroines culminating in the passage of the 19th Amendment . Students will examine sources and complete their own research to understand the women’s suffrage movement and the movement’s prominent leaders.

Voting Rights in America Timeline
This resource shows when different groups of Americans gained the right to vote. Exploring different identity groups based on sex, age, race/ethnicity, and economic and educational status.

Just Vote Youth Registration Campaign
This resource helps students reflect on the role of voting in the democratic process. After learning key vocabulary, examples, and challenges regarding our elections, students will create their own campaign to register voters.