Inauguration Day Lesson Plans

Posted by on January 12, 2009

I am pleased and excited to tell you about an educational resource developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) for Inauguration Day. The historic election of President-Elect Barack Obama and the eager anticipation of his inauguration on January 20 by young and old alike present an exciting opportunity for educators. To help take the best advantage of this extraordinary event, PDE has developed a series of short lesson plans that teachers may use to prepare students for participation in the events of Inauguration Day.

There are three sets of lesson plans, one set for elementary students; a set for middle school students and a set for high school students. Each set has four fifteen-minute lessons that can be used in the days leading up to January 20 and culminates with age appropriate activities for Inauguration Day itself. The lessons are aligned to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Civics and Government and include

We are also hoping to have live reporting via blog from student correspondents available on the PDE website on Inauguration Day to help students across Pennsylvania get a sense of the “live” experience in Washington, D.C.

These lesson plans are available on the PDE website at http://www.pde.state.pa.us.  Please share this information with your teachers and staff. We hope that you find these resources useful in your classrooms as our students take part in this historic day as citizens of Pennsylvania and the nation.

Jerry Zahorchak
Secretary of Education