A Day in the Senate PDF

A DAY IN THE SENATE BY TERRY MILLER SHANNON A DAY IN THE SENATE STRATEGIES & SKILLS Comprehension Strategy: Ask and Answer Questions Skill: Cause and Effect Content Standards Social Studies Civics and Government Vocabulary amendments, commitment, compromise, democracy, eventually, legislation,...

A DAY IN THE SENATE BY TERRY MILLER SHANNON A DAY IN THE SENATE STRATEGIES & SKILLS Comprehension Strategy: Ask and Answer Questions Skill: Cause and Effect Content Standards Social Studies Civics and Government Vocabulary amendments, commitment, compromise, democracy, eventually, legislation, privilege, version Word Count: 856** Photography Credit: (t)Ingram Publishing/SuperStock, (c)Brand X Pictures/PunchStock, (b)Hulton Archive/Getty Images **The total word count is based on words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words in captions, labels, diagrams, charts, and sidebars are not included. mheducation.com/prek-12 Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education, including, but not limited to, network storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Send all inquiries to: McGraw-Hill Education Two Penn Plaza New York, New York 10121 ISBN: 978-0-02-119091-1 MHID: 0-02-119091-7 Printed in the United States of America. 11 12 13 14 15 QLM 22 21 20 19 18 F Genre Narrative Nonfiction Essential Question Why do we need government? Table of Contents Chapter 1 Meet a Senator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Chapter 2 Working Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Chapter 3 A Senate Vote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Respond to Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 PAIRED READ A New President Takes Office 16 Glossary/Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Focus on Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 CHAPTER 1 MEET A SENATOR Senators do important work. They write laws that make our country better. They pass laws to build new highways and to improve schools. Senators work in the Senate . The Senate and the House of Representatives make up Congress . Congress is the part of the government that makes the laws. We need legislation, or laws, to help the country run well. Laws give us rules to follow. Senators work in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. 2 Candidates meet voters in their state to try to win a seat in the Senate. Senators make new laws. They also change laws to make them work better. People choose senators by voting in elections. Two senators represent each state in the Senate. Who Can Become a Senator? • A senator must be at least 30 years old. • The senator must live in the state he or she represents. • Senators make a commitment to serve for six years. Let’s look at a day in the Senate. 3 Many senators start their days by meeting with the people who work for them. People who work for senators are called staffers. Staffers do many kinds of jobs. For example, they help find information for senators. If the Senate is talking about a new highway, staffers find out how much it will cost. They find out how it will change the lives of people living nearby. U.S. Capitol Map Key 3 1 U.S. Capitol 2 Supreme Court 3 Senate Office Buildings 4 Libraries of Congress 2 6 1 4 5 Congessional Office Buildings 6 Capitol Reflecting Pool 5 The senators’ offices are in the Senate Office Buildings. 4 4 Staffers for Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine (far left) do many jobs to help her. Senators and staffers talk about the day ahead at their morning meeting. Most senators go to committee meetings each day . A lot of work of the Senate’s work is done in these small groups. Some committees look at education issues. Other committees look at how the government spends money. STOP AND CHECK Why do we need laws? 5 CHAPTER 2 WORKING TOGETHER After meeting with his or her staff, a senator might go to a committee meeting. These take place in the Capitol building . Senators work on new bills at a committee meeting. A bill is a law that has not been passed by Congress yet. The education committee might talk about a bill that makes class sizes in schools smaller. The bill would limit class size to only 18 students. Senators may ride the subway to travel between the Capitol and other buildings. 6 The people who agree with the bill say that smaller classes will help students with their reading skills. If the bill is passed, more teachers will be needed. The committee wants more information. Education experts talk to the committee and tell them that smaller classes help students learn to read. Next, the committee might add amendments, or changes, to the bill. The committee has to vote on whether to send the bill to the full Senate. Then all the senators can talk about the bill. A senator asks a question during a committee meeting. 7 After a committee meeting, senators can take a lunch break. They don’t have to go far to eat. The Capitol and its buildings are like a small city. There are cafeterias, a gym, and even a barbershop. Having everything in the Capitol and its buildings saves people time. STOP AND CHECK What does a committee do? 8 The History of the Capitol A view of the Capitol in 1856 after the dome had been taken down. In 1793, the building of the Capitol began. The Senate wing was finished in 1800. British soldiers set fire to the Capitol during the War of 1812. The building was repaired. It held the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court. By 1850, it was too small for the senators and representatives. In the 1850s, the dome was taken down. A new dome was built. Today the House of Representatives and the Senate meet in the Capitol building. 9 CHAPTER 3 A SENATE VOTE After lunch, the senators might meet in the Senate Chamber to talk about laws and vote on bills. Senators have the privilege of speech and debate. This means that they can speak freely in the chamber. Senate Pages Senate pages deliver messages and documents around the Capitol. Pages are high school students who work in Congress. They must be at least 16 years old. Pages go to a school at the Senate in the morning. They work at the Capitol in the afternoon. 10 When senators vote on a bill, a person writes down their vote. After a bill is approved in one house, it must be voted on in the other house. The Senate and the House of Representatives can both suggest bills. Both houses must approve the final bill. Sometimes the Senate and the House of Representatives can’t agree on a bill. They form a committee together to solve any differences. This page met President Obama. 11 Bills are often changed. The final law might be a different version of the bill. Bills are changed because people have different ideas. People might need to compromise, or change their views, so that the bill is approved. A bill is sent to the president after the Senate and the House of Representatives have approved it. The bill becomes a law when the president signs it. The president can refuse to sign a bill. Compromise is necessary for most bills to be passed. 12 Visitors watch the senators at work from the Senate gallery. Another important part of a senator’s day is meeting with people from his or her home state. These people can ask the senator questions and share their ideas. Sometimes senators also meet with some of the school groups that visit Congress. 13 A senator’s day might end with a flight home. There they meet with voters. This is how senators stay in touch with the people they represent and their issues. Those issues are taken to Washington, D.C., and may eventually become law. STOP AND CHECK How does a bill become a law? Voters share their concerns with senators at public meetings. 14 Respond to Reading Summarize Use key details from A Day in the Senate to summarize the selection. Your graphic organizer may help you. Text Evidence 1. H  ow do you know A Day in the Senate is an informational text? GENRE 2. R  eread page 7. If a committee agrees on a bill, what happens as a result? CAUSE AND EFFECT 3. T  he word elections on page 3. It comes from the Latin word electus, which means “chosen.” What does elections mean? How did knowing the root help you? LATIN ROOTS 4. W  rite about why bills change before they become laws. WRITE ABOUT READING 15 Genre Expository Text Compare Texts Read about Inauguration Day, when a new president’s new term begins. PAIRED READ: A New President Takes Office The United States is a democracy. This means the country is governed by the people. The president leads the country. A president is elected every four years. The president officially becomes the president on Inauguration Day. The inauguration takes place in front of the Capitol. It is usually held outdoors. President Barack Obama took the oath of office on January 20, 2009. 16 More than a million people may go to the presidential inauguration. The new president takes the oath of office on Inauguration Day. The president promises to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Then the new president gives a speech. 17 Presidents talk about their goals for the country in their speeches. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln said, “… no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union … You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it.” At the time, some states in the south wanted to break away from the United States. President Lincoln was telling them that he would do anything to keep the country together. This illustration shows Abraham Lincoln taking the oath of office. Make Connections Why is Inauguration Day held? ESSENTIAL QUESTION Compare the role of a senator in A Day in the Senate with the role of a president in A New President Takes Office. TEXT TO TEXT 18 Glossary bills (bilz) proposed laws that have not yet been passed by Congress (page 6) committee (kuh-MI-tee) a small group of lawmakers who consider bills in a specific area (page 5) House of Representatives (HOWS uhv re-pri-ZENtuh-tivz) one house of Congress; works with the Senate to write and pass the country’s laws (page 2) oath (ohth) a solemn promise (page 17) Senate (SE-nuht) one house of Congress; works with the House of Representatives to write and pass the country’s laws (page 2) Index Capitol, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 16 Obama, Barack, 16 Inauguration Day, 16, 17 Senate pages, 10 Lincoln, Abraham, 18 staffers, 4, 5 19 Focus on Social Studies Purpose To find out why people run for public office Procedure Step 1 In a small group, make a list of your local school board members. You can find this online or ask at the school office. Step 2 Write a short letter or e-mail to each board member. Ask him or her to say why he or she ran for office. Show your letter or e-mail to your teacher before you send it. Make sure that each person gets only one letter or e-mail. Step 3 With your group, look at the letters or e-mails you received. Make a chart or graph to show the results. Discuss the results with the class. Step 4 Write a letter or e-mail of thanks to the school board members who replied. 20 Literature Circles Nonfiction Thinkmark Text Structure How does the author organize information in A Day in the Senate? Vocabulary What new words did you learn in A Day in the Senate? What helped you understand their meaning? What are the key words in this text that relate to the topic? Conclusions What conclusions can you draw about the kinds of people who run for public office? Author’s Purpose Why do you think the author wrote A Day in the Senate? Make Connections What other elected jobs do you know about? How are they similar to or different from a senator’s or a president’s job? Our Government Social Studies GR O • Benchmark 34 • Lexile 680 WondersMHE.com