House Mouse Senate Mouse Lesson Plan and Activities

The largest emergency spending bill in our nation’s history, $2 trillion, was passed into law last week. This is a great opportunity to talk about how laws are made with your child! In House Mouse Senate Mouse, children will learn about how laws are made in Congress where the House and Senate must pass a bill into a law to establish a national cheese. If you want to show them a real article about a bill becoming a law, you can show them this recent article from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/03/27/congress-coronavirus-house-vote/

LISTEN TO THE STORY HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7p-Kyll5-o Afterwards, you can use the questions below for journal entry work. Put the date on the top of the page and the title: House Mouse Senate Mouse. Ask them the questions below one at a time, have them write the answer in their journal (#1, #2, ...) and go over the questions and answers together.

1. What law does Miss Tuftmouse’s second grade class want to be established? (Answer: they want America to have a national cheese)

2. What is a national law and why do you think we have them? (Answer: a law is an official rule that benefits a lot of people in America.)

3. How does a law get passed? (Answer: it is written as a bill, or an “idea”, first, it is reviewed by committees, must pass through the House and Senate, and finally, the President to approve).

4. There was a lot of disagreement about the idea of establishing a national cheese. Why? What were they arguing about? (Answer: they were arguing about the different types of cheeses and they couldn’t agree on the same one)

5. If you were to come up with your own national law, what would it be?

If you don’t have the energy or want to “teach” and just want a simple activity, create a word search! Here is an online word search generator: http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/WordSearchSetupForm.asp

To create a word search, enter words related to House Mouse Senate Mouse: (America, law, government, Congress, bill, cheese. etc.) I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you tried it!