“First Hundred Days” Classroom Activity
Activity Summary:
In recent history, the first one hundred days of a presidency have taken on a presumed importance. In this activity,
students work in teams to research why this is so. They brainstorm the types of actions that might be expected of the next
President and explain five things the new President should do during his or her first one hundred days in office.
Primary Audience: High School Students
Secondary Audience: Middle School Students
Activity Duration: Three class periods (45-60 minutes each)
(May require additional time for research and presentation)
Overarching Question:
• Why are the first 100 days of a President’s new term vital to both the President and the nation?
Essential Questions:
• What can a President accomplish during the first 100 days in office?
• What should a President accomplish during the first 100 days in office?
• Why are the first 100 days of a presidency considered so important?
• How can a candidate prepare for the first 100 days in office?
• How do the first hundred days of a President’s term affect history’s view of his or her presidency?
Objectives:
Students will:
• Analyze two articles explaining the first 100 days
• Research the first 100 days of two Presidents in order to understand the concept
• Investigate current issues in society to determine which are most in need of being addressed by the next President
• Describe topics the candidates have identified for the first 100 days
• Formulate a list of five important topics/issues
• Create a plan for the implementation of programs to address those topics/issues during the next President’s first
100 days
• Review the current “100 Day Plan/Promises” of the candidates
Standards:
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C3 Framework Standards for Social Studies :
• D2.Civ.5.9-12. Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the
local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
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College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards:
The result of a three year state-led collaborative effort, the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards was developed
to serve two audiences: for states to upgrade their state social studies standards and for practitioners — local school districts, schools, teachers and
curriculum writers — to strengthen their social studies programs. Its objectives are to: a) enhance the rigor of the social studies disciplines; b) build critical
thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills to become engaged citizens; and c) align academic programs to the Common Core State Standards for
English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies.
Source: http://www.socialstudies.org/c3
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D2.Civ.7.9-12. Apply civic virtues and democratic principles when working with others.
D2.Civ.14.9-12. Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the
common good, and protecting rights.
D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions
changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.
D3.1.9-12. Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the
origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.
D3.4.9-12. Refine claims and counterclaims attending to precision, significance, and knowledge conveyed through
the claim while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both.
D4.6.9-12. Use disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses to understand the characteristics and causes of local,
regional, and global problems; instances of such problems in multiple contexts; and challenges and opportunities
faced by those trying to address these problems over time and place.
Materials:
• First 100 Days Planning Sheet
• Video: First 100 Days
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Source: The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
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Article: The First 100 Days: Franklin Roosevelt Pioneered the 100-Day Concept
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Article: A BRIEF HISTORY OF: The 100-Day Benchmark: It All Started with Napoleon
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Source: U.S.News.com
Source: Time.com
Procedure:
1. Show the First 100 Days video to your students and ask them to make a note of four or five of the major issues or
reforms that FDR tackled during his first 100 days in office.
2. Have students work in small groups to share and discuss their notes. Have each group come to consensus on
which was the most important of the issues or actions taken.
3. Tell students they are going examine the importance of the first 100 days of a President’s term. Have them
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think/pair/share each of the following questions:
a. Why might the first 100 days of the President’s term be important?
b. Should we gauge the success of a President based on his or her first 100 days?
c. How does a President-elect determine what measures he or she will take during the first 100 days?
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4. Have students read the two news articles related to a president’s first 100 days, using the following close reading
strategies to review the articles:
(NOTE: You may want to pair students up for this activity to provide support for students who need more
assistance with the concepts and/or reading and analyzing of the text).
a. First reading: Key Ideas and Details
i. Students should read the article and answer these questions:
1. What is the main idea of the article?
2. What key details support the main idea?
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The think, pair, share strategy is a cooperative learning technique that encourages individual participation and is applicable across all grade levels and
class sizes. Students think through questions using three distinct steps:
1. Think: Students think independently about the question that has been posed, forming ideas of their own.
2. Pair: Students are grouped in pairs to discuss their thoughts. This step allows students to articulate their ideas and to consider those of others.
3. Share: Student pairs share their ideas with a larger group, such as the whole class. Often, students are more comfortable presenting ideas to a
group with the support of a partner. In addition, students' ideas have become more refined through this three-step process.
https://www.teachervision.com/group-work/cooperative-learning/48547.html
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Close reading is thoughtful, critical analysis of a text that focuses on significant details or patterns in order to develop a deep, precise understanding of
the text’s form, craft, meanings, etc. It is a key requirement of the Common Core State Standards and directs the reader’s attention to the text itself.
http://nieonline.com/tbtimes/downloads/CCSS_reading.pdf
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3. What did you learn about the first 100 days from this article?
Second reading: Craft and Structure
i. Students should re-read the article and answer these questions:
1. What similarities and/or differences are there in these two articles?
c. Third reading: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
i. While reading a third time, students should answer these questions:
1. What is the author’s point of view on the importance of the first 100 days of a
presidency?
2. What is the author’s point of view on the first 100 days of FDR’s presidency?
3. What evidence supports your answers?
Have students continue to work in groups to share their ideas and discuss they have learned from the articles.
Have student groups research any two recent Presidents (from Truman to the current President) to determine
what his or her strategy was for his or her first 100 days and whether history sees him or her as successful.
Continuing in their groups, have students conduct research to discover what topics are of greatest concern to U.S.
citizens during the current election cycle. Some examples of topics might include taxes, workers’ rights, the threat
of terrorism, climate change, or gun rights. Most candidates will also lay out their proposals for their first 100
days, so students should also take a look at what the candidates believe is important.
Ask each group to choose the top five issues and then lay out the first 100 days strategy they feel the next
President should follow in order to make an impact and successfully implement his or her policies. A planning
sheet is included with this document.
Have each group should share plans with the rest of the class.
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Optional Extensions:
Option 1: Ask students to make a video (a campaign-style video/advertisement) outlining a current presidential candidate’s
first 100 days plan.
Option 2: Students make a case study of the current president’s first 100 days.
1. Review his or her first 100 days agenda and the media coverage that discusses his or her ability to make the
plan a reality.
2. Have students find examples of what the president was able to accomplish and items that he or she could not
accomplish during the 100 days.
3. Ask students to discuss these questions:
a. What issues were raised with the items that did not get accomplished?
b. What roadblocks were in place that made it difficult or impossible to move the agenda forward?
c. What events happened that changed the course of the first 100 days for the president?
d. Were there items on the agenda that the president is still working on pushing through?
Discuss how the first 100 days set the tone for the president’s term.
Additional Optional Resources:
• First 100 Days in Office
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Source: CBS News
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Why the First 100 Days Matters
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Presidential Job Approval Ratings Following the First 100 Days (from Eisenhower – Obama)
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Source: Harvard Business Review
Source: The American Presidency Project, UCSB
What Makes a President a Great Leader
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Source: The Washington Post
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Fireside Chat 1: On the Banking Crisis (March 12, 1933)
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FDR's Hundred Days
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Source: Miller Center, University of Virginia
Copyright 2016 Discovery Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Discovery Education Inc. is a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, LLC.
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Source: SchoolTube
FDR’s First 100 Days: Did It Work?
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Source: FDRLibrary
Copyright 2016 Discovery Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Discovery Education Inc. is a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, LLC.
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The First 100 Days Planning Sheet
Issue/Topic
Why It Is
Important?
What Should the
Candidate
Propose?
Support
Support
Summarize Your Plan:
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