During the month of April, as part of the English Language Arts/Civic Literacy unit, Fort River Elementary School (Amherst, MA) 6th grade students wrote letters to local decision-makers regarding issues that they cared about. As a direct result of the letter-writing campaign, Congressman James McGovern, State Representative Ellen Story, Amherst Town Manager John Musante and Fort River Assistant Principal Diane Chamberlain will visit the school and participate with students in miniature lobbying meetings.
To prepare for these meetings, the Sixth Graders are working in small groups to create posters and presentations about a specific proposal they would like to make regarding a particular issue (climate change, food insecurity, income inequality, immigration, the portrayal of women in the media, relationships between police departments and communities, healthier school lunches).
