In honor of National Reading Month, on Tuesday morning, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-12th District) read “House Mouse, Senate Mouse” to Bedford Elementary School kindergarteners and first-graders. As she read, she talked with the students about government, bullying, civil rights, and veterans.
Dingell may have visited to entertain the students with the story of Congress-mice attempting to agree on a national cheese, but the students stole the show. They entertained her (and the other adults in the room) with their responses to her questions about the people and places of government. One student said George Washington is the current president of the United States. Another said his dad served in “World War Eleven.” Another said that he visited Washington, D.C. and met George Washington there. When Dingell explained that a veteran is someone who serves our country to protect our freedoms, one student responded, “like Jesus Christ.”
Dingell used the book to help the students think about government as compromise.
“Could you agree on what the best toy is?” she asked a classroom of kindergarteners. When the students responded with the names of their favorite toys, she asked them if they could agree if they knew it was one toy or none at all? There was some agreement that getting something was better than getting nothing.
She encouraged students to treat each other nicely and to stand up to bullies -- including calling her office to report a bully. In response to a student’s mention of Rosa Parks, Dingell encouraged the students to look around at each other, to note the differences in each other, but also to recognize how much the same they are: “We’re part of the same community.”
She also called the students to action, encouraging them to reach out to veterans by making cards or pictures for them. She explained that some veterans are sad or hurt and that, as she’s seen firsthand, a picture from a child can make them smile.
Students can design the cards to express what freedom means to them or just to wish the vets well. Cards can be sent to Dingell’s local office at 19855 W. Outer Drive, Suite 103-E, Dearborn, MI 48124. If a school has a large number of cards, call 313-278-2936 to arrange to have them picked up. Dingell and her team will deliver the cards to vets at hospitals and community centers.
