Election Day Activities:

Election Vocabulary

• Read aloud an election day book.
• Show students All About Electing a President Slideshow
• Introduce election vocabulary. 
• Check out CyberBee's Election Lessons for ideas.
• President for a Day - Students learn the requirements of being President.
• A great movie from BrainPopJr. about the President of the U.S. - how he's elected and the job requirements.
• Another great movie about Presidential elections.  Great as an introductory to unit.

How do candidates get nominated? -

• Have kids play the Be the Nominee game or use as your lesson.
• Students need to learn about the political parties that exist and their importance in the political process.
• Path to the Presidency - How a person gets elected.
• Movie from BrainPop about political parties.

The Election:

• Use newspapers and online articles to teach students about the upcoming election.
• Lesson on using political cartoons to teach about elections.
• Teach students how to create their own cartoons with this lesson from PBS.
• Students create a timeline to understand the electoral process.
• Ben's Guide to the Election Process - Slideshow
• Movie from BrainPop about primaries and caucuses.

The Candidates:

• Ask a candidate - Students develop interviewing skills by asking questions of the Presidential candidates.
• Compare the Candidates - A chart to compare the candidates.
• Meet the Candidates - From Time for Kids
• The Candidates Were Once Kids - Students can read about the candidates and their childhoods.

Campaigning:

• All Aboard the Campaign Train- Students map out campaign trail and more with this site's lessons.
• Whistle Stops - Geography lesson about the campaign trail.
• Create campaign slogan, posters, and buttons that reflect political views or platform.

The Importance of Voting -

• Lesson plan using the book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.
• To Vote or Not to Vote - Students look at low voter turnout and the history of voting.
• Why Vote? - Students explore the importance of voting.
• Inside the Voting Booth - Interactive pages on the importance of voting.
• The Right to Vote - Students persuade adults to vote.
• Vote for President - Students across the country can vote for their candidate.
• A movie from BrainPop on voting. Excellent resource!!

More Resources and Links:

Election Day Books: