The 2024 Presidential election is making history. Voters are excited. However, the country is very divided. Even young students should understand the basics of the election. Primary election day activities can focus on procedure and vocabulary instead of personalities.
Family Values
Students come from all different backgrounds. They hear topics being discussed at home. American politics brings out strong feelings in citizens. Kids hear their parents becoming upset. They want to be on the same side as their family without always understanding the decisions.
Fairytale Mock Election
Kids are likely to have background knowledge with fairytale characters. They will generally know the plot of the story from movies and books. If you teach this way, you will be covering literature as well as civics. Primary students learn better when they are actively involved.
Working as a group step-by-step makes the best election day activities. Beginning with fairytale candidates, then going through the election procedures, and teaching election vocabulary makes for great lessons and deeper learning.
Fairytale Candidates
Using well known fictional characters, helps mare sure that your students do not have any pre-conceived notions of loyalty or dislike of a candidate. Also, this give the chance to use text evidence to prove citizenship qualities.
The good news is that every school library will have copies of the stories the parties will need for their research. You might even have some of the stories in your classroom book corner. If none of these work out, you can always find the stories online for your kids to read.
Election Procedures
The fun part is that you can get your students involved in the election day activities. Primary students learn better when they do the work themselves. Taking the class through the process step-by-step will add excitement and interest in the national election.
Offering the choice of party helps the festivities begin. Each party could hold a caucus to choose a group of 5. Then, they can hold a primary election. After that, each party could work to make campaign posters and commercials. You could set up a voting booth for the mock general election. It’s a Social Studies win-win!
Election Vocabulary
Another objective for your election day activities is the specific vocabulary. It may be difficult for younger students to understand the terms used for campaigns and elections.
Explaining each term in simple words can help with understanding. Using aa simple icon for each term will also aid with long term memory. Sorting and classifying the terms will help your students to learn them. Using the proper terms during the class activities will reinforce the new knowledge.
If you are short on time, here are a couple of done-for-you resources to check out.
Click on the left to see a 10 days of mock election activities.
Click on the right to see an election vocabulary game.
Happy Teaching!!
Jacque Jones
Loves all things Gilmore Girls, Pikmin and Kindle. Teacher Author Social Studies Matters