Voting Lesson Plan: Civic Ideals and Practices

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Voting, and supports the standards associated with recognizing the rights and responsibilities of citizens, such as electing our representatives.  Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of creative projects.


Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display the an image of a person voting, like this one:  

Ask: 

  • What is this person doing?
  • Why is it important?
  • What might someone do to prepare to vote? 

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read aloud the description on the Voting topic page.
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
  • Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the following articles: “Way Back When,” “In Practice,” or “Real Life.” Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign the Voting Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about voting while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs. 

  • Make-a-Movie: Produce a PSA encouraging people to vote.
  • Make-a-Map: Make a concept map comparing and contrasting voting in  Ancient Athens, the Roman Republic, and the United States. 
  • Creative Coding: Code a museum with artifacts that represent elements of the American voting process. 

More to Explore

Cast Your Vote: Practice being an informed voter in this game.

Teacher Support Resources:

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Related:

    Filed as:  3-5, 6-8, BrainPOP, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.4, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.4