| We recently studied elections in class. We learned how they work to choose the people who will represent us in government. We spent a lot of time discussing why voting is important. After learning about elections and the role they play in forming our government, we held our own, in-class election, voting on our class's favorite candy. We put forth three candidates: Jolly Ranchers, Twizzlers and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Groups of students worked together to run the campaigns of the various candidates. Students first conducted field research on the candidates, sampling the candies and brainstorming adjectives and slogans to describe and promote the candidates. The students were so creative in their efforts – one group devised the slogan, “Reese’s is Better than Recess.” Campaign staffers wrote speeches, and made posters and fliers to support their candidates. One group of students served as our press corps, first developing interview questions, then interviewing the campaign staffers and finally writing a newspaper, covering the election. They even recorded a “TV broadcast,” covering the election news, which was played on Election Day. A final group of students ran our “Get Out the Vote” campaign, registering students to vote and issuing voter registration cards. They also made our ballot box and made “I Voted” buttons for everyone in the class. On Election Day, the campaign teams gave speeches to the class, while waving posters. They also passed out fliers to voters. Then, students lined up and had the chance to vote. One student, who knew she was going to be absent on Election Day, was given the chance to vote absentee – a fact the class really enjoyed. After all of the votes were cast, it was time to tally them. Students recorded the votes on their own tally sheets as I read them aloud. It was a close count, with the Jolly Ranchers winning by just one vote. Because of the close vote, one student even demanded a recount (the count remained the same). In the end, the message that every vote counts and voting is important, was made clear to the students as they discussed how if just one person had voted differently, a different candidate would have won. I was so impressed with how well the students worked together on this project. They demonstrated such enthusiasm and good will towards one another and were happy and eager to help out classmates (even on opposing campaigns) with various projects. Standards addressed in this project: |
English Language Arts Standards
Standard 5: Political Science/Civics: Participation and Citizenship - Understand roles, rights (personal, economic, political), and responsibilities of American citizens and exercise them in civic action.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.6 - Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or approrpriate.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.1 - Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English and grammar or usage when writing or speaking.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2 - Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.1 - Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.1.B - Provide reasons that support the opinion.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.1.D - Provide a concluding statement or section.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2.A - Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.4 - With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1.A - Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.3.A - Choose words and phrases for effect.
Standard 5: Political Science/Civics: Participation and Citizenship - Understand roles, rights (personal, economic, political), and responsibilities of American citizens and exercise them in civic action.