Can a Kid Be President? Lesson Plan

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Academic Standards

 

Reading Objective:

Children will analyze how voting works by examining the presidential election process.

 

Social Studies Focus:

voting, presidential election

 

ELA Skills:

key details, vocabulary, writing

 

Page 4 Skill:

read a bar graph

 

Vocabulary:

vote, election, candidates

 

CCSS:

RI.2.1, RI.2.4, RI.2.10, L.2.1, W.2.8, SL.2.3

Download TEKS Standards
Download California State Standards
Download Common Core Standards

Provide students with some background on voting.

Build background knowledge (10 min.)

Watch our video "Time to Vote." After children have finished watching the video, discuss the following questions:

  • What happens on Election Day? (Grown-ups vote for president)
  • What is a candidate? (someone who wants to be president)
  • Can a 7-year-old vote for president? (No, you have to be 18 years old.)

Preview vocabulary (3 min.)

Next, play the online vocabulary slideshow. This issue’s featured words are vote, election, and candidates.

Set a purpose for reading (5 min.)

  • Pass out the issue, and discuss the cover. Do students think a kid can be president? What other questions do they have about the election?
  • Next, read the As You Read prompt on page 3: “Think about why voting is important.” Encourage children to think about this prompt as they read.

Read together (20 min.)

Pass out the Read and Think printable. Use it to check comprehension as you read the issue together, pausing to ask the questions. 

  • With this game, kids pretend they are running for president and make a campaign poster for themselves. When they are done, they can save the poster and print it out!

You can use our printable worksheets to focus on important ELA skills. Here’s how.

Exit Ticket: Show What You Learned (5 min.)

  • Use our new Show What You Learned printable as a quick exit ticket! It asks students to revisit the As You Read prompt after they are done reading. If you are teaching remotely, this page is a great way to check students’ comprehension.

ELA Focus: Vocabulary (15 min.)

  • Use the Word Work printable to deepen students’ understanding of the words vote, election and candidates.

Editor’s Pick: Write About It (15 min.)

  • The Kid President printable asks students to imagine that they were president! Do they think they’d do a good job? How?
  • After writing about their presidency, students can draw a picture of themselves as president.

ELA Focus: Key Details (15 min.)

  • The 5 W’s and an H printable focuses kids on the journalistic questions of Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. By parsing out each detail, students deepen their understanding of the presidential election.

Kids may not be able to vote yet, but it’s never too early to learn about good citizenship! Here are two past issues you can use to extend your lesson:

You can find a higher-Lexile-level and a lower-Lexile-level version of the article online here:

  • Higher Lexile level: 560L
  • Lower Lexile level: 480L