Government & Election Resources K-6
This is an exciting time to teach students about government, the election process, democracy, and the right to vote. We hope this newsletter will help teachers build units and find resources on historical and timely topics.
These quality digital resources may save time when lesson planning and may lead to other resources you can incorporate into units. Start with OneClick.
If you would like help finding resources or would like a short how-to with your PLC, contact the Heartland AEA library.
BookFLIX
There are three pairings of read-aloud fiction and nonfiction ebooks. Help students understand what it means to vote, what happens on election day, and what the job description is of a president. Watch the fiction story as a class and then read aloud the nonfiction ebook. Compare and contrast to what is happening in current events today. Don't forget to explore the many built-in activities.
- Duck for President / Doreen Cronin and Election Day / Patricia Murphy
- Madam President / Lane Smith and What Does the President Do? / Amanda Miller
- Otto Runs for President / Rosemary Wells and Let’s Vote on It! / Janice Behrens
PebbleGo
PebbleGo is for our youngest researchers in K-3. The U.S. Government section in Social Studies includes read-aloud articles (and highlighted text as read) in Spanish and English on these topics:
- City Council
- Congress
- Courts
- Declaration of Independence
- Democracy
- Governor
- Juries
- Mayor
- President
- U.S. Constitution
- Voting
Also includes games, activities, Question of the Day. You can share persistent links to articles you want the student to explore.
PebbleGo Next
Students in grades 4+ will appreciate the depth of information at a 4th grade level. Read-aloud articles are organized by tabs and divided by topics:
- Branches of the U.S. Government
- Citizen Responsibilities
- Elections
- Electoral College
- Government Services
- Immigration
- Laws
- Levels of Government
- Notable Presidents
- Representative Democracy
Also includes games, activities, Question of the Day. You can share persistent links to articles.
Ebooks
Do a keyword search in Mackin VIA for president, election, democracy, and more. There are, for example, 110+ ebooks about elections, 50+ about the electoral college, 70+ on voting rights in the elementary VIA collection.
Too many to preview?
- Sort by Best Match, Highest Rated, Newest, Alpha by Title or Author.
- Limit by reading, grade, Lexile levels (see left page).
- Scroll down to More on the left side of the search results page and limit to read-along, text-to-speech, interactive, etc.
Questions. Have some fun and quiz the students from Did President Grant Really Get a Ticket for Speeding in a Horse-Drawn Carriage? and Other Questions About U.S. Presidents.
- Which president invented the term OK?
- Which president's dog was kicked out of the White House?
- Which president was on a bombing mission while the engine was on fire?
Learn 360
There are 73 elementary level full videos and segments on just on elections and 55 on women and the vote. Many videos include a written transcript that is highlighted by each word as read and that is searchable. The transcript (not the audio) includes the Google Translate option.
Some quick examples:
- What Are the Constitutional Requirements for a Presidential Candidate? (3 min)
- Constitutional Amendments 11-15 (25 min)
- Election Day Process (2.5 min)
- I Could Do That! Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote (17 min)
Image: “¡Yo podría hacer eso! Esther Morris consigue que las mujeres voten”. Learn360 , Films Media Group, 2006, https://learn360.infobase.com/titles/83394? Consultado el 27 de octubre de 2023.
