Lots Of Election Ideas For Election Week

Although this Election packet includes specific items for the 2012 election between Romney and Obama, I have also included BLANK templates for EVERYTHING, so that I can continue to use this packet for FUTURE elections.

There are a lot of different ways to use the items in the Election Packet, the picture shows only a sampling of the 56-pages of fun!

Use them as independent centers for reading and writing, choose worksheets that are appropriate for your grade level, run off individual worksheets like the maze, dot-to-dot, pattern page etc. and make them into an Election Booklet to use for a Table Top Morning lesson.

Use them as a whole group “Speed” activity and have students do them together.  Set a timer.  The 1^st one who completes a skill sheet correctly gets a patriotic sticker.

Make bulletin boards and hallway displays with completed work. Hang the posters and other patriotic election items as decorations on your door and in your room.

Many of the activities will help jumpstart interesting discussions and build your students’ vocabulary.

One of my favorite “craftivities” is the elephant and donkey party “I voted for…” writing prompts.

If your students are as inquisitive as mine, they might want to know why politicians would pick a donkey to represent them!

I’ve included some background information of how these animals came to be.

Don’t be surprised if a lot of your students want to make the elephant, so make sure you discuss which candidate is represented by which animal, as this sometimes helps students choose differently.

I’ve found that my little ones were voting for donkeys and elephants, instead of people, or they were voting for the person that their parents were voting for, so I tried to keep things ultra simple and just explained briefly what each party stood for.

To make this “craftivity” run the templates off on red, blue and white construction paper.

I used a hole punch for the white stars, but you could have a room helper pre-cut these to expedite this step.

To add pizzazz I used red and blue flat-backed rhinestones as well as wiggle eyes.  Glitter would also add zip.

To make it more of a keepsake and add that special touch to your bulletin board, have students glue their school picture to the leg of their party animal.

The vote word strips, help students practice their fine motor skills and strengthen finger muscles, by putting reinforcement holes around the letter O.  This can then be a reminder bookmark, that can be given to the family.

I’ve included pages of a variety of election symbols: vote badges, flags, stars and ballot boxes.  These are circles, rectangles, and cubes, so they offer an opportunity to review shapes.

You can use them to make ABAB, ABCABC, etc. pattern strips and then turn the strips into a headband crown, for students to wear on Election Day.

Snip up red, white and blue straws, add the vote badge or any of the “I voted” badges to the center and have students create pattern election necklaces.  If you have them, you can also add pony beads.  Students can practice patterning and counting too.

Bring in a shoebox from home, cover with patriotic paper, cut a slit in the top and you’ve got a ballot box.  I’ve provided signage for your ballot box, as well as all sorts of voting and political party signs.

There are several graphing extensions and an election writing prompt as well.

To make sure your little ones know who the President and Vice President are, I made up songs to the familiar tune of BINGO.

Print, laminate, and cut out the cards.  I attached a magnet to the back, so that I could attach to my whiteboard.

As my students aing the song, I took a letter away.  It’s a terrific way to practice subtraction skills.

I also made word art pictures for Romney and Obama.  You can use these as an introduction and then ask students to design their own.  I did this on the Tagexedo website. Click on the link to check it out. I LOVE this site.

I hope you enjoy this Election packet and that it helps give you even more ideas.  I’d enjoy hearing how you’re using the packet. diane@teachwithme.com or you can post a comment here.

Click on the link to view/download the Election Packet.

I also have an Election Dictionary and Election Word Wall header card and 61 word flashcards for your word wall.  Click on the links to check those out.

Stop by tomorrow for Election Writing Prompts.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find helpful.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle