Although it’s not a presidential election year, we still elect officials on Election Day! The idea of Election Day can be a tough concept to handle for kids. Many of my students don’t realize that we are voting for offices other than president, and I love reminding them of this by celebrating and discussing Election Day every November.

Here are a couple ways that I bring Election Day easily into the classroom!

READ ALOUDS

Here are some of my favorite Election Day read alouds:

Diana’s White House Garden by Elisa Carbone

Duck for President by Doreen Cronin

Grace for President by Kelly S. DiPucchio

If I Were President by Catherine Stier

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama

So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George

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WRITING 
My students LOVE this writing assignment: If I were president! Feel free to snag the freebie on TPT from Glitter in Third if you’re interested in using the same brainstorm and paper. I like the way the brainstorm is set up because it is an easy transition for students to write three distinct paragraphs. On the left, they write down three things that they would do if they were president (example: feed the poor/recycle/etc.). On the right, they add detailed bullet points. After the brainstorm is looked over by a teacher, my students draft in their writer’s notebook. Next, they revise/edit with a partner. Finally, they get the final papers to write on! The first page has a space for a picture on it, and the second page has lots of lines purely for writing. I love making a big bulletin board display outside the classroom with these, using lots of red, white, and blue for extra patriotic fun!






LITERACY STATIONS
I sell an Election Day Interactive Notebook that incorporates election day into your language arts stations! In my third-grade classroom, we frequently work with using a dictionary and guide words. It’s easy to cut (four snips total!). Then, glue it down and start looking up the words in a dictionary! It’s an easy way to incorporate a holiday/annual event into your everyday literacy station workshop.

There’s also a piece in the notebook pieces for a super quick persuasive writing piece about “If I were president…”. I do not use this for a long writing, just as a quick “get thinking!” writing piece. I usually use this foldable as morning work to get the kids excited for the day to come and activate any background knowledge.

What do you do for Election Day in the classroom?