Election Day

Objectives:

• Students will be able to explain the history and significance of Election Day.

• Students will express their opinion about the importance of voting.

Suggested Grades:

3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade - 6th Grade

Lesson Procedure:

Print the reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions. Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt:

As you can probably tell by the name, Election Day is a day for voting. On Election Day in the United States, people go to polls to elect public officials. The biggest election is, of course, the presidential election that takes place every four years. We also elect governors, congressmen, mayors and other state and local officials in different years.

Election Day is on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November. It may seem like a strange choice, but there is a reason for it. When the law was made, many Americans were farmers, and the farming season was usually over by November. Also, there were no cars, and people had to travel long distances to the polls. Tuesday was chosen to give people enough time to reach the polls, even when they needed to leave the day before (Monday) to get there.

Continued...