It is officially election season across the country. What an exciting time to teach students about the election process, democracy, and the right to vote. It is also important to include the infamous history of voting in the United States and the struggle for the right to vote that certain populations of people had to endure. Need help identifying high-quality, digital resources that you can use in the classroom on this timely topic? INFOhio has digital content on voting, the election process, and the presidency that is appropriate for grades PreK-12. 

Elementary Resources for Election Day

BookFlix

BookFlix, one of INFOhio’s most popular digital resources, offers 3 pairings of fiction and nonfiction eBooks that engage readers on the topics of voting, elections, and the presidency. Watch the fictional story together as a class and then read aloud the nonfiction eBook. Compare and contrast the two stories to what is happening in current events today. 

In the pairing Duck for President by Doreen Cronin and Election Day by Patricia J. Murphy, join Duck as he holds an election on the farm and learn about what actually happens on election day in the nonfiction companion text. Learn about the job of a president in Madam President by Lane Smith and What Does the President Do? by Amanda Miller. Experience election time at Barkadelphia School in Otto Runs for President by Rosemary Wells and learn about the voting process in Let’s Vote on It! by Janice Behrens.

Help students understand:

• what it means to vote.
• what happens on election day.
• what the job description is of a president.

To learn even more about how to integrate BookFlix into your classroom instruction explore INFOhio Learning Pathways, self-paced, online, professional development class: BookFlix.

Capstone Connect

Capstone Connect is a database for educators. It has instructional support materials including a search interface to find instructional materials within PebbleGo Next and Capstone Interactive that support specific learning standards. When doing a keyword search for "voting" there are five results. Two eBooks from Capstone Interactive and three instructional materials including Capstone Connect's newest addition, an Activity Bundle. Educators can download the instructional materials for use in the classroom. 

After downloading the Activity Bundle, which includes a lesson specifically about voting. Use the guided lesson plan to engage students in the voting process and have them answer the following reflection questions: 

• Where do people go to vote?
• Why is it important for everyone to vote?
• Why is voting important in a democracy?
   

Capstone Interactive eBooks

Capstone Interactive eBooks, licensed by funding from Future Forward Ohio, formerly RemotEDx, offers a library of more than 800 unlimited use eBooks. When doing a keyword search for "election," 6 books are displayed in the search results. Included in these results is A Kid's Guide series, which can be found by opening the title in the search results, Election Campaigns. Additional titles in this series include Democratic Values, Political Parties, The Electoral College, and Voting. 

Use sections of the text from A Kid's Guide: Voting to help students understand: 

• who do we vote for?
• what is involved in an election campaign?
• the voting process.

Gale In Context: Elementary

Gale In Context: Elementary has a special section dedicated to the topic of voting. There is an informational text article on voting and the process involved. Below this article are quick facts and even more book and magazine articles, news reports, biographies, pictures, and related topics. Using the accessibility features within this resource, including the read-aloud option, will be helpful to many students.

As a class, create a KWL chart on the topic of voting and find out what students already know about voting and what they want to know. Find a variety of KWL charts in INFOhio's Go! Ask, Act, Achieve.

Have students:

• find the answers, in Gale In Context: Elementary, to the questions from the "Want to Know" section of the class KWL chart about voting and elections.  
• explore the digital content within Gale In Context: Elementary to seek out new information.
• use the highlighting and notes tool to uncover unfamiliar words and create a classroom dictionary.

To learn even more about how to integrate Gale In Context: Elementary into your classroom instruction explore INFOhio Learning Pathways, self-paced, online, professional development class: Gale In Context: Elementary.
 

Highlights Library

When doing a keyword search for “president” in Highlights Library, several nonfiction eBooks about the lives of presidents are available. 

The reading level of the titles are available for each eBook by clicking on the i button when hovering over each title, making it easy to find grade-level text. Each title also features a read-aloud option and a comprehension quiz that students can take after reading the book. In addition, some of the titles include speaking, listening, and thinking activities to support a deeper dive into the text.

Encourage students to:

• read two books from different historical time periods that focus on an aspect of the presidency and compare.
• identify 3 facts from their nonfiction presidential book and share them with the class.
• use the read-aloud feature to help with their understanding of the text.

To learn even more about how to integrate Highlights Library into your classroom instruction explore INFOhio Learning Pathways, self-paced, online, professional development class: Highlights Library.

PebbleGo Next

"Women's Right to Vote" is an article available in PebbleGo Next, a licensed resource provided by funding from Future Forward Ohio, formerly RemotEDx. Use this article to help students learn more about the history that took place leading up to and after women successfully won the right to vote. The articles in PebbleGo Next are organized by tabs and divided by topics. Each article also includes a read-aloud option.

Help students understand the history behind women's right to vote and: 

• divide students into 7 small groups and assign one of the article tabs to each group. Have students read the article with their group, summarize, and share out with the class.
• complete the Women's Right to Vote Activity with their group and create a poster or sign about equal voting rights.
• have students think critically with these discussion questions, PebbleGo Next Social Studies: Critical Thinking Women's Right to Vote. 

Middle and High School Resources for Election Day

Digital Video Collection

INFOhio’s Digital Video Collection features several videos that discuss the history of voting. In this particular video, Who Can Vote? from Politics on Point, middle and high school students will be introduced to the reasons why voting is important.

Use this short, informative video to get your students thinking about the upcoming election and start a discussion with the following questions:

• Why do you think voting is seen as one of the most important rights of a U.S. citizen?
• How have voting rights changed over time?
• Are there other ways that citizens can participate in the political process besides voting?

 iCivics in Open Space

Open Space is Ohio's premier OER creation and collaboration space for Ohio's PreK-12 educators. In Open Space, Ohio’s PreK-12 educators collaborate, build, and share open education resources and best practices in implementation to address student learning needs. Instructional Material Collections have been curated and added to Open Space; iCivics is one of these collections.

iCivics was founded by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in 2009 to ensure that all Americans have the knowledge and will to participate in our unique experiment in self-government. Since then, iCivics has become the nation’s premier non-profit civic education provider of high-quality, non-partisan, engaging, and free resources. iCivics includes more than 250 curricular resources, digital literacy tools, professional learning materials, and educational video games in the social studies subject area. To access the materials from iCivics, educators must create a free account. 

Within the iCivics collection, a keyword search for "election" provides 49 results. Find a lesson plan that will work best in your classroom. Here is an example of The Electoral Process lesson found in this collection.

Engage students in this lesson with these provided activities:

• Voting KWL chart to find what students know, want to know, and have learned about voting.
• Political Cartoon
• Venn Diagram

World Book Student and World Book Advanced

When doing a keyword search for “voting” in World Book Student, a digital encyclopedia resource focused on content for 5th-10th grade students, there are 340 results. These results include videos and animations, historical maps, tables, videos, websites, and resource guides. The resource guide includes more than 20 specific articles on the history of voting and elections. This digital content can be emailed or easily shared to Google Classroom by clicking on the gear icon and share button within each article. World Book Student also offers a read-aloud option to help students with comprehension. Use the Lexile reading level to find grade-level text.

World Book Advanced, a digital encyclopedia resource focused on content for 9th-12th grade students, offers a webquest, World Book Advanced Webquest: Elections and Voting. This webquest on elections and voting includes activities that require exploring the digital resource to find the answers. 

The webquest includes:

• true or false, matching, fill-in-the-blank, and discussion questions. 
• a writing prompt: "If I were elected president, I would...,which directs students to use text evidence from the resources within World Book Advanced.
• an extension activity that gives the steps needed for the class to hold their own election. Have your students hold an election on a topic that is of importance or interest. What about having students create a mock election for a classroom president or a classroom mascot?

To learn even more about how to integrate World Book Student and World Book Advanced into your classroom instruction explore INFOhio Learning Pathways, self-paced, online, professional development class: World Book Student and Advanced. 

Points of View Reference Center

Points of View Reference Center, a resource that provides multiple perspectives on many important topics and issues within our society today, has a Voting & Elections category, with many related topics.

Have students:

• choose one of these topics and explore the different points of view.
• write an argumentative paper to support the perspective that they agree with using evidence from the texts.
• debate their topic with classmates that selected the same topic.

To learn even more about how to integrate Points of View Reference Center into your classroom instruction explore INFOhio Learning Pathways, self-paced, online, professional development class: Points of View Reference Center.

Election day is on its way. Prepare students to be informed citizens and understand the importance that voting is to our society by using INFOhio’s high-quality, digital resources.

If you need support with any of INFOhio’s digital resources, please, reach out to support.infohio.org. We are always happy to help.