| Elementary |
Touring Washington, D.C.
Go on a virtual field trip to Washington D.C. Explore the important buildings in the U.S. capital and learn why this place is important.
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Featured Election Year Lessons
Download a free hands-on activity and start teaching in minutes.
Free Lessons
Download a free hands-on activity and start teaching in minutes.
| Elementary |
Decision Making in Government
Learn how leaders make decisions through voting. Model the democratic process in the classroom through voting on new rules for the class.
| Elementary |
What Citizenship Means
Find out about civic rights and responsibilities. Then, interview two people about what it means to be a good citizen.
| Elementary |
Touring Washington, D.C.
Go on a virtual field trip to Washington D.C. Explore the important buildings in the U.S. capital and learn why this place is important.
| Secondary |
Distinguishing Fact and Opinion
Identify the differences between facts and opinions. Practice the skill by analyzing a text and using a two-column chart.
| Secondary |
Evaluating Candidates for Public Office
It’s important to consider a variety of characteristics in evaluating candidates for public office. Use this tool to evaluate the candidates in a political race.
| Secondary |
Researching a Public Issue
Research is essential to understanding unfamiliar issues. Use these questions to evaluate the information you find in your research.
| Secondary |
Volunteering in a Political Campaign
Find out how to be part of a campaign and support a local candidate or issue.
| Secondary |
Registering and Preparing to Vote
Preparing to vote involves educating yourself about the candidates and issues on the ballot. Use this chart to locate and evaluate voter information resources in the area.
| Secondary |
Expanding the Right to Vote
Dig into the history of who has the right to vote. Then, explore the question: Do you think Americans take voting for granted today?
| Secondary |
Passing the 19th Amendment
Dig into the history of the Nineteenth Amendment, which expanded voting rights to women. In this multimedia lesson, students examine a primary source song and image.
| Secondary |
Primaries vs. Caucuses
What’s the difference between a caucus and a primary election? Make sense of the presidential nomination process, then research caucuses or primaries in your state.
| Secondary |
What Does the President Do?
Examine a primary source of a president’s daily dairy. Then, explore the many roles of a modern president.
Additional Resources
See these collections for additional teaching ideas for the elections.
Election and Voting Videos for Young Children
This webpage contains age-appropriate, educational videos about elections and voting by Kids Academy, PBS Kids, Go Noodle, Sesame Street, and Kid President.
Museum of the Moving Image
This online exhibition contains more than 250 actual television commercials from every election year starting in 1952. The site allows you to explore these ads via a searchable database and augments the commercials with commentary, election results, and historical background materials.
The Center for Responsive Politics
The Center for Responsive Politics: Opensecrets.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group, is your guide to the flow of money in U.S. elections. The Center for Responsive Politics is dedicated to tracking the large sums of money funneled to our elected officials in the form of campaign contributions, special interest contributions, and lobbying.