What's going on in Mr. Solarz' Class? - Presidential Election Simulation

The Presidency - Kids Discover Magazine

9/25/2016

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Kid President Meets President Obama

8/14/2016

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Election Simulation: The Electoral College

7/4/2016

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Create a blog post with the title above.

Reflection/Synthesis:

Objective 6: Explain how a presidential election works and why we have an electoral college.

Credit: http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/Images/2016ECMapLarge.jpg

The Electoral College from iCivics:

"Electoral College" Drafting Board

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Election Simulation: Political Advertising

7/4/2016

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Create a blog entry using the title above.

Create advertisements that persuade others to vote for their candidate, and include screen shots of all of them on this blog post. Be sure to give each picture a caption that explains how you made the advertisement.

Tons of labels, cards, plastic displays, etc. are available.
Videos (commercials) and photo stories (for magazines/newspapers/websites) make excellent ads.
Use your creativity to make the best ads!

Watch this BrainPop video on Graphic Design: https://www.brainpop.com/artsandmusic/artconcepts/graphicdesign/

Reflection/Synthesis:

Explain the purpose of political conventions and polls.
Explain how your advertisements were designed to convince voters to vote for you.

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Election Simulation: How Elections Work

7/4/2016

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Watch the BrainPop video on Presidential Elections (republic, natural born citizen, 35, tickets, parties, campaign, primary/caucus, nominating convention, running mate, platform, issues, election day, popular vote, electoral college, oath, hanging chads, ): https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernment/presidentialelection/

Watch the BrainPop video on Primaries and Caucuses: https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernment/primariesandcaucuses/

Watch the BrainPop video on John Adams: https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/famoushistoricalfigures/johnadams/

Complete this activity: http://www.scholastic.com/kids/president/ and then take a screen shot of your completed newspaper article. Put it into the following blog assignment:

Create a blog entry with the title above.

Reflection/Synthesis:

Objective 3: Explain the purpose of a primary and how it works.
Insert the screen shot of your newspaper article from the activity above.
Simulation: Explain how you plan to convince voters that YOU will make the best president for our country.

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Election Simulation: Political Parties

7/4/2016

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Watch the BrainPop video on Political Party Origins (George Washington, Hamilton vs. Jefferson, Adams vs. Jefferson, Federalist vs. Dem-Rep) : https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/politicalpartyorigins/

Watch the BrainPop video on Political Parties (explains the origin of each and their differences): https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernment/politicalparties/

Watch the BrainPop video on Political Beliefs (explains choosing sides on issues, politely disagreeing, why we vote for parties, ): https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernment/politicalbeliefs/

Create a blog entry with the title above.

Reflection/Synthesis:

Using a T-Chart, explain the traditional values of the democratic and republican parties.
Explain how political parties started.
Explain why we have political parties today.
Explain what third parties are and how they fit into the political system.

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Election Simulation: Debating the Issues

7/4/2016

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Now that everyone knows which political party they lean towards, it's time to separate them into parties and give them a few issues to research and prepare to debate on. Based on their percentage of support for a candidate, separate students into democrats and republicans (be ready for some moans & groans - some of my former students were SHOCKED & angry to find out that they were opposite parties from their parents!)
Since everyone is running for president at this time, we will do our debate on video (rather than in real-time).
The debate format will be as follows:
1. I announce the political issue that we will focus on for the first round and assign responsibility partners (same political party).
2. Students determine their stance on it, based on their T-Chart and any new information they have. Based on their stance, students determine if they support their political party's stance on the issue or if they do not (here is a general guideline for Democrat/Republican stances on issues).
3. Students explain their position on this issue on video (citing evidence & clear reasons). The more strong arguments made (with support), the more likely they are to move on to the next level. Since I do not give grades, but rather focus on improvement, students may re-record as often as needed before the voting takes place (they may need to do this on their own time).
4. Students tag their video "Republican" or "Democrat" on YouTube. They title it based on the issue and their first name.
5. This process will be repeated for several issues.
6. Growth is valued most. So the first video is worth 1 electoral college vote, the second video is worth 2 electoral college votes, the third is worth 3, etc. The eight students with the most electoral college votes become their parties candidates before the primary. We will use a Google Form to vote. Here is the link for Democrats and here is a link for Republicans.
7. We will create 3-4 videos before determining the brackets.
Students need to post all of their videos onto a blog post using the title above.
They should tag their post "Election."
Reflection/Synthesis:
1. Write a paragraph describing what you learned from this activity, what was hard/easy, and why other teachers should do this activity in their classrooms.
2. Which issue did you connect with the most? Why was it important to you? Why do you hope our future president agrees with you on this issue?

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Order of iCivics Activities

7/4/2016

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iCivics:

Introducing the simulation:
1. "All in a Day's Work" Lesson Plan
2. "Executive Command Game" (Extension Pack)
Focusing in on the issues:
1. "Cast Your Vote" Game
2. "Crisis of Nations" Game
The Electoral College:
1. "Electoral College" Drafting Board
Interest Groups:
1. "Interest Groups" Drafting Board
Voting Age:
1. "Voting Age" Drafting Board
Final Activities:
1. "Being President" WebQuest
2. "Win the White House Game" (Extension Pack)
Ask these questions and have students video tape their answers:
1. What might it be like to be president?
2. What characteristics does a good president need to have?
3. What might it be like to live in the White House?
4. If you were president, what would you do?
5. What would you say to the people who voted for you?
6. Then watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFx_aiENmsc

Loosely based on this outline: http://psolarz.weebly.com/the-2012-presidential-election.html

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Presidential Election: Lesson 2

7/3/2016

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Introducing the simulation from iCivics:
1. "All in a Day's Work" Lesson Plan
  1. Sign up for iCivics: https://www.icivics.org/classes
  2. Sign up for Recap App (see image):
  3. Teach the lesson: https://cdn.icivics.org/sites/default/files/uploads/All%20in%20a%20Day's%20Work_4.pdf#page=2&zoom=auto,-68,634
  4. Record one minute videos that answer reflection questions.
2. Play Executive Command & put screen shot onto a blog post: https://www.icivics.org/games/executive-command
Use Prezi to teach Traditional Democrat and Republican positions. Have students type notes on what they believe to be important: https://prezi.com/xke_fxgttwbe/republicans-vs-democrats/
Put screen shot from the last lesson onto a blog post (Democrat or Republican).

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Election Simulation 1: Learning About the Issues

7/2/2016

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Introducing the simulation from iCivics:

"All in a Day's Work" Lesson Plan
"Executive Command Game" (Extension Pack)

Start with a mini-lesson on political viewpoints. Explain that I don't want to know your opinions until you've researched a little because children typically choose their parents viewpoints automatically without knowing many of the facts. I don't want to know parents' political stances, and I won't share mine! :) I want to help everyone learn the facts of each issue and make a decision on which side of the issue we each stand. If your family is a strong republican family and you come out democratic (or vice-versa), you should feel fine with that because you are basing your political lean on the issues, not anything else. Fortunately for us, this is a fake simulation, not real life. :)
Then, give another mini lesson on how to ignore the inappropriate topics and how to focus in on the pertinent ones. How maturity is required for our classroom and that these experiences can only happen if we're responsible and mature.
Spend time researching the issues. Here is a list of the ones I feel are appropriate for 5th graders. Complete a T-Chart organizer (like the one above) that has "Arguments For" and "Arguments Against" on each side. Give students the main arguments for and against each issue to put into their organizer and have them research the rest (sharing great points with Give Me Five's as they go).
Focusing in on the issues from iCivics:
1. "Cast Your Vote" Game
2. "Crisis of Nations" Game
Visit: https://www.isidewith.com/political-quiz to vote on each of the issues. This will help us understand if we side more with Democrats or Republicans.
After the vote, group students by political party. Give students a list of how political parties generally stand on the issues (Democrats/Republicans), so if they disagree with their political party, they can at least explain why they do.
Prepare for Lesson 2: The first round of debates!

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The Presidency - Kids Discover Magazine

Kid President Meets President Obama

Election Simulation: The Electoral College

Election Simulation: Political Advertising

Election Simulation: How Elections Work

Election Simulation: Political Parties

Election Simulation: Debating the Issues

Order of iCivics Activities

Presidential Election: Lesson 2

Election Simulation 1: Learning About the Issues

The 2016 Presidential Election Simulation

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