Political Party Platforms Activity Kit
$7.00
Compare political party platforms, research candidates on the ballot, evaluate campaign ads, and conduct a mock Election Day in this activity kit.
Highly scaffolded with critical thinking and sourcing skill-building, this universal kit is perfect for leading up to any election, year after year!
Description
Multiple studies have proven that when teenagers participate in voting, even a mock election, they are more likely to vote as adults; additionally, their parents have a higher voter turnout in that year’s election. Be the cause of this highest form of civic engagement!
This year, let’s leave the way-out-of-date textbook behind and take students straight to the real world to analyze and differentiate among popular U.S. political parties and various candidates running for office on your ballot, culminating in a mock election.
There’s lots of flexibility to tailor to your upcoming local election, students’ interests, and time constraints.
Included in this Political Party & Candidate Research kit:
Overview
- At-a-glance project overview and detailed lesson plans
- Conceptual note-taking sheet for your students to build their understanding of platform
5 Main Activities
- Incoming Brainstorm: reflect on assumptions, stereotypes, and incoming knowledge about the two main and 3 “third” parties that exist in the US (5 parties included: Constitution, Democrat, Green, Libertarian, Republican)
- Political Party Preamble: analyze the preambles for each party’s core values then guess which party they belong to
- Party Platforms: become an issues expert by researching each party’s goals and stances, and creating an interactive poster to teach classmates
- Candidate Research: dive into the current races on this year’s ballot and research the various candidates running for office
- Mock Election: hold your own election and compare it with real election returns
Note: This resource uses the current official party platforms and will be updated when new ones are released.
This resource is 34 PDF pages, plus Google files.
What grades is this intended for?
This was designed for a mixed-ability high school level. If you have strong middle schoolers and are willing to possibly tailor this a bit, if necessary, then it could work for lower grades. Please look over the description and preview closely to decide.
What supports are included? How can I modify this?
Activities are built with included supports to accommodate varying needs: graphic organizers, step-by-step chunking, small-group and low-stakes student talk, etc.
Student materials come in editable Google file versions to allow you to modify activities by shortening, re-leveling, translating, or using text-to-speech software to support student needs.
Can I use this in a homeschooling setting?
Sure! While these activities were designed for a traditional classroom setting, they can also be used in a solo or small-group setting.
Is this editable? What file types does this resource come in?
The main resource is a secured, non-editable PDF file intended to be printed. Included are links to editable Google files of all the student materials.
What standards does this address?
Several! Standards vary, but this resource supports these from various states:
- Simulate the steps of being an informed voter
- Analyze forms of political communications for bias, persuasive appeals, and differing points of view on an issue
- Research, debate, and create a social studies product on a contemporary issue
What are the terms of use for this resource?
This resource, including all ancillary files, may be used as needed for regular, non-commercial single-classroom use between a teacher and their students.
This includes printing copies and sharing digital files with students through a secure platform, like Google Classroom or Canvas, email, or a classroom-only shared drive.
The using and sharing of any part of this resource in any manner outside the above-mentioned capacity is strictly prohibited. Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to,
- posting files on the open internet or in a Facebook group
- emailing files to or sharing print copies with others (without purchasing additional licenses)
- uploading or storing files in a shared cloud drive accessible by anyone other than students
- including any part, or any derivative work, within any commercial endeavor like curriculum development, professional training, or for-profit teaching like Outschool, or selling this resource as your own in either print or digital formats
Doing so violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), copyright law, and these terms.
By downloading this resource from Let’s Cultivate Greatness, the original user has been granted one license for a single teacher (or number of teachers matching the number of licenses purchased) and their students at any one time.
Let’s Cultivate Greatness retains the full copyright of this resource.
This was such a great project! It allowed my students to understand the process of a political party's platform and pushed them to truly apply what they have learned! I loved it! It was so easy to use because of how detailed everything was. Thanks! – fellow teacher-author
This was quite detailed and helped my students get a better idea of the different political parties. Great resource!! – fellow teacher-author
The political party platform flip sheet was such a great resource!! I will be using it every year moving forward, because it is a great way to get students to practice a particular way of thinking: reviewing multiple options for political issues and then selecting which you agree with most, and then seeing which party had that position. Thanks!! – fellow teacher-author
