Steps of an Election: 8th Grade Matching Activity
A short matching and sequencing activity for 8th graders that walks through the five steps of a local or state election: registration, campaigning, voting, counting, and certification. Students connect real-world scenarios to each step and then put the steps in order, building civics vocabulary and close-reading skills in a modified format suited to a single class period.
“create an assignment based on this on an 8th modified level: 5 steps in a typical local or state election (e.g., registration, campaigning, voting, counting, certification)”
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use this as an introduction to a civics unit or as a warm-up before a lesson on how elections work; it fits comfortably in a 20 to 30 minute block.
- Discussion question: Why do you think the steps happen in this particular order, and what could go wrong if counting started before voting ended?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: Read the scenarios aloud, or pair students so they can talk through each one before drawing a line to a step; a word bank of the five step names can help.
- Extension for advanced students: Ask them to research one real step in your state's election process and explain how it differs from the generic version in the activity.
- Estimated time: About 10 minutes for the matching, 10 minutes for the sequencing section, and 5 to 10 minutes for discussion.
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Try Diffit for free“create an assignment based on this on an 8th modified level: 5 steps in a typical local or state election (e.g., registration, campaigning, voting, counting, certification)”
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use this as an introduction to a civics unit or as a warm-up before a lesson on how elections work; it fits comfortably in a 20 to 30 minute block.
- Discussion question: Why do you think the steps happen in this particular order, and what could go wrong if counting started before voting ended?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: Read the scenarios aloud, or pair students so they can talk through each one before drawing a line to a step; a word bank of the five step names can help.
- Extension for advanced students: Ask them to research one real step in your state's election process and explain how it differs from the generic version in the activity.
- Estimated time: About 10 minutes for the matching, 10 minutes for the sequencing section, and 5 to 10 minutes for discussion.
Steps of an Election: 8th Grade Matching Activity
A short matching and sequencing activity for 8th graders that walks through the five steps of a local or state election: registration, campaigning, voting, counting, and certification. Students connect real-world scenarios to each step and then put the steps in order, building civics vocabulary and close-reading skills in a modified format suited to a single class period.
What is Diffit?
Teachers use Diffit to get quality materials for their unique classrooms. Adjust difficulty, add scaffolds, or change the topic to get started.
Try Diffit for free