CIVICS Β· AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Β· UNIT 5
Campaigns & Elections Unit Plan
Everything you need for an engaging, student-driven unit on campaigns and elections in Civics or American Government, with easy-to-follow lesson plans for every day.
Unit 5 Overview
How do we choose our leaders?
This is the fifth unit in my Civics and American Government curriculum, and it's a perfect fit for any election season. Students learn how elections work, how voting rights have expanded over time, and how money, maps, and the media shape who wins.
Along the way, students trace the amendments that expanded voting rights, debate the Citizens United decision, analyze contested presidential elections, redraw a map in a gerrymandering simulation, and learn to spot fake news and media bias.
You can buy every resource for this unit here, or join Students of History to immediately access every lesson online, along with every other unit in the course.
Day-by-Day Flow
How the unit runs
The unit plan guide includes lesson plans for every day, so you always know which resource to use and how. Here's how the unit moves from start to finish.
The Election Process
A PowerPoint with guided notes covers the basics of voting and elections. Then students work through readings on the amendments that expanded voting rights and discuss how voting has changed over 200 years.
Campaign Finance
Students learn how campaigns are funded and regulated, then analyze the Citizens United Supreme Court case in a Socratic seminar. Afterward, they "follow the money" for a real candidate on OpenSecrets.org.
The Electoral College
A PowerPoint explains how the Electoral College works and why the candidate with the most votes doesn't always win. Groups then analyze contested elections from American history and present them to the class.
Gerrymandering
After a presentation on redistricting, students join a redistricting taskforce in a hands-on simulation, drawing district lines and debating until they agree on a map. Then they discuss whether their maps are actually fair.
The Media & Fake News
Students try to spot which stories are fake before a lesson on the media's role and bias. Then they analyze articles from left-leaning, right-leaning, and center sources to see what makes reporting trustworthy.
Review & Assessment
A Clue-style review game, Quizlet vocabulary, and online review games get students ready for the editable unit test.
What's Included
Over 25 resources, ready to teach
Every resource comes in both print and digital formats, plus a unit plan guide with lesson ideas for each day and links to videos and online resources.
- A complete unit guide packet students use throughout the unit
- A full set of digital notebook activities for Google Drive
- 5 PowerPoint lessons with guided notes on elections, campaign finance, the Electoral College, gerrymandering, and the media and fake news
- An activity on the amendments that expanded voting rights
- A campaign finance analysis activity and a Citizens United lesson plan
- An understanding the Electoral College activity, in print and editable versions
- An activity analyzing contested elections in American history
- A hands-on gerrymandering simulation
- A fake news lesson plan, plus an activity comparing how MSNOW and Fox News cover the same stories
- A Clue-style review game, plus online review games and vocabulary
- An editable unit test with a Google Forms option
- A voting worksheet and video links
Teacher Reviews
What teachers say about this unit
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βI was able to take some bits and pieces of this bundle and use them with a class of 8th graders in a history elective class as well as with groups of 12th graders in Government classes during the election this last year. These resources worked great for both!β
EducationalJEMsTeacher
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βJust as all the Students of History resources are, it is well organized and thought out.β
Kaleb E.Teacher
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βI used this resource to help teach students about the presidential election.β
Jessica W.Teacher
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βVery good resource, kept my kids engaged. Thank you.β
Bryanna Z.Teacher
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This is unit 5 of 11 in my complete Civics and American Government curriculum.
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