Vermont Votes for Kids: A project of the Vermont Secretary of State

Engaging students in discussions about voting is an excellent way to help them move from shallow to deep thinking, and to demonstrate the higher order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The exercises below are designed to help students internalize the importance of voting so they are more likely to become active voters when they reach adulthood.

Tasks:

1. Describes the critical attributes of a community (people frequently interact, live in close geographical proximity, have a sense of belonging).
2. Identifies issues faced by the local community as appropriate for young children.
3. Identifies examples of how the community has changed over time and predicts how the community might change in the future.
4. Creates a community time line.
5. Compares and contrasts different stories and accounts about past events in the community.
6. Infers factors/circumstances that cause communities to change.

ACTIVITIES:

Discuss issues in the local community. How are things such as schools, parks, roads, police departments, fire departments, and hospitals related to voting? How would the community be different if people had voted differently? If you could vote to improve your community, what would you choose to vote on?

Several years ago, highways went through the center of many small towns. Interstate highways go around towns. How did small towns change when Interstates went in? Would you vote to build an Interstate, if you knew it would change your town? Why or why not?

How has the community changed during the past thirty years? How many of the changes were the result of voting?

Vermont Secretary of State http://www.vermontvotesforkids.com