Back to Presidential primaries lesson plan

How does the primary process work?

Subjects

• Educational Technology
• Social Studies
  --Civics
  --Current Events
  --Economics
  --Geography
  --Government
  --History
  ----U.S. History

Grade

• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Brief description

Learn how the primary and caucus process works. Work sheet included.

Objectives

Students will

• read (or listen to) the Internet resource How Does the Primary Process Work?
• demonstrate comprehension of the material by completing the How Does the Primary Process Work? Comprehension Activity worksheet.

Keywords

election, primary, caucus, election, president

Materials needed [shop materials]

• How does the primary process work?; students can read it on the Web or you can print a copy for each student or group of students.
• How does the primary process work? Comprehension activity worksheet, one copy per student or group

Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students learn about the presidential primary process by using the How does the primary process work? resource from Project Vote Smart. (Students can access this document online, or you can provide printed copies of this 2-page resource.)

This adaptable lesson can be used in many different ways, including the following:
-- Students can do this activity on their own or in pairs.
-- You can post this as a classroom computer center activity. Students access the resource online and complete the comprehension activity at some time during the week.
-- You can present the activity as a listening activity. Read the resource aloud and have students complete the follow-up comprehension activity. (That approach is not recommended for lower grades.)

Click here for the How does the primary process work? Comprehension activity. See the Answer key for this activity in the Assessment section below.

Additional resources
The following resources provides additional easy-to-understand background on the primary process. You might share these excellent primers as part of your introduction to the above lesson:

• What's a primary election? (Scholastic)
• About the primary - caucus - convention system (About.com)
• How the president of the U.S. is elected (Enchanted Learning)
• Election process (Ben's Guide)
• The Primaries (a resource from the UK)

  Assessment

  Students correctly answer at least 8 of 10 questions on the comprehension activity worksheet.

  ANSWER KEY: Award one point for each correct response.

  1.a, 2.d, 3.b, 4.b, 5.T, 6.F, 7.T, 8.T, 9.F, 10.T.

  Lesson plan source

  Education World

  Submitted by

  Gary Hopkins

   

  Find more activities for teaching about the presidential primaries in Education World's Primaries, Voting, Elections archive.

  You might find additional activities of value on our Presidents Day resources page.

  Click here to return to this week's Lesson planning article, Electing a president: Lessons for teaching about the presidential primaries.
   

  Updated 3/06/2016