I remember the first time my dad took me with him to cast his vote in a local election when I was 6-years-old. We were waiting on line at our town’s municipal building as a large group of voters gathered around the hallways in anticipation of casting their votes. I remember watching as my dad entered the voting booth, only to come out a few seconds later after taking part in the election. I couldn’t wait to turn 18 when I would have the opportunity to vote as well.
Today, people ages 18 and older around the country are voting in local and midterm elections. But even if kids are too young to vote, Election Day is a great opportunity to learn about the important role of voting in a democracy.
To help kids learn about and engage in the world around them, Scholastic recently launched We the People, a free online tool focused on civics education and media literacy that incorporates content from Scholastic Classroom Magazines including Scholastic News®, Junior Scholastic® and The New York Times UPFRONT®. We the People encourages discussions around civics in classrooms with content that covers the function of government and the role of voting in a democracy, media literacy articles that teach students how to spot fake news and find credible sources, inspiring current events stories about everyday kids involved in their government, videos, quizzes about citizenship and more.
The resource is separated into two editions, one for grades 4–6, and the other for grades 7–10, to ensure that students and teachers can take advantage of age-appropriate content. Both editions contain content around voting.
Kids in grades 4–6 can read about:
- The right to vote and the struggle for voting rights
- Every vote counts, why don’t more Americans vote?
Kids in grades 7–10 can read about:
For more content around civics and media literacy, visit We the People at https://wethepeople.scholastic.com/
We the People
