Municipal Elections<\/p>\n
How do municipal elections work? How do voters decide\u00a0how to vote in an election?<\/p>\n
Elections are contests of leadership, ideas, politics and\u00a0power, where interested individuals campaign for your\u00a0support and ultimately your vote.<\/p>\n
In this unit, students will reflect on what they know about\u00a0elections and create a class definition. Students will\u00a0learn about municipal elections in Ontario and how their\u00a0 municipal council is elected. Individually or in groups,\u00a0students will engage in the inquiry process to investigate\u00a0factors when making their voting decision and to guide\u00a0their research into the candidates. In the Consolidation\u00a0<\/em>activity, students reflect on the process and why it is\u00a0important to research the candidates and explore election\u00a0issues.<\/p>\n We are learning to\u2026<\/p>\n I CAN\u2026<\/p>\n Social Studies Gr. 5<\/em> B1, B3, B1.1, B3.1, B3.8 Within a few days of the unit, ask students to survey at\u00a0least five adults they know, who are eligible voters in\u00a0the community, about the upcoming municipal elections\u00a0(Activity 6.1<\/a>).<\/p>\n In addition to or alternatively, ask students to bring in\u00a0evidence or use their technology to take photos of the\u00a0election campaign in their community.<\/p>\n 1. Ask students to write down the words that come to\u00a0mind when they hear the word \u2018election\u2019 (Activity 6.2<\/a>).\u00a0Invite students to share any examples of the election\u00a0happening in the community.<\/p>\n 2. Create a class definition for \u2018election\u2019. Questions to\u00a0prompt discussion:<\/p>\n \u2022 What is the purpose? Notes: What is an election?<\/p>\n 1. Review your municipal council composition (titles,\u00a0number of positions) and the election process in your\u00a0municipality. You can use the accompanying slide deck<\/a> as\u00a0a starting point and add specific information about your\u00a0municipality.<\/p>\n 2. Reinforce the upcoming election on October 22.\u00a0Demonstrate to students where you can find the list of\u00a0registered candidates by visiting your municipality\u2019s website.\u00a0Ask students to write down the name of the candidates\u00a0running for each position (Activity 6.2<\/a>).<\/p>\n Teacher note: Your municipality will likely have a dedicated\u00a0election page or subsite dedicated to the election. Look for\u00a0\u2018Election 2018\u2019 or \u2018Municipal Elections\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n 3. On a blackboard or whiteboard, write down the following\u00a0question: How do voters decide how to vote in an election?\u00a0(Whom to choose)\u00a0Through a class discussion, create sub-themes and generate\u00a0questions to frame this decision. Review information\u00a0collected through the Readiness activity (adult\/family\u00a0survey). For example:<\/p>\n 4. Through a class discussion, review different ways that\u00a0you can collect information about the issues and candidates\u00a0(e.g., news media, candidate campaign literature, candidate Teacher note: It may be helpful to model researching\u00a0candidate information using candidate websites\/social\u00a0media pages.<\/em><\/p>\n 5. As a class or in groups, have students develop an\u00a0inquiry or investigation plan to help them make their\u00a0voting decision(s) (Activity 6.3<\/a>). Students can work in a\u00a0jigsaw format or another method where the research is\u00a0shared, discussed and analyzed.<\/p>\n Teacher note: If you decide to pose questions to the\u00a0candidates, organize the questions into one document and\u00a0send it to each candidate running for office.<\/em><\/p>\n 1. Through a whole class discussion, create a list about the\u00a0most pressing issues in the community. Draw upon articles\u00a0about the election, opinion polls, the survey completed in\u00a0the Readiness activity and previous discussions from Unit 5.<\/p>\n 2. As a class, establish criteria to evaluate which issues are\u00a0most important. Guiding questions:<\/p>\n Use the criteria, determine the top three issues facing the\u00a0community.<\/p>\n 3. Divide the class into pairs or small groups to research\u00a0the candidates running for election. As a class, develop\u00a0a checklist for creating a profile and formulate questions\u00a0based on the top election issues. Have students choose\u00a0how the information will presented (e.g., poster board,\u00a0slide deck, video, \u201cfakebook\u201d account, fake Instagram or\u00a0Twitter feed).<\/p>\n Sample research profile:<\/p>\n Teacher note: Encourage students to use primary\u00a0and secondary resources, including news articles and\u00a0commentary, candidate websites and social media pages,\u00a0or even contact the candidates directly.<\/em><\/p>\n 4. Have each group present their candidate profile and\u00a0research to the rest of the class. Alternatively, you can\u00a0post the group work around the classroom walls or create\u00a0stations, and use a Carousel format where students move\u00a0in small groups from station to station.<\/p>\n Have a brief closing discussion about the candidates and\u00a0the decision-making process in elections, who to vote for,\u00a0or ask students to write a reflection on one or more of the Title Municipal Elections Guiding Question How do municipal elections work? How do voters decide\u00a0how to vote in an election? OVERVIEW Elections are contests of leadership, ideas, politics and\u00a0power, where interested individuals campaign for your\u00a0support and ultimately your vote. In this unit, students will reflect on what they know about\u00a0elections and create a class definition. Students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elementary-lessons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1260,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions\/1260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civix.ca\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}LEARNING GOALS<\/h3>\n
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SUCCESS CRITERIA<\/h3>\n
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CURRICULUM LINKS<\/h3>\n
\nReading<\/em> 1, 1.4, 1.6
\nMedia Literacy<\/em> 3, 4, 3.4, 4.1<\/p>\nREADINESS<\/h3>\n
MINDS ON<\/h3>\n
\n\u2022 What are the activities involved?
\n\u2022 Who is involved?<\/p>\n\n
ACTION<\/h3>\n
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\nwebsites and social media pages, website searches, all candidate\u00a0debates or town halls, opinion polls, informal\u00a0polls, discussion with family and friends).<\/p>\nAlternative Activity<\/em><\/h4>\n
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CONSOLIDATION<\/h3>\n
\nfollowing questions:<\/p>\n\n
TIPS FOR TEACHERS<\/h3>\n
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SUPPLEMENTARY TOOLS<\/h3>\n
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