“I Voted!” Power To The People!
Practice: Get ready for some activities.
Activities are designed to be parent- or teacher-supervised.
Activity 1
Step 1
Remind the children that democracy is a government run by the people. Each citizen gets to vote on how the government is run. This is different from a monarchy or dictatorship. In a Monarchy, the king and queen have all the power, and a dictator has all the power in a dictatorship.In a Representative government, people elect an official to represent them. Elections are free. Citizens have the power to vote and elect people to represent them.
Step 2
All day today or for part of the day, vote on everything! Give students two or three choices for every situation that happens today:Examples: We can’t play outside today because it’s raining. Vote for one of the following options:
1. Dance and sing with interactive videos online (if this choice is made, also allow children to vote for each song they choose to dance to as well).
2. Play board games (if this choice is made then vote on which board game to play first, second, etc).
3. Watch a movie (if this choice is made then vote on which movie to watch).
Step 3
Keep playing the “I voted” game all day! Vote on which snacks to eat, which activity to do on the schedule, which chores to help with, etc…
Activity 2
Watch the video and pay attention to the materials and supplies you will need.
Teacher Notes:
- Ask the students to write down how many pounds of tea they think were dumped into the bay.
- Replay the cartoon episode at the beginning of the course and have the students make note of how much tea was dumped.
- Ask the students if they felt the tea was significant enough to change the color of the water.
- Introduce activity 2, making note of the amount of work it would take the colonists to dump the tea in secret!