Inauguration Day is happens every four years in January! It’s a great opportunity to teach your students about the Presidential election in even more detail! For teachers, this day is a great chance to bring history and civics to life in the classroom. Using Inauguration Day activities for kids will help students understand its significance. In this blog post, I outline four fun Inauguration Day activities for your students!
1. Start With an Introductory Video
Showing an introductory YouTube video is a fantastic way to kick off your Inauguration Day lesson. This helps put this important holiday into kid-friendly terms. Look for a short, engaging video that explains the purpose of Inauguration Day, the significance of the presidential oath, and the traditions that make it special, like the parade and inaugural address. This video is short and sweet, pointing out details about Inauguration Day.
2. Use a Nonfiction Reading Flip Book
Using a reading flip book is an interactive and engaging way to teach kids about Inauguration Day while building their reading and comprehension skills. Start with the nonfiction reading passage to provide students with a kid-friendly overview of the holiday’s history and significance. Then, there are three follow-up pages that include comprehension questions, true and false sorting, and a final writing page!
3. Take a Virtual Field Trip
Discovery Education has created a virtual field trip video for students to watch. This virtual field trip focuses on the speech that the President-Election will give. The students will learn about “I Do Solemnly Swear”. Another idea for Inauguration Day Activities that you can tie into this field trip is to have students practice reciting the vice-president and president oaths aloud.
4. Write a Letter to the President: Inauguration Day Activities
And finally, have your students practice their letter writing skills with a letter to the future president. Ask them to use their knowledge of what the president does and what they just swore to the United States. You can allow this to be open-ended or you can give them a prompt to follow.
Suggested Prompt:
- introduction
- what they’d like to see in the first 100 days
- 3 ways they’d like the president to improve the country over the next four years
- conclusion
Thanks for reading this week’s blog post! I hope it sparks a few ideas for your Inauguration Day lessons. Don’t forget to grab the reading flip book for only $3 to add to your lessons!
Inauguration Day Reading Flip Book
Includes: reading passage, comprehension question, sorting true & false, writing page, optional book topper.
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