Election Fun Update

The campaign buttons my assistant and I will wear tomorrow.

         Today I told my class that they were going to chose one of the toys that would be in our classroom for the next month.  My assistant campaigned for Lego.  She explained that a vote for Lego meant that they would also get some new Lego.  I campaigned for the Sand Table and asked the constituents what they would want to dig for in the sandbox.  Suggestions included dogs and cats and jewels.  I promised that if they picked the Sand Table it would have toy dogs and cats and jewels (not sure I'll be able to keep that campaign promise because I only found little dogs and jewels among our toy and craft collections:).

During free play, many of the children chose to make posters and buttons for their preferred toy. There were also chants of  "Lego, Lego, Lego" and "Sand Table, Sand Table." The kids  are really excited about the election!

A Lego supporter (as evidenced by her giant sticker).

A Sand Box supporter.

Busy Making Campaign Posters.

Vote Lego!

After voting, each child will get an "I Voted" sticker.

Our Voting Booth is all ready for election day.

Early polling seems to suggest that we are going to have Lego in our class next month :)

Election Fun

I've been trying to think of an appropriate way to celebrate Tuesday.  We have talked about the election  and my kiddos know that there is an election for president, who the candidates are and who their parents are voting for.  I didn't ask for the last information but boy were they excited to share:)  I plan to read Duck for President but I also want my little ones to experience voting.

Actually, we regularly vote for what song we will sing.  I usually have the kids in favor of one song sit and those in favor of the other stand and then we count and compare the numbers.  The value of a secret ballot is really evident as the kids always change their vote (so they are voting like their friends or for the "winning" song :). Dr. Jean has cute ideas for voting on her blog but because of the setup of our day (we play outside, then come in and have our circle time and then snack and then free play and time for projects) we don't have time to do a secret ballot to pick our story, song or snack as she suggests.

Today I had the brilliant idea that we should vote on whether we have the lego table and legos in our room or the sand table.  Tomorrow I will explain that the children will pick which toy will be in our room for the next month.  Then  my assistant and I will each vigorously campaign for one day for our preferred toy.    We will discuss the benefits of each toy and they will be able to ask us questions.  I am going to encourage the kids to make campaign posters and buttons (stickers).

                   VS




Tuesday, we will have our election.  I made up simple secret ballots with photos of each of the toys.  After each child has come up to the voting booth (a box), and had their name checked off, they will fill out their ballot (mark it with an x) and get a sticker that says "I VOTED!"  We will then count the votes  to see which toy the majority has picked.

 I hope my candidate (the sandbox) wins!