Election 2016: Polls are OPEN!

When I look into the eyes of the students, I wonder who is sitting in my room. A doctor? A lawyer? A tech guru? A builder? A mechanic? An accountant? A small business owner? A banker? A teacher? A factory worker? The person who finally finds a cure for cancer? The next President of the United States of America?! It's possible, and I hope the answer is yes to all of those careers. Today, our focus was freedom. Freedom to make choices, freedoms that have been fought for us by the bravest people, freedom to go to school and receive a quality education, freedom to be anything we want to be, freedom to exercise our right to VOTE FOR PRESIDENT!

We quickly learned that first graders are as passionate as the rest of America in their opinions for the best person to run our great country! While we didn't touch on the policies, beliefs, and platforms of each candidate, we did offer students a chance to see how the voting process works, and that there were more than 2 names on the ballot. The emphasis of our discussion surrounded these points:

All Americans have the right to vote
It is our civic duty to vote (responsibility)
People have the choice to NOT vote
Votes are kept secret, we do not write our names on them
Voters must respect other people's decisions and always treat others kindly and speak respectfully
If your candidate wins, we win gracefully----always, always treat others with kindness
If your candidate does not win, we lose gracefully-----always, always treat others with kindness

We watched this great video called The Presidency from Scholastic News. Check it out by clicking the link below!

http://election.scholastic.com/election-central/Videos/#

After our election, we counted the votes and Trump won. According to Scholastic News, when kids vote through Scholastic's mock election, the kids have only been wrong 3 times in 48 years! I hope you were able to take your child to the polls with you this today. It is so exciting to be able to show our future voters that every vote matters, and that we care deeply about the U.S.A! Here's a little peek into our polls! *Disclaimer: photos of actual ballots were not taken while voters were in the booth. All voters signed a waiver to have their photos taken at the polls and pinky promised to keep their votes a secret.*

Hey! Thank you to the voter than wrote me in! I am honored to be your choice to lead America! My promise to the people: Lots of playdoh (it even keeps adults calm and happy), free crayons for everyone - because who doesn't like to color?!, an abundance of snacks - because basically snacks are awesome and food brings people together, friendship bracelets for everyone, music, and fuzzy slippers for all! These are the things we need. Oh, and less student testing.

First graders also weighed in on their Presidential promises...