The Election Process

Our Citizenship lessons this week discussed the process of voting! Our new vocabulary words were "majority" and "ballot." We discussed how our vote is a choice that gets counted, and whoever/whatever receives the most votes wins. We did a few "show of hand" votes to practice- and we noticed that many of the children looked around to see what their friends had chosen, and a few even changed their vote! We talked about how a secret ballot keeps the voter's choice private, and each person's vote remains unaffected by others' choices or feelings. The kids decided that the secret ballot was a more fair way to vote to get the voter's true choice, and it respected everyone's privacy to make their own decision, too! 

We put together an "election timeline" that helped us better understand the election process. We briefly discussed the PRIMARIES, during which many candidates show their interest in running for the office of President. Then we learned about the NATIONAL CONVENTION during which the Democrat and Republican Parties name their candidate. The children are aware that our two candidates for President are our current President Barack Obama, and Governor Mitt Romney! We moved on to discuss CAMPAIGN process- during which the candidates are giving speeches, having debates, making commercials, etc, to tell the voters what their plans are and why we should vote for them! We might see posters, signs, and buttons that show who fellow citizens are supporting. (We realized that this is currently where we are in the election process!) Coming up on November 6th is the ELECTION when its time for the voters go to the polls to make their choice.  Finally on January 20th will be the INAUGURATION, or "swearing in" of the President of the United States for the next 4 years!

 We have begun a mock election with fictional characters who are running for our class mayor. Our class election will follow the same format! We are currently in the Primary stage where our 4 candidates have announced their intentions to run for office. They are "Tough Tiffany, "Healthy Harry," "Fair Frank," and "Silly Sally." Our candidates have each given a speech sharing their intentions, and we will be narrowing our 4 candidates down to 2 in our National Convention next week. Its so fascinating to watch the children participate in the election process on a smaller scale! They are very interested and engaged in this process!