Scholars had yesterday off because we had a Professional Development Day on Election Day. We originally did not know we were going to have this PDD, so we had this activity planned for social studies to explain an elections in a fun way.
First, we listened to the story ‘Duck for President’ on YouTube. Click here for the link that I used. After reading this, we talked about how which character we would vote for. I used the test boards to give the scholars privacy while they voted. I set up ballots and a crayon. The instructions were to color their choice, fold their ballot, and put it in the tissue box.
We talked about how ballots were anonymous/secret and you didn’t have to write your name so that we wouldn’t know who they voted for. We also talked about how we would tally up the votes at the end to see who won the vote. After everyone had a chance to go, I pulled the ballots out one at a time and we colored in the chart.
Side Note: It took me forever to make the chart and this is only the second SB slide I’ve ever made. I know it’s not perfect, but I’m pretty proud of it.
It was a very emotional roller coaster as I pulled out each ballot. SOme of the kids even broke down in tears at the end because Farmer Brown won. One child made a very good argument. He said, “Duck never could be president because he didn’t know how to speak”. I couldn’t even argue with that logic!
This was a great activity! The kids had a great time and I would definitely do something like this again next year! What did you all do to help your kids understand the election process? Leave it in the comments!