Did you vote yesterday? Here's a super simple idea that you can use throughout the year to help children understand the democratic process and that "the majority rules." First, each child will need to decorate a jumbo craft stick with their name. Second, you will need two cups or cans to hold the sticks when the children vote. Write options on index cards and tape them to the cups. (For example, if they were voting on a book you could write the names of the books and tape them on the cups. If they were voting on a game they'd like to play you could write the names of the games on the cards.)
One at a time children make their selection and place their stick in the cup. Which one do you think received the most votes? How can we tell for sure? Use a tally to record votes. Write the numerals under the tally marks. Introduce the inequality sign to show which is greater or less.
One thing I remember from my history of education class was that the purpose of schools in the United States was to “educate to perpetuate a democratic citizenry.” You can plant the seeds in your classroom every day by providing children with the opportunity to vote!
Yesterday my friend Janice Vinci sent me this photo and email. What a brilliant idea to ask children to bring in pictures of relatives who are veterans!
Hi Jean,
This is my favorite bulletin board I do each year.
Children that I have taught in the past bring photos of Veterans year after year! We started listening to the song yesterday. By the end of the week they should know it by heart!My greatest joy is hanging my Dad's picture. He is still alive, he will be 86 this month!(he is the bottom row, fourth one in from the left)