Vote for SOMEBODY!

On the morning of November 6, I woke up giddy and wide-eyed at 5:00 am (a whole 45 minutes earlier than I usually rise!). I couldn't wait to exercise one of my most favorite freedoms, the right to vote. Admittedly, it's only my second time voting in a presidential election! As much as I couldn't wait to vote,  I really couldn't wait to share some Election Day learning with our second graders and was ecstatic at the questions and buzz in Room 2B about Election Day leading up to it. I was impressed and proud of how aware and informed our students are at such a young age.

As I walked out of my local middle school, ballot cast, I felt tears well up in my eyes. I don't know if it's because now-this year, for the first time-I have an audience of 16 in front of me, learning and growing before my eyes, and I felt like there was just so much I wanted to share with them....
-about democracy and our freedoms
-what it FEELS like to be able to vote
-what makes our country exceptional
-that we have the right in this country to disagree and hold strong beliefs and stand up for them and talk about them!
-the aspirations and accomplishments that they have to look forward to as our future leaders

So, after we tallied up our predictions on our Morning Message about which candidate we believed might win (Obama had more tallies), we greeted each other as follows: "Good Morning, Future President ________" (student last name). Our second graders giggled and scoffed playfully at this greeting, but I stopped them for a second. The room got quiet. And then I told them we are greeting each other like this today because I want you to know that you CAN be our nation's leader one day, and that's one of the beautiful things about our country, and I have no qualms that you are each brilliant and capable. We were pensive and silent for a moment. I watched the students drink this in. Still giggles during the greeting, though, which was rather fun.

Next, we quietly took our seats in front of our SMART Board and watched this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVkfNUxRh7g

Throughout the day, students participated in a mock election (Obama won it) and students voiced questions and wonderings about the election. Trying to explain the electoral college in response to Karsten's question of: "what if there's a tie?" was quite interesting! Then, students learned more about the election process with a read aloud: Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, complete with a duck puppet!

All day, students tried to figure out who I voted for. I explained the importance of listening closely to both candidates, asking and researching questions, thinking about what beliefs we each personally hold most dear, and keeping votes private-especially as their teacher. Still, Eli came up to me at the end of the day and said "Ms. Baier, I think I've got you figured out..." and to this I sang, "I'll never tell!"