Kindergarten Casts Votes on Election Day
While the midterm elections took place this week, kindergarten classes learned all about voting and elections. They listened to and discussed a story about the election process before stepping into the voting booth themselves.
Kindergartners listened to “Duck for President” by Doreen Cronin. The story follows a character, Duck, who lives on a farm run by Farmer Brown. Duck believes that he would make a better leader than Farmer Brown, and decides to run against him to be in charge of the farm. The story follows Duck as he runs for this position while his fellow farm animals register to vote, hold an election, tally votes and demand a recount. They ultimately declare Duck the winner. Duck repeats this process as he runs for governor, then president. Along the way, Duck learns about the responsibilities that come with being an elected leader.
Kindergartners then cast their own ballots for whom they thought would be a better president: Farmer Brown or Duck? After discussing the importance of making thoughtful decisions while voting, students entered the voting booth to cast their ballots for Farmer Brown or Duck, each receiving their own “I voted” sticker when they were done. The votes were tallied, and Duck won by a landslide.
With elections taking place in their communities and families participating in the voting process, this activity gave students a chance to explore the concepts of voting and civic participation in a context that made sense to them.
