Duck for President!

Yes, you read that correctly!

Last week, students listened to the read aloud of Duck for President by Doreen Cronin. In the book, Duck was tired of doing work on the farm and thought if he ran the farm, things would be different.  Soon, he was voted to be governor, and then president.  At the end of the story, he realized being a president is hard work so he returned to the farm to write his autobiography.  We learned election vocabulary such as vote, ballot, and requirement.  
Then students had to share their reasons why they would vote for either Duck or Farmer Brown to be president.  Based on a persuasive list of reasons, it was already looking like Duck was the popular candidate.  Preliminary voting showed a 14-1 vote in favor of Duck.  However, immediately after, Logan gave a convincing argument why Farmer Brown would make the better president and 5 classmates changed their minds!
Students enjoyed making campaign posters to show their support of their favorite candidate.  Listen to the students' reasons why they would vote for either Duck or Farmer Brown in the video below.
 
Our social studies unit on Citizenship connects with the MA state standard's supporting question "What does it mean to be responsible?".  Be responsible is one of our school's 4B's as well.  We discussed what responsibilities a president has as a leader of our country.

We also thought about the responsibilities teachers and students have.  We noticed that there are some similarities in responsibilities for children and adults if we all want to be respectful, caring people.

 

Last Wednesday, students couldn't wait for the opportunity to be part of the voting process and actually cast their vote.  Our plexiglass dividers were perfect for voting booths!

Each child in my class had a job: give out hand sanitizer, check people in, ensure each voter only took one ballot, be in charge of the ballot box, point the voter to their "I voted!" badge, or hold up signs urging others to vote.  Everyone was very polite and patient!

We counted the votes and recorded them on a chart using tally marks.  We then recounted the votes for each candidate to ensure we counted correctly.  

Reading Duck for President was a wonderful way to introduce children to the election process!

MA Social Studies Standards

Topic 1. Civics: Classroom Citizenship [K.T1]

Standard 2. Take on responsibilities and follow through on them, being helpful to and respectful of others.

Standard 3. With prompting and support, give examples from literature and informational texts read or read aloud of characters who show authority, fairness, caring, justice, responsibility, or who show how rules are created and followed.