Election Day 2012

Since presidential elections only happen every four years here in the U.S. I thought I'd take advantage of the occasion and make it a learning experience for the kids. The lesson that I wanted the 1st and 2nd graders to take away from all this is that they have a voice and that their voice can help to make a difference in our government. In addition, I wanted to help teach them the importance of being involved in the community (which, by the way has been our theme for social studies over the past several weeks). The class was pretty disappointed to find out that they can't vote in real life for another 10-12 years. However, they were excited that we were going to have our own mock election. I hope you enjoy these photos as much as we enjoyed the voting process!

Here's a photo of our ballot box, campaign posters, election themed books, and some fun decor!

We used our privacy screens as voting booths. After all, voters have a right to keep their votes private!

Before casting their votes, students had to present their Voter Identification Card. After voting, they each received an "I Voted!" sticker that they proudly wore for the rest of the day. (Isn't this self-portrait of one of my 1st graders THE cutest drawing ever? The missing teeth - that's my favorite part!)

After we tallied the votes we did a fun graphing activity. I am sure that some of you are probably curious . . . Obama won by a landslide in our classroom and after the announcement was made two Romney supporters were in tears.

Kudos goes out to the all the teachers out there who created mini-units specifically for the election. There were so many creative resources out there, it was hard to pick which ones to use! Here's a list of the resources I used:

• "Hooray for Election Day!" by Gladys of Teaching in High Heels
• "Pint-Sized Presidential Fun" by Cara Carroll of The First Grade Parade
• "Let's Vote!" by Christie of First Grade Fever

Goodbye October, Hello November!

The first quarter of school flew by so fast! The class learned so much in the first nine weeks of school, and there is so much more to look forward to.

We have been busy learning about communities for social studies over the past couple of weeks. The kids really enjoyed this "Me on the Map" activity that I found on Pinterest. (As always, my favorite site never lets me down in the idea department!) Quote from one of my 1st graders while we were working on putting our projects together, "This isn't work! This is fun!"

To download the template for this project, please visit the blog "Pencils, Glue & Tying Shoes HERE. Ideas for other activities (also found on Pinterest!) that the kids really enjoyed can be found HERE and HERE.

This past Wednesday, all EPAA students had a special assembly. Coach Casio presented 10 health and wellness principles of "The Green Body Pledge" to the students.

Parents, and anyone who is local to us, our school is having a Scholastic Book Fair. Proceeds from this fundraiser will be divided between the classrooms. About 80% of our classroom library is actually comprised of books from my own personal library. Don't tell my husband, but I purchase books for our library each month! If anyone would like to help purchase books for our classroom library, we have a classroom wish list at the book fair. The book fair runs through November 7, and hours are 3-4 P.M. We also have a wish list on Amazon that can be found HERE.

Have a great November!