ABCD VOTE

It is primary day today, and people are voting across the state of Rhode Island.

Young Kindergarten knew about the presidential election that was coming up.

 

Their teacher explained that today was for local elections, then invited them to participate in a hyperlocal classroom referendum.

 

Which should they have first today? Outside time? Or choice time?

 

Both activities are popular, and the vote would have impact everyone in the class.

 

They had already talked about tallying in math, so the students understood the vote counting process.
 

After the first two votes, their teacher stopped them to reflect on a hard lesson they will face throughout their lives.
 

No matter how this vote turned out, someone was going to be disappointed.
 

Stop. Take a breath. Think about that disappointment. Maybe you won’t experience it today, but you will someday. That’s part of voting. That's part of being a community. Get used to it.
 

The vote continued to be tight.
 

But with 100% voter turnout, the results were eventually decisive.
 

Analysis of the results led to further conversation about tallying, numerals and addition.
 

...and a quick review of Eileen Christelow’s Vote put the decision into context.
 

Across the school, second graders were doing some reading comprehension.
 

What did they remember from the book they’d read the day before?
 

Meena Harris’s story of a student-led drive to build a playground had included larger lessons about making change.
 

What are the essential ingredients in any drive for change?

An idea. A community. Leadership. Hope.
 

And action! They watched Kindness Can Change a Nation, a short video by a nine-year-old who turned his ideas into action.
 

Orion had led community drives for five hundred toys, five thousand meals, and five hundred thousand books.
 

Now he's pushing for one million acts of kindness.
 

Students talked about the dream.
 

They also talked about the math. Five hundred thousand is less than one million, but five is more than one.
 

Place value makes all the difference.
 

Math. Literacy. Reading comprehension.

 

Hope. Dreams. Action.
 

It's all part of the same lesson.

More:

Be real, get personal and take action: six tips for talking to children about the election

Democracy, dissent and decision making: an evening for parents and caregivers, October 1st