This is what it looked like

Here is what it looked like in Preschool: students voted choosing between apple juice and orange juice. The vibe was reverent and patriotic, with the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background. In this classroom and several others across school, this was a vote with consequences: the winner is served at snack later today.
 

Here is what it looked like at Early Childhood dropoff: students and parents weighed in on a flash poll on favorite fruit. This vote emphasized the community aspect of voting and the fun everybody-in air of a busy polling place.
 

Here is what it looked like in fifth grade advisory: students tried their hand at giving rally speeches in front of each other, running for hypothetical offices like Advisory Vice President. Students immediately got a sense of the courage it takes to speak in front of a crowd, and of how easy it is to get carried away by the crowd.
 

Here is what it looked like in eighth grade humanities: students started class by typing up silent reflections in a Google form that will allow teachers to get a sense of the level of stress, excitement and anxiety present in eighth grade today. Then, they spent ten minutes getting a quick refresher on the electoral college. This lesson will help them decode the conversation around this week’s election, and will also inform their yearlong exploration of voting rights and the legacy of enslavement in present day America.
 

Here is what it looked like in second grade: students walked down to Early Childhood to participate in Young Kindergarten’s poll on favorite Del’s flavors. As they waited their turn, their teacher got to teach a real-life lesson in peer pressure as friends got a little too curious about how other friends were voting.
 

Here is what it looked like in Kindergarten: students chose between Oreos and Chips Ahoy! for today’s snack. This was one of several classrooms where votes with immediate consequences: the winner is served at snack later today. For these five-and-six-year-olds, the conversation centered on the basics of tallying votes: how many votes can one person have, what happens if someone votes for both choices, how would a tie be decided, and more.
 

Here is what it looked like in Lower School: many classes found time to read Leo’s First Vote by Christina Soontornvat. The book is about an immigrant who gets citizenship and teaches his son about voting and that every vote counts, and led to good discussions about the two main political parties, who didn’t used to have the right to vote, and why it’s important to vote.
 

Here is what it looked like in fifth grade math: students had US maps marked with electoral votes, and played a card game that challenged them to add states and get to two hundred and seventy before their opponent. Along the way, the went over the votes assigned to each state, and got to marvel over paradoxes like how large states can have a small impact, small states can be mighty, and California and Texas loom over all the rest.
 

Here is what it looked like in sixth grade humanities: students had US maps marked with electoral votes, just like fifth grade did, but their assignment was to look at the current state of play for today’s election. They counted up the so-called “safe” states and took a long hard look at the swing states, finding each candidate’s multiple paths to victory and preparing themselves to participate in the post-election conversations happening in the days ahead.
 

Here is what it looked like at the end of the day: the seventh grade had designed “I Voted” stickers as a lesson in advocacy and non-verbal communication. The challenge was to use imagery that was patriotic but non-partisan. The favorite design featured a red-white-and-blue Del’s, and Gordon’s local Del’s arranged for frozen lemonade for everyone. It was a fitting end to a day that had every grade celebrating their right to use their voice. 

 

Election Day is a major holiday at a school that asks each child to find and use their own voice, and that strives to model how people in a diverse community can find common ground.

Conversations on voting rights begin in Early Childhood, and extend through eighth grade, when students travel to Georgia and Alabama to meet with veterans of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and meet with activists working today to keep the election process open and accessible.

More on that trip at www.gordonschool.org/civilrights

More on election lessons from this fall at www.gordonschool.org/election