Election Day!

In less than a week our country will elect its newest President!

And this year's election has caught more media attention than ever before...

Children appear to be more aware of who the candidates are than I have ever witnessed in the past.

I feel it is important to teach them about Election Day and what it means to have the right to vote even at an early age.

Every year I conduct an election in my classroom but it is usually to vote on something that has an immediate 'reward'- certain snack, special activity, a privilege, etc.  BUT after the day is over the 'impact' of what was decided upon does not really stick and there is no 'long term' reminder of what our vote got us.

So this year I really tried to think about what I could do in my kindergarten classroom to show students the impact a vote/decision has long term....

...and then it came to me!

We hadn't started our 'take home reading buddy' program yet this year...

THIS would be perfect!

Students will vote on which animal they want to be the 'take home buddy' for the year.

They will be reminded of the outcome of the vote each week...the other 'candidates' will slip away and never be seen, but the winner will be a part of our classroom, and fun at home, for the remainder of the year!

So I rummaged through my cabinets and collected books and such that each 'candidate' had used in the past when the were the take-home buddy.

I made a 'ballot'...

...and thought about what each 'candidate' would 'say' to persuade the 'voters' to pick them!

You have the very famous Pete the Cat...

The classic Clifford the Big Red Dog...

And the oh so adorable Cookie Mouse...

Students will have to really think hard about which 'candidate' is going to make the best 'take home reading buddy' for the year!

Each 'candidate' has some really good points as to why s/he should be picked...

Will students go with the popular favorite?  A fun puppet to play with?  The less popular, yet cutest?

Only time will tell!

In the meantime I am waiting on all these permission slips to come back to me...

I have done take-home reading buddies in the past (you can read about Pete the Cat one HERE) and know that the stuffed animals and books that go into them are doomed destined to take a beating!  Thankfully, Kohl's Cares for Kids program has stuffed animals 4 times a year for only $5 each...as well as books that go with them...so I don't mind using them!

But in any case, I do emphasize that the children need to be responsible and will only send home with kids whose parents have filled out the permission slip.

**If I don't get slips back, I do let those children have a day in the classroom with the special friend so that they don't feel left out!**

And then on Monday we will go into our secret 'voting booth'...

...and will have to make the important decision that will impact who stays around in our classroom ALL YEAR LONG!

They will mark their choice and then fold it and drop it in the SUPER OFFICIAL ballot box...aka...

...last night's dinner box 'up-cycled' into a ballot box!

I will take all the ballots out, we will tally the results and the winner will be announced with fanfare and zest! 

The kids will wear this badge home:

to hopefully spark some discussions about what we did in class and also remind parents to vote!

On Wednesday (our schools are closed to students on Election Day) our new 'take-home reading buddy' will be sworn in and s/he will begin their adventures with families beginning on Thursday!

The take-home buddy will be placed in a special mini backpack filled with his/her special books & a notebook to chart adventures!

Each Monday s/he will return and we will read about what s/he did that weekend!  S/he will come home with me to 'take a bath' and be all prepped and ready for his/her new adventure the following weekend!

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If you think this is something you would like to do with your class, download the FREE template HERE!

The images I used are from Google Images and I do not own them, nor did I purchase them for commercial use, so I am giving you a blank editable template (one or '2' choices, one for '3' choices).

Simply add text boxes or pictures to suit it to fit your needs.

I also included a blank 'Vote For...' poster that you can use to make for your 'candidates!'

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Still need some poems/songs, activities, books or more for Election Day?

Check out this video of 4 of my Election Day Resources:

You can find them ALL by clicking HERE

Stay tuned to find out which 'candidate' won our classroom election!

Until next post,

Using 'Pete The Cat' As A Mentor Text For Interactive Writing!

This year as a district the kindergarten staff decided to start the year with a month of interactive writing.

I love interactive writing, so this was music to my ears!

Come October, we will begin Writers Workshop and are hoping that the month of writing 'training' and 'guiding' will help make it easier for our kinders as they embark on becoming an independent writer!

So last week we used 'Pete the Cat' as our inspiration for writing!

The children are familiar with him and love 'singing his song' so it was a perfect way to engage them!

I also have a 'Pete the Cat' take home bag program- this would be the perfect way to get them excited about having their chance to take Pete home for the weekend!

Each weekend a child takes this bag home. It has a plush Pete, 'Pete the Cat' books and games, Pete's Adventure Journal & Pete printable activities!

Before getting the chance to take it home, each child must bring back this permission slip:

 

This weekend I took Pete home so that I can model how to complete the adventure journal!

Pete stays at your house until Tuesday morning. Then the children share his adventure journal (parents write in what Pete did; children draw or glue in digital photos of them and Pete) with the class and I take him home to get 'washed up' for his next adventure!

So to get them excited about Pete's visits, we started with his most 'famous' story as our 'mentor text':

We used this book to make a color 'chart' for our classroom

Since it is the beginning of kindergarten, I basically focused on just initial sounds for the children to write when they came up to 'share' the pen.  As we became more familiar with interactive writing throughout the week, I had them add in more letters for sounds they heard.

The chart was hung in our classroom for reference throughout the week, but I then cut it apart to add the color words to our word wall:

And for independent 'writing' time each child chose a color and made a picture of items using only that color.  I was so impressed by these that had such great attention to detail:

 

Some students chose to copy the color word from the chart to add to their page!

I bound the pages together using a binder ring to make a class book that we will hang in our book nook (class library).

We also used the book to make a fun 'Pete' class book:

 

They are already reading this one with excitement-and independence, during Readers Workshop!

Next up was...

This story/song was so familiar to the students that even the few pages that were not 'traditional' did not throw them off!

For this one we practiced making sentences of things we see on a bus:

We had also just learned our first sight word, 'A,' so I had them practice writing and finding that word, as well!

Rather than make a class book we made a bus craft as our follow up.

This was one of our first 'go-rounds' with scissors!

They only had to cut out the pre-traced bus.  I had the wheels and windows pre-cut.

I had them reference our class 'story' of items we see on a bus to fill in the windows on their buses.

 I wanted to display our great early year writing and I couldn't have hoped for it to come out any better!  

Our next 'mentor text' was...

We used it as a springboard to discuss things that make us happy!

And when it was time for independent 'writing' I guided them to draw a picture of something that makes them happy.  Here are a few I chose to highlight:

I encouraged them to 'write' but the only writing I got was their names, so during snack time I 'conferenced' with each student so that I could write their idea for them.

Our last 'Pete the Cat' 'mentor text' was a re-read of a story we read the second day of school:

When we first read it, we discussed places in a school and then went on a tour around our school to find all of them.

This time we used it to list places in our school:

As you can see from the beginning of the week to the end, the amount of letters they wrote increased!  I also took another 'leap'..I handed out dry erase boards, markers and socks (erasers) so that students not writing could write too:

So as a student came up to add to our list:

The others wrote that letter at the same time on their own boards:

Some tried to copy the words, other just practiced the individual letters..but everyone was engaged!

And when it was time for independent writing, they were sent back to illustrate a place in our school:

This child said 'it's noisy there because of the instruments!'

I love this rendition of the HUGE gym floor!

Look at the details he is including already- sun and grass!

This is the children looking out the classroom window...so you see the grass!

AMAZING details of the nurse's office!  

And to a 5 year old, the lunchroom probably does look like just a bunch of long tables!!!

Our library does have bookshelves that are in a 'circular' pattern, so his rendition was spot on!

I put a few of our interactive writing charts up for display along with Pete:

They were so excited when they came in the next morning and saw Pete!

Pete is now ready to for his first family visit and we are ready to continue working on interactive writing for another 2 weeks!

I have a 'Cool Cat' sampler for free in my TPT store if you are in search of some fun, free and 'groovy' goodies:

Be sure to come back and visit to see how our interactive writing continued to grow!

Until next post,