Today is a very important day in our country, for ourselves, our community, and the lives of all future adults: our children! I hope all of us have taken the time to vote, if you can. It is such a critical time in our country and our voices matter, no matter how young we are.
"I vote for Pete the Cat. He is nice and friendly." - Elias
We did not want to pass up the opportunity to talk about why this day is important and what it means to vote, so we had a little election of our own. First we read the book
Vote for Our Future and talked about why our votes matter. Then, we cast our votes on who the children thought would be a better friend,
Pete the Cat or the
Pigeon. We also voted on a special snack we would have tomorrow (Apples or Bananas), and what activity we should do outside (Legos or Playdough). Needless to say it was a landslide win for Pete, Apples, and Legos. Afterwards, we each got a "V" for I Voted sticker.

"Pete is a good friend because he is calm. The Pigeon is always yelling!
Maybe he can ask nicely to drive the bus next time." - Kaidha

"I vote for Pete because he says, 'It's all good.' He is friendly. The Pigeon is very angry." - Hudson
We will continue to have these conversations in the classroom about what it means to be a leader, and what kinds of changes the children want to make in the world. We encourage all families to do the same at home!
Other age appropriate book recommendations about Voting and Civic Engagement:
My Vote (Bryant and Prosterman)
Say Something (Reynolds)
Grace for President (Dipuccio)