While their parents were hard at work electing a President, Pre-Primary was deciding the critical issue of a new class pet. After learning about elections, reading books, listening to lobbyists from the upper unit, examining the candidates, and talking amongst each other, we were ready to cast our ballots.
On November 6th, each child got a ballot and took some time to fill it out. One at a time, the children placed their ballots in the ballot box. We even had a few absentee ballots, sent via text by sick classmates.
By the end of the morning, it was time to count our votes. We dialed in our sick classmates via FaceTime and did the count. Look at those faces—this was serious business!
In the end, hermit crab took the victory, winning 13 of 20 possible votes. Goldfish had six votes, and one vote somehow never made it into the ballot box.
We explained that there is often a space of time between election and when the President takes office. Similarly, there will be a bit of time between declaring hermit crab the winner and when it will arrive in our classroom. It might take us a few weeks to get the right food, cage, and supplies.
No one seemed too disappointed with the election results, and we celebrated with a round of voting stickers. Hooray for democracy!