And the election elation continues...

Well, I didn't plan to keep the election fun rolling, but when your kids are into something, you have to capitalize, right?  On Tuesday, the kiddos colored a campaign poster for their chosen candidate to take home and share what they learned with their families.  Yesterday, they made their own campaign poster and came up with their own platform to run for president.  Here's a sample of their oh-so-cute posters (from PBSkids.org):

What was funny was that some kids had to look in the mirror to draw their face. :)

We revisited our candidate platform comparison chart (see the November 6 post) and also talked about the many hats a president must wear: leader, problem-solver, community builder, etc.  I can't believe how excited the class was about this and how seriously they took it.  I was so proud!  They worked and worked on their speeches and then today began presenting them to the class.  Of course, they needed a podium to give their speech from, so...

Tada!  Old overhead cart transformed!

I will admit that the perfectionist in me did in fact measure out the stripes, as well as correctly placing the stars.  I just had to, okay?  But anyway, the class sat on the rug and the candidates gave their speeches to their supporters.  Well, all the kids said they'd vote for themselves, but they did clap for each other without prompting, which was really awesome.  Again, I am super impressed to hear first graders speak about national defense, Iran, energy, taxes, etc.  Our future is in good hands!

My student from IU Northwest came back today just to hear the speeches and had some big VOTE buttons for them to wear... I will try to snap pictures of that tomorrow.  Super cute!  She really wanted them to have Uncle Sam hats, but couldn't find any.  The kids inspired her to drive all over last night looking... and she works full time while being a full time college student!  I love that she came back to watch the speeches!  She wants to type up their speeches and send them to the White House.  How fun is that?!  We hung their posters and speeches up in the hall while they were at music.  I wish I had a picture of their faces lighting up as they walked down the hall and saw their hard work- priceless!  (This is why I do my job, so when I'm stressed about other work stuff, I just need to remember...I  <3 these kids!!)  Amy (IUN student) says she is totally going back and buying the ballot box- the kids want other people around the school to read their speeches and vote!  I'm also pondering emailing the videos out for teachers/students to watch.  They're only about 30 seconds each, so that wouldn't take too long.  We'll see...
(While proofreading this, I did notice the excessive use of exclamation marks, but it really was that exciting, so they are staying.  Sorry if it is annoying. :))

What's next?  Adding the voice trait (which some students already really demonstrated in their speeches) to the ideas trait we've been focusing on... letter writing.  I have some books of real letters to President Obama from kids around the country:

We will read the letters in reading workshop, focusing on author's purpose and still working on retelling the main idea and details.  Then in writing workshop we will plan and write our own letters to President Obama.  (Thankfully he won, so I can still use these books!)  They can give him advice, ask him questions, or try to persuade him to focus on an issue important to them.  I may just have to record them reading their letters to him.  They watched kids asking the President questions via video on Nick.com and they would LOVE to emulate this.

This is BY FAR one of the coolest writing activities I have ever done, and it was all inspired by the kids and their love of politics.  Who knew?  If only I had written those persuasive letters to the Chicago Cubs, asking them to come to our school!  (It worked for us in 2007.)  This just goes to show that if you give kids something that really sparks their interest, they can really take off with it.  They have truly inspired and energized me this week.  I can't wait to hear more speeches tomorrow!!

Do I really have to wait 4 years to do this again?!?!