Election Day In The USA

Tuesday, November 8, 2016 was Election Day in the United States, our neighbour to the south.  Our full day class was positively abuzz with election talk all week.  What would a group of Canadian three, four and five year olds know about the American election?  Surprisingly, more than you might think.

November 8th began with five year old A. announcing that it was Election Day in the United States!  At circle, we sat down together to talk about what an election is.

Five Year Old A.

Five year old L. knew that Hillary Clinton was trying to be the first woman President of the United States.

Five Year Olds L. (left) and S. (right)

Three and a half year old M. knew all about Hillary Clinton. He always watched her on his television with Donald Trump.
Many of the other children had also seen Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on their televisions. 

Three and a Half Year Old M.

The children knew that both candidates wanted to win.  How would Americans decide on a winner? We spoke about the democratic process.  The children already knew about voting, winning and losing.  We often vote in class for things, such as which story we would like to hear at circle. Whichever book receives the most votes wins.  The children were undecided on who would win the election.  Only three and a half year old M. and four year old H. were positively certain that Donald Trump would be the winner.  With this in mind, we all awaited the election results.

Four Year Old H. (left) with Three and a Half Year Old M. (right)

The next day most of the children knew that Donald Trump had won.  Discussing the election results at circle, the children agreed that Donald Trump would be very happy and that Hillary Clinton would be sad. Some knew that even though Hillary Clinton lost, she phoned Donald Trump to congratulate him on his win. When we vote for something in our classroom, like the story we would like to hear, we may not always get what we want.  When this happens, we can't cry, stamp our feet and yell "No, no, no!", no matter how much we might want to.  Everyone has a voice. When the majority wins, we must accept the result and be gracious in both victory and defeat.  

Hillary Clinton Campaign Button

Congratulations to both Secretary Clinton and President-elect Trump on a hard fought campaign. 

(Note:  This post is about explaining the democratic process to the children in a way that they can relate to.  It is not intended as a criticism of the candidates or of the feelings and/or actions of the American people.)

It's Halloween!

On Halloween day, we had our annual party!  We hardly recognized the children, they all looked so different.  If it wasn't for the fact that their parents dropped them off in the morning, we wouldn't have known who they were.

The children brought treats in for their classmates and handed them out.

All of the children at our little yellow school came together for the Halloween banquet.  It was nice for the children to have some time to mix and mingle over yummy Halloween party food.

Our Halloween celebration was so much fun.  It brought our school community closer together and created many special memories.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It's Pumpkin Time!

We came back from the farm with two large pumpkins for our classrooms.  They were such beautiful pumpkins, yet it was now time to turn them into jack-o-lanterns.

The children each took a turn hollowing out the pumpkins.
Inside the pumpkins we found seeds and pulp.

The children decided how they wanted the jack-o-lanterns to look.  Madame D. did the carving.

Voila!  A jack-o-lantern!

During the month of October, the children learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin both in our classrooms and at the farm. After the pumpkin carving experience, they were pumpkin experts.  Each child made a book to share their pumpkin knowledge with their families. 

Rilee knows pumpkins, outside....

and in!

We had a great time turning our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns!

Sparkle In The Rain ~ A Farm Visit

Our little yellow school community recently went on a trip to the farm.  The day was rainy, but that did not dampen our enthusiasm.  We boarded the school bus and away we went!

Our first stop at the farm was a wagon ride.

We passed through corn fields and a forest on our ride.

We were excited to visit with the animals and spend some time with them.

The Goats

An Alpaca

The Sheep

The Pigs

The Cows

We saw a freshly laid egg and pet some rabbits.

A Freshly Laid Egg

Petting the Rabbits

 Some of the hens wanted to join our group!

We spent some time in the warm, dry barn classroom learning about pumpkins.

It was so rainy that we were not able to spend time in the garden. Thankfully, the farmers at the farm brought the garden to us! We moved into the toasty warm greenhouse to learn about some of the vegetables that are grown on the farm.  We even got to take some back to school with us.

  

 

We each choose a pumpkin to take home.

Sadly, our time at the farm had come to an end and it was time to board the bus.

We had a fantastic morning at the farm.  Thank you to everyone at the farm for adding sparkle to a wet and rainy day.

Aloha