Voting

 The most important curriculum of the past week revolved around voting.  The teachers tried to impress upon the class how lucky we all are to live in the USA  where people of eighteen years of age who are citizens have the right to vote.  Our lesson began with an explanation of Election Day and then a little information about where the president lives and a smattering of his responsibilities..  We read parts of a wonderful children's book titled "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue".  Your youngster probably heard facts that you might not know: there are 132 rooms in the White House, one president had a friendly racoon for a pet while another's 2 daughters had pet snakes, Abe Lincoln's bed was 8 feet long and one president received a gift of cheese weighing 1000 pounds.

Finally 2 stories were read: "No Roses For Harry" and "Harry the Dirty Dog", both by Gene Zion.  A ballot was created with 2 choices for your favorite story.  There was a rose for the first story and a pile of dirt for the second.  Each picture had a box under it for a child to put an "X" or a check mark.  The numbers were tallied.  Actually the first ballot ended in a tie so teachers voted to settle it.  The chart with our tally can be seen on our door as you enter.

Hopefully you saw the "I Voted" necklace that came home.  The stickers on them were donated by a poll worker at the request of a teacher.  Hopefully the results of this lesson will be remembered for a long time-that it is a privilege to vote and an important job.

Also on the blog you will view children making hand print turkeys.  These will be used as covers on a surprise book that the Whole Notes always make for Thanksgiving.  Although we do go through the story of the pilgrims on the Mayflower, the Native Americans and the first Thanksgiving, the teachers believe this is hard for preschoolers to imagine.  But all of us can be thankful for our blessings which is the subject of our book.  There are photos of friends doing art work with their hands and feet but we will not say what or why.  You will receive these books upon publication.

Brigitte will turn 5 this weekend so we celebrated her birthday a little early.  More birthdays next week too!  The letter box will be back also.

Finally, it was our pleasure to meet with you for conferences.  If you have questions, please do not hesitate to send an email.  Thanks for sharing your precious children with us!

Rolene and Jackie