Election Night party

Whoa, this picture is bright.

This peanut butter cup pie was really good.

Elections Unit

This unit was on Elections. We did a government unit earlier and learned about different political systems, but this was focused on mostly just our American election process, including the electoral college etc. 

As you can see, we had a lovely time experimenting with "hanging chads," "dimpled chads" and so forth :)  [A few weeks later, Malachi came running in excitedly after he'd been trying to use the three-hole punch to put a piece of paper in his binder. "Mommy! Look! I got three hanging chads!" So cute.]

We went on a field trip to a campaign office and learned what goes on there (quite interesting---but would have been more interesting in another state, perhaps) :)

One of the best parts of the unit was when my cousin Heidi came to speak to us. She's a city council member in American Fork, so she told us about running for office, what her duties include, her favorite parts of the job, and so forth. It was fascinating. She's our favorite politician!

More resources:

http://pbskids.org/democracy/be-president/ My kids liked this "President for a Day" game

http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/Special-Offers.aspx Electoral map, with historical electoral totals included

http://magazines.scholastic.com/election-2012 Another fun game (you \have to click on "electoral challenge game" on the right)

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/files/Ben_Activity_webversion.pdf A coloring book of American symbols

There's also an interactive White House tour at the White House website. My kids thought it was pretty cool.

Democracy, Republics, Voting, The Constitutional Convention

Everyone loved Voting Day and they were VERY secretive about their ballots. We voted on a bunch of things like what activity to do Saturday ("Have a campfire" won by a landslide), the menu for our picnic, what job to work on for clean-up night, etc. Even the little ones had very decided opinions, and were pleased to be able to express them. :) (Our voting booth is made of our laundry drying rack covered with a blanket, and a box on top.)

Another thing on our ballot was what flavor of cake to bake the next day. I was going to pick the top two flavors and make a marble cake out of them to illustrate compromise.  It ended up being a tie between chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, so luckily I found a recipe for this Neapolitan cake. We called it "Compromise Cake."  Everyone was really happy about being able to make all of the flavors at once!  This activity was a good companion to our discussion about "The Great Compromise" at the U.S. Constitutional Convention.