May the Best Amphibian Win

I wanted to do something about the elections with my students, but I didn’t want them to be voting based on what their parents were doing. I wanted them to consider the candidates and the issues and vote based on that. More than anything I wanted them to understand the process and the importance of picking a leader. Eight years ago, my friend Laurie did an election with her class based on the book Duck For President by Doreen Cronin. I vaguely remembered her mentioning this, of course in my memory it was both my friends Liz and Laurie doing it (at the time they had neighboring classrooms) and it was the Tortoise vs. The Hare. (I’ve never been known as detail oriented). Still, I had the gist of it and was excited to put my own spin on things. And so the Frog and Toad elections were born.

You probably know Frog and Toad, the delightful storybook characters who are the stars of several books by Arnold Lobel. I thought, and my co-teacher Alicia agreed, that these two likeable fellows would be the perfect candidates. I realized early on that I might have miscalculated, because when reading the book to my class, I noticed for the first time how lazy Toad is. The fact that he wouldn’t get out of bed from November-May didn’t bode well for his candidacy. Still, it was too late to find new candidates, so I moved forward. After reading the story to my class we generated a list of characteristics of both Frog and Toad. It was clear my initial worries about Toad were warranted, as children noted that he was lazy, too emotional, and quick to jump to conclusions. This was before they knew he was running for president!

On day two of our project we talked about the right to vote. We talked about how we listen to what the candidates have to say before we make our decisions. There were several children who had watched the Presidential debates on TV and had a good idea of what a debate might look like. It was my intention all along to have a debate, and was excited that the students were on board with the idea. The children were tasked with writing one debate question each for the candidates. The children could write their question any time and drop it in a basket. I peeked at some, but for the most part the questions were a surprise.The debate was scheduled for 11:15 the next day. Some of the children tried to translate this election to the Presidential election. We have a lot of Obama supporters in our class and a lot of Frog supporters, too. One child declared “A vote for Frog is a vote for Obama,” as he tried to sway some of the undecided classmates. Another child reminded her classmates not to make any decisions “until we hear from the candidates at the debate.”

On debate day, Alicia read the children’s questions to me; while I, using my homemade Frog and Toad puppets, answered. I tried to answer the questions in a way I thought was close to how Frog and Toad would,  though paying attention to the fact that Toad was already in hot water with the voters. When Alicia started reading the questions I was overwhelmed with pride. I shouldn’t have been surprised at how thoughtful their questions were, but  surprised I was.  What would you do for the poor? How would you support the military? Do you think recycling is important? What would you do about Hurricane Sandy? What would you do with criminals?  What would you do about trash? How would you help homeless people? What would you do about bullying? Every single question was interesting, thoughtful and, frankly, a challenge to answer. As great as the questions were, the discussion afterward was even better. Some children liked Toad’s strong stance on bullying, others liked that Frog would take the gentle approach with bullies. Some children thought it was enough that Toad would Skype military overseas from his bed. Most thought it was nobler that Frog was going to visit troops and see to it that they got to fly home more often to see their families. And so it went. The debate and discussion ended, posters were created and the upcoming elections continue to be a lunchtime topic in our classroom.

Today is Election Day. We have a private voting booth set up in the classroom, official looking ballots and even “I Voted” stickers with Frog and Toad pictured on them. I have a strong feeling that Frog will win, but we will let the people speak for themselves. After listening to their thoughtful debate questions, and their follow-up discussion, I trust those 6, 7, 8 and 9 year olds to pick a good president. Let’s hope the adults of our nation are as reflective and thoughtful when they cast their own ballots today.