Elementary Students Elect the Next President of the United States of America!

What a great day of learning.  The 5th grade staff completed a unit about elections with a school wide election on the same day as the national elections for president.  Now I know that this has been done before,  but I will say the Prairie Valley Elementary 5th grade staff and students did it WELL!  After the background work in the classroom; investigating elections, past elections, student prior knowledge, and introducing new concepts , students created election posters (applicable to the Preschool- 6th grade students and staff), registered all voters, set up precincts, voting booths, public announcements, trained poll workers, and set up schedules for voting.  It went very well and the school was updated on results throughout the day precinct by precinct.  One of the requirements for registering to vote was that the student or staff donate a non-perishable food item.  If the students forgot to bring one extras were brought in by all. 
I got to assist with some of the younger student precincts and helped read the names under the candidate pictures.  It was a joy to see how many five and six year old students knew the names, identified the faces, and were anxious to vote. 
A five year old student that I assisted tried to come back to the voting booth. I told her the rule was that it was a private voting booth and she had already voted.  She then declared that she wanted her can back so she could vote for the other guy since that would only be fair. 
At the end of the day I reminded the students as they went to the bus to watch the election results to see who the nation picked for president. One student said, "We have voted and it would be nice if the nation would let us elect the president like we did today, just the kids in this school, or just the kids all over."
What an IDEA and after the day I experienced;caring, patience, excitement, interest, and fairness, I would trust the kids to elect the next president, and it would make sense. 
Someday they will....