It was a close race. Kids at the ACCA Child Development Center in Annandale, Virginia, voted. Which dog is the best character in the cartoon PAW Patrol?
The three- and four-year-old students narrowed it down to two options. Chase is a German shepherd in a police uniform. He solves mysteries. Skye is a cockapoo (cocker spaniel and poodle mix). She flies with wings built into her “Pup Pack.” As the election neared its end, the candidates were tied. Each had five votes.
Benejas Abeselome is four. He voted for Chase. “Police take bad guys,” Benejas says. “I wanted police because I like policing.”
Three-year-old Jade voted for Skye. She likes Skye’s helicopter. “I like that she saves everybody,” she says.
This preschool has a civics goal. (Civics is the study of the rights and duties of citizens.) It wants to raise good citizens and teach them about democracy.
Children this young don’t learn about the three branches of government or how bills become laws just yet. Teachers coach them on how to solve problems with classmates. Kids review how to deal with anger and disappointment. They learn to respond without being hurtful. How can they think about others’ needs?
Students learn that their voices matter. They get to vote on what they study and eat at ACCA.
One classroom studied sand. That’s because students were curious about it after summer beach trips.
Students also sampled apples. They voted on which kind the school will order.
María-Isabel Ballivian is the preschool’s executive director. Many of her students have recently arrived from other countries. She looks for ways to remind them they are American. She throws a big Fourth of July gathering. She wants all the children to have a sense of belonging.
After everyone voted, Classroom 14 finally chose a winner in the election. The students counted all the votes aloud. Skye won.
Ms. Ballivian thinks many politicians could learn something from coming back to preschool. They could study how to deal with disappointment. They could practice how to think about the well-being of people who are unlike them.
“If we work hard, we can prepare our children for a better future,” says Ms. Ballivian.
The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone. — 2 Timothy 2:24
