At Gaynor, students learn about the various aspects of the government — from our oldest students in the Blue Cluster to our youngest students in the Purple Cluster.
Students in the Early Childhood program learn about many aspects of our democracy, including the role of the president.
In the Lexington Room, students examined what the job entails and how presidents have impacted our history.
Head Teacher Kristin Paresi said that throughout the unit, students think deeply about what it means to be a leader and how one becomes a leader.
“To begin this unit, the Lexington students brainstormed the inside characteristics that they would want in a leader,” Ms. Paresi said.
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he class connected the concept of leaders to the school community, discussing how Ms. Paresi and Assistant Teacher Rachel Fell are the leaders of the classroom, EC Director Rebecca Jurow is the leader of the EC, and Head of School Dr. Scott Gaynor is the leader of the school.
The class then discussed three of our country’s past presidents: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Barack Obama.
Students learned about the accomplishments and impacts of each president, after which they moved into a discussion about the inside and outside characteristics of each individual.
Ms. Paresi said, “Earlier this year, our students learned about characteristics that are outside, what we see or physical traits, and inside, what we learn based on their actions and interests, in relation to themselves, as well as in characters from the stories they listened to.”
Students applied their understanding and decided that Washington had white hair and pale peachy skin on the outside, and inside he was brave, creative, and a leader. They said Lincoln was tall with a dark-colored beard on the outside, and was honest, friendly, kind, and thoughtful on the inside. Lastly they said that Obama had brown hair and eyes, and light brown skin on the outside, and inside he was friendly, helpful, funny, and loving.
“After learning about all three Presidents, students participated in a real election, where they needed to reflect on each candidate and utilize their own voice,” Ms. Paresi said.
Before starting the election, the class discussed the environment they needed to create: a safe and calm one. While waiting their turn, students sat quietly at their desk reading a book of their choice.
After counting all the ballots, Obama won the election by 5 votes, with Lincoln receiving 3 and Washington receiving 1.
“By participating in the election and learning about presidents, we laid the groundwork for further understanding of what it means to be a citizen, as well as what it means to be a part of a larger community,” Ms. Paresi said. “This experience highlights how important it is to make our students a part of their learning, as it’s one thing to talk about how a president is elected, but makes it so much more meaningful when they are able to experience it!”
In the Hudson Room, students wrote a letter to two special four-legged animals — President Joe Biden’s dogs Champ and Major.
Before writing the letter, the class got an overview of what a president is and the responsibilities the president has to our country. After learning about the job, students then learned about presidential pets.
Head Teacher Brittany Smith said she created the lesson because she wanted to provide historical information in the most relevant and meaningful way for the age group.
“This year I was motivated to come up with more engaging activities that exposed the students to historical facts, while also giving some more relevant information to give a basic understanding of the presidency,” she said. “I knew this would be engaging, especially with this group, as we have many avid animal lovers.”
At the end of the lesson, students learned about President Biden’s dogs and spoke about how they are special because they were adopted and rescued.
The class then crafted a letter to the dogs asking how they liked the White House. Ms. Smith thought writing a letter to Champ and Major would be a fun way to expose the students to the letter writing process — something they will learn more about in an upcoming unit.
“I think activities like this help students learn because it’s relatable to their interests and daily lives,” Ms. Smith said. “The students loved the activity, and one went right out to the book store and bought the picture book about Champ and Major. He even wrote his own letter this time to Joe Biden with his family. We are patiently waiting to see if we get our own response from Champ and Major!”