New year, new classroom pet, and a freebie too!

Well I took my classroom fish home during Thanksgiving break and she was not doing too well. So I decided to keep her home through Christmas break, but Cupcake didn't make it. A new Betta fish was purchased and is doing well in our first grade classroom. I wanted my first graders to have the opportunity to name him, and turn this into a lesson as well. This was a perfect opportunity to discuss voting again and have my kiddos participate in voting.

Since this was a spur of the moment lesson, I didn't have time to run to the store and find a cutesy container to use as a ballot box. So I created my own using a small shoebox, bulletin board paper, and some clip art.

I read aloud a few pages from this book (the only one I could find at the library), but am going to purchase this one (looks like a great read aloud for first grade).

To make the vote feel official, I created small ballots for my students to use while voting. The votes were counted, and Swimmy is the name of our newest fish!

Hopefully he will live as long as Cupcake, she made it for 3 years!

Are you interested in creating a ballot box or needing some small ballots for your students to use while voting? Just click {HERE} for our ballot box topper and blank ballots.

Have a great rest of your weekend!

So sorry it's been so long. We had a short (3 days) but busy week, and finally have a full week coming up, so we should have more tips and freebies next week!