Draw the outline for a bar graph on a poster board. Label each section of the bar graph with a different type of snack food.
Ask your students to think about their favorite snacks. Explain that they are going to vote to see which snack food is the most popular. Explain that if something is popular, then a lot of people like it.
Call your students one at a time. Ask each student to tell you his favorite snack and write his answer on a sticky note. Tell the student to place the sticky note on the section of bar graph that names his favorite snack.
Ask the students to tell you which snack food "won." Provide that food for snack time.
Explain to the students that just as they voted for snacks, grown-ups vote for the people they believe will do the best job taking care of the city, county, state or country. Tell them that they are going to vote for which teacher they want to teach the next day.
Create speeches for the head teacher and the assistant that explain the different ways they will teach. For example, one teacher may offer more art time while the other offers more outside play time.
Instruct the students to listen to the speeches. Allow them ask questions.
Create ballots with each teacher's picture and a box to check next to each one. Show the ballot to the students and explain that they are going to choose which teacher they want to run the class the next day by checking off the box next to that teacher's picture. Explain that nobody will know for whom they are voting.
Provide students with time to make their decisions. They will fill in their ballots, fold them and place them in a bag.
Create a blank graph with a column for each teacher to chart the results of the election. Call on the students to pull ballots out of the bag one a time. Tape the ballot on the appropriate column on the graph.
Instruct the students to count the number of votes for each teacher. Discuss which teacher won and by how many votes. That teacher will lead the classroom activities the next day based on her campaign promises.