I am Chris McWilliams, a teacher at Holland Township School in NJ .

My 5th and 6th grade Gifted and Talented students have been busy working on an election project that involves the entire middle school in a mock election. The students have created their own candidates to run for president. They have written a profile and made a cartoon video with their drawings. The following is a schedule of events . 1. The students will register to vote during lunch next week and  then be given a "Registered Voter" sticker. 2. On Oct 16th or 17th a DVD prepared by the Gifted and Talented students will be shown in Social Studies class. The DVD will present the Candidates that are running . 3. The Election will take place during Social Studies Class. 6th grade on Oct. 20th, 5th grade on Oct 24 * A voting booth will be placed in the hallway and parent volunteers will help. * Ballots will be given to each student. A state and the number of electoral votes will be listed on the top of each ballot.  There will also be ballots that are not representing a state and will be used to calculate the popular vote. A Map will be placed on a smartboard and as the electoral votes come in , we will color in the state according to the color that represents the winning candidate. Once electoral votes are counted a winner will be declared. Students will compare electoral votes to the popular vote and a class discussion will be conducted the following day. I am so proud of the work my students did !