3rd Graders Discuss the 3rd Debate

"I just wanted to hear them talk about taxes" was a surprising revelation from one of my 3rd Graders this morning. "I think Hillary will raise more taxes for people who make $250,000, but Donald won't"

I had shied away from discussing the 2nd debate with the students because I wasn't comfortable with some of the subject matter that would be brought up. Students should not be exposed to "locker room talk" especially that it is being discussed as being acceptable language.

My voter registration had come in the mail and I showed the students and explained that on November 8, I would go and vote. Everyone in Alaska will vote on that day. Depending on if more people vote for Hilary or Donald, Alaska will turn RED or BLUE.
 I pulled up the electoral map on the smartboard and asked if they knew why Alaska had the number 3 and California had the number 55 on it.

"Is it because California is bigger?" No, its because there are 39 million people in California but only 700,00+ people in Alaska. They were a little concerned that Alaska was red, which meant that Alaska's points would go to Trump. I explained that there were 2 teams. The Red Team thought each States is different and should get to decide their own rules whereas the Blue Team thought that because we were all USA, we should have the same rules. Alaska is different from most other states so they want to make their own rules, so Alaska usually votes with the red team.

"Why are those places brown?" Red means that they usually vote for the red team, pink means we think they will vote for the red team. Blue means they vote for the blue team, and light  blue means that they will probably vote for the blue team. This map is a prediction, we don't know who will win yet. "I think that is called an estimation" (Very nice use to our Math talk)

"Can we see the map when Obama won?" I pulled it up, they were curious about Mitt Romney and John Mccain and asked about them. This is all history. It is fascinating. Next week, I will have them choose President or First Lady Biographies to read and we will talk about how the government works.