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A third grader casts his cookie ballot at Laurel Elementary School’s Upper Campus on Nov. 5, 2024. Photo by Eleanor Raab. 
A third grader casts his cookie ballot at Laurel Elementary School’s Upper Campus on Nov. 5, 2024. Photo by Eleanor Raab. 
A group of third graders cast their cookie ballots at Laurel Elementary School’s Upper Campus on Nov. 5, 2024. Photo by Eleanor Raab.
At Laurel Elementary School’s Upper Campus in Menlo Park, teachers have put a new question on the ballot for 45 third graders: Oreos or Chips Ahoy?
In order to teach the elementary school students about democracy and the voting process, third grade teachers Jess Greenwald and Kyle Tashman staged a mock cookie election, complete with voter IDs, ballot boxes and voting booths. Whichever cookie wins the election will be stocked in the classroom for the kids to enjoy.
“I know that this year’s election is on every adult’s mind this year, and I wanted to give my students a way to engage with and participate in conversations that are happening around them,” said Greenwald, who designed the cookie election activity.
Tashman said that the Oreo-Chips Ahoy face off is a good way to teach the third graders voting vocabulary. Students learned what the words ballot, campaigning, election and candidates meant.
“Yesterday they even made campaign posters,” Tashman said. “They argued for who they wanted to win, whether it be Oreos or Chips Ahoy, and drew posters. Then they had a gallery walk where they critiqued how effective each others’ posters were at convincing them to vote.”
Laurel Elementary School’s Principal, Alicia Heneghan, said she thinks the cookie election is a great way to make somewhat abstract concepts like voting, campaigning and elections tangible for young kids.
“When we think about democracy and elections, those feel like big, important adult concepts, but they’re really the foundation of our country,” she said. “I think this is a great way to bring a complicated topic to a student level, and then they grow up knowing about the importance of elections and that their vote counts and matters.”
The students cast their ballots around 1 p.m. on Election Day in mini voting booths created by their teachers. The cookie votes will be tallied on election night, and results will roll in on the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 6. Pre-election class polling shows that Oreos are favored to win over Chips Ahoy.
“On Wednesday, we’ll reveal the results to students by graphing the data as a visual for them to understand. They will look at it two ways — a popular vote … and as an electoral college-like process,” said Greenwald.
The electoral college process will be based on the tables that each kid is assigned to in the classroom.
“I love that the teachers took a real world opportunity and brought it to the classroom in a way that is really impactful,” said Heneghan. “It’s important to talk about current events, but there’s not really a curriculum for that. I’m really proud that they decided to do something special like this.”
Kyle Tashman, a third grade teacher at Laurel Elementary School, teaches his students how to vote in the cookie election on Nov. 5. Photo by Eleanor Raab. 
A group of third graders vote in the cookie election at Laurel Elementary School on Nov. 5. Photo by Eleanor Raab. 
A third grader casts his vote in the cookie electin at Laurel Elementary School on Nov. 5. Photo by Eleanor Raab.
