Clay County Retired Teachers Association

The Clay County Retired Teachers Association (CCRTA) started offering the I Voted program for the 2024-2025 school year. Former media specialists Karen Webb and Janella Knierim developed the program knowing that children need and love to hear read aloud books.

The ten CCRTA I Voted volunteers choose twelve books from the list of twenty Young Hoosier Book Award titles from the Picture Book list and have the books approved by the school corporation. Twelve is the required number of picture books for the kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students for voting in the YHBA program.

Each elementary school in Clay County is assigned a month for the CCRTA volunteers to read in every kindergarten through 2nd grade classroom. The volunteers usually work in pairs to conduct three reading sessions throughout the month sharing two picture books at each session for a total of six book. In between the two books, they teach a short, age appropriate lesson on voting touching on its importance, its history, and the U.S. Constitution and the amendments.

Each kindergarten through 2nd grade teacher reads the remaining six books. By the end of the month, the K-2 students have heard twelve books.

At the end of the month, the CCRTA volunteers bring red/white/blue voting booths, patriotic pencils, a ballot box, and “secret ballots” printed by Riddell National Bank. The volunteers review all twelve books, show the children the voting process, and then assist the students in voting for their one favorite Young Hoosier Picture Book. The children receive an “I Voted” sticker to show everyone, including their family at home, that they voted.

The grade level colored coded ballots are counted and put in an Excel spreadshieet, which is emailed to the principal to share the results with the K-2 classes. The student votes are sent to the state’s Young Hoosier Book Award Committee to count toward Indiana’s award winning picture book.