As Americans ventured out to the polls on Tuesday, some elementary students also gained some practice with civic duty.

Last week at John Small Elementary School, students participated in a school-wide mock election, in which they voted for higher offices, such as president and governor. Washington High School’s Student Government Association was on hand to keep the polls in order and pass out “I Voted” stickers.

Down another hallway, however, fourth-graders conducted an election of their own.

Teacher Laura Beth Ross said four classes — hers, Desiree Harris’, Kisha Harrington’s and Raul Olivares’ — cast votes for a fellow classmate and themselves, and the votes were then tallied to determine the top three students in each class.

With the top three selected in each class, a collective ballot was created for all classes, and the campaigning began.

From the Diamond and Blueberry parties, to the Nike and Curry 30 parties, the candidates made posters, participated in a debate and made commercials asking their peers for votes.

Ross said the classes talked about the aspects of the election process and discussed vocabulary and issues at play in the 2016 election.

“They’ve learned a lot about running and how the election works in our country,” she said. “We try to really, just really include all aspects.”

As students cast their votes on “election day,” some played the role of polling officials, while the candidates solicited votes with candy outside the polling place.

Harris said she thought the mock election was a good way to show the fourth-graders how it works for adults in the real world.

“Sometimes our kids don’t always know how elections work,” Harris said.

She said it was also an important lesson in the importance of doing one’s duty as a citizen.

“I think they’re starting to have a basic understanding of how presidents are elected and what they have to do to get elected,” Harris said.