Lessons, Printables, Books, ideas - President's Day Theme / Unit

Chances are you won't use these with your class. Just thought you might enjoy!
Even Presidents say funny things or make mistakes.

"I only know two tunes: one of them is 'Yankee Doodle' and the other isn't."
Ulysses S. Grant.

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad."
Theodore Roosevelt.

"I want to make sure everybody who has a job wants a job"
George Bush, during his first Presidential campaign

"What a waste it is to lose one's mind-or not to have a mind. How true that is."
Dan Quayle addressing the United Negro College Fund

Members of the Teaching Heart Mailring shared a few ideas. Thanks to those wonderful teachers!

On President's Day, I get out the chart paper and have my kindergarteners write to the president. Each year they have new and surprising things to tell him and to ask him. Then we mail it to the White House. It takes 6-8 weeks to get a reply, but your class will get a packet back from the president. The packet includes stickers that say "I wrote to the President and he wrote back." and a booklet about all the Presidents and one about the history of the White House. And posters and pictures and a form letter(he doesn't actually answer your letter). It's really cool and the kids get so excited when they recieve it and parents are always amazed.Valérie

What a great idea. I did a search for the address and came up with this:

Write a Letter to the President

Objectives
Students will write a letter or send an email to the president of the United States.
Students will express their opinions on current issues in a letter.

Materials
Mail Address:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Email Form:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Please fax children's letters and mail to: 202-456-7705

Procedures
Encourage students to share their ideas on what the president should set as goals for his term in office. Keep notes on the board of the major topics discussed. Tell students to write a letter or send an email to the president (see addresses above) detailing their ideas. After editing the students' work, send off the letters or emails. I got this from the kids Whitehouse site found at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/connection/

Thanks for sharing this idea. Colleen

I have been doing this with my third graders for about twenty years. When I first began, during the Reagan administration, all the kids received their
own copies of the White House booklets. Although those days are gone, it's still exciting when that package arrives from the White House. Last year I gave my kids a choice of writing to President Bush or First Lady Laura Bush and we also received information from her office. Your kids will love it!
Diane

I try to replicate the Underground Railroad.I borrow the gym and turn the lights off. I have paper houses glued to the walls with quilts with clues on them. This tells them what safe house to go to next. I give them flashlights to read the clues. I make them go barefoot. I get the gym teacher to beat a tom-tom. A regular beat means everything's okay. When the beat gets rapid, they must rush to the nearest safe house without going through the center circle in the gym where the bounty hunters are. Dianne

For Creative Writing

If I Were President...
If I could meet one US President it would be...
Why I think being a President of the US would be fun...
A president's job...

Abraham Lincoln for Primary Children
Find out what Mrs. Payton's class knows about Abe

Lincoln Slide Puzzle

My Favorite Books About Lincoln

Mr. Lincoln's Way Click To Buy or To Learn More	Abe Lincoln's Hat (Step into Reading, Step 2, paper) Click To Buy or To Learn More	Abraham Lincoln, Will You Ever Give Up? (Another Great Achiever) Click To Buy or To Learn More
A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln (Picture Book Biography) Click To Buy or To Learn More	Meet Abraham Lincoln Click To Buy or To Learn More	Abraham Lincoln (Dell Picture Yearling Special) Click To Buy or To Learn More

Some of my favorite poems and activities!

Mr. Lincoln by Helen H. Moore

You know Mr. Lincoln-

no fancy clothes for him:

A stovepipe hat, a wrinkled coat,

and whiskers on his chin.

You know Mr. Lincoln-

His face is on the penny.

In life, that face was lined with care,

for troubles, he had many.

That brave Mr. Lincoln

said slavery was wrong.

He led us through the Cilvil War,

and kept our country strong.

That humble Mr. Lincoln,

had in him something grand- that helped raise him from poverty

to lead our mighty land.

Rub a Penny Idea

Have students write this poem on paper. Have them leave a space at the top for a rubbing.

Abraham Lincoln, honest and true,Was honored and loved by many.And so to honor this president,We put his head on a penny.

Give each student a penny and have them put it underneath the paper
and make pencil rubbings of it.

Another fun thing to share with your students using pennies:

Give each student a penny and magnifying glass. Have them find lincoln on the backside of the Penny. What is he doing? Where is he sitting?

They will be thrilled to find Lincoln sitting in the Lincoln Memorial!

Lincoln Log Meatloaf
Serves 8

1 1/2 lb Ground beef
1 1/2 c Soft bread crumbs 2 T Instant minced onions
1/2 t Margarine, crumbled
1/4 t Pepper
1 Egg lightly beaten
2/3 c Milk
8 slices Sharp cheese
6 Servings of prepared instant-mashed potatoes
1 T Butter
1 t Onion salt
2 Egg yolks
1/4 c Milk

Mix together beef, bread crumbs, onion, margarine and salt and pepper.
Beat egg until bubbly. Add 2/3 cups milk to meat mixture and mix gently but thoroughly. Shape into 9x12" rectangle on wax paper. Using paper to lift meat, roll into 9" cylinder. Place on a shallow pan and bake at 350'F. for 45 minutes. Prepare instant potatoes. Add butter, onions and salt to potatoes. Beat egg yolks. Add milk to potatoes. Take meat loaf out of oven and frost with mashed potatoes. Return to oven 10 minutes longer. Place cheese on top and put under broiler until cheese melts.

This was sent in by Beth Miller

Have each child trace from their elbow down on black paper. The hand becomes Abe's beard and the arm his hat. Cut a brim from black construction paper and a face from the white paper. Glue the face on where the hat ends and then the brim. Decorate with markers.

Sent in by Dona Boretos

**Click Here to Print the Graph To Use With This Activity**

For Lincoln's Birthday, make a graph with 2 columns, heads and tails. Give each child a penny and let them toss it. they will record by coloring a square each time the penny lands on a tails or a heads. the first column that fills up is the winner. The child can even make a prediction as to which column will fill up first.

Enjoy this Printable? Click Here For More Free Printables and to Learn About our CDROMS

George Washington Lives! -- On the Internet!

Washington Slide Puzzle

George Washington's Breakfast Click To Buy or To Learn More	Young George Washington: America's First President (First-Start Biographies) Click To Buy or To Learn More	If You Grew Up With George Washington Click To Buy or To Learn More
George Washington's Cows Click To Buy or To Learn More	George Washington (Compass Point Early Biographies) Click To Buy or To Learn More	Meet George Washington Click To Buy or To Learn More

George Washington by Helen H. Moore

Everybody knows the story of the cherry tree-

His father asked, "Who cut this down?"

And young George answered, "Me!"

Now that's a pretty story, but

Between just me and you,

I don't think George would like it, 'cause,

It's probably not true!

There are a lot of other things George Washington did do:

Like making maps, and farming, and he was a soldier, too!

He was our country's president, the very first we had.

Yet what do we remember? That old tree of George's dad!

Washington's Cherry Pounder
Serves 16

1-1/2 cups boiling water
1 pkg. (8 serving size) Cherry Flavored Gelatin 1-1/2 cups cold water
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
1 pkg. (12 oz.) pound cake, cut into 10 slices
1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed

STIR boiling water into gelatin in large bowl at least 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water and cherry pie filling. Refrigerate about 1-1/4 hours or until slightly thickened (consistency of unbeaten egg whites).
LINE bottom of 13x9-inch dish with pound cake slices. Spoon gelatin mixture over cake.
REFRIGERATE 2 hours or until firm. Just before serving, spread whipped topping over gelatin mixture. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Sent in by Beth Miller

All Content contained of the pages within this website is copyright Teaching Heart 1999-2011 by Colleen Gallagher, all rights reserved. We give you the permission to download, print, modify, and generally use the written material contained herein, we do ask that you respect our rights and not publish any material on this site without prior written consent. Please do not copy and paste content from this site onto your site. Thanks!

Presidents' Day & MLK, Jr. Day Unit A must have resource filled with many printables. Click on the picture to learn more!	Presidents Day (Best Holiday Books) Click To Buy or To Learn More	Presidents' Day (National Holidays) Click To Buy or To Learn More
Let's Celebrate Presidents' Day Click To Buy or To Learn More	Presidents' Day (First Step Nonfiction) Click To Buy or To Learn More	So You Want to Be President? (Caldecott Medal Book, 2001) Click To Buy or To Learn More

Washington or Lincoln Activity	2 President Activities
US States Word Search	Print a Word Search of the US Presidents
Enchanted Learning's Kindercrafts Make a necklace or easy log cabin	Worksheet: Comparison Washington & Lincoln
ABC TEACH has Many Printables	January Through June Primary Teacher Time Saver CDROM Click Here To Learn More!
Abe Lincoln Activity Sheet	Graphing Heads and Tails From Teaching Heart
President's Day Tic Toe	Finally in First Shares a Making Words Activity

Alphabet Soup Great Ideas alond with some Printable Coloring Pages	Who is That? - Can you identify these presidential portraits with just one clue?
Lots of Great Printables and Crafts!!!

Our Presidents