There’s almost nothing that gets my Teacher Heart fluttering like the word “free” be it free coffee, free professional development, and most importantly – FREE resources. Thinking back to my Teacher-Prep College days, our professors had us spending hours upon hours creating our own lessons and resources to (hopefully) one day use in our classrooms. We designed board games with old cardboard boxes and leftover index cards. We made learning centers with thrice used science fair boards riddled with staple holes. We raided dollar store shelves for supplies and dug into those “Save it for a rainy day” craft totes these teacher types seem to always have. We made amazing creations we could envision our future students using, tucked in their perfect collaborative groups. All the while thinking about when we would graduate and have a budget to buy these resources – instead of making them on our own.
And then we did graduate.
And there was no budget.
And suddenly there was also no time to create these intricate board games with adorable felt pieces rigged to stand with pipe cleaners and hope. Instead, our time filled with emails, and conferences, and professional development. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the Pandemic snuck in like a thief and teachers realized how little time they really had because now they were juggling words like hybrid learning, distance learning, virtual and in-person learning. As one blogger wrote, “building the plane as they were flying it.”
So, for these teachers (who probably don’t have the time to read through this post – believe me it’s ok to skip to the end to download the freebie), I want to offer another FREE resource.
President’s Day Research Project
This easy activity can be used and adapted to most classrooms (though I feel it’s best suited for 3rd to 6th grade classrooms). My own kiddos will be working on this during class this week. The most challenging part of this assignment (as any teacher can attest) is helping students “research” – pulling information out of a given text. Whether that text is online or in print or even in movie form, I can already hear teachers’ ears ringing already with the statement “I can’t find (insert any number of answers here).”
Beyond the base curriculum of learning about our country’s history (the good, the bad, and the horrific), students also need soft skills of how to read and interpret information from a passage. Finding the birthdate of a President may seem like a minor skill, but for some students just locating this information in a block of swimming words can be daunting.
Practice and help is key.
Pro Tip: (Especially with the younger students) Before giving this assignment, I select a few Presidents I want my class to focus on. Sometimes, I give the students a choice of who they want to select, and sometimes I let fate decide by asking students to pull names from a hat.
PDF Version
This is a print and go activity. Click the link below to download the PDF and print the copies you need for your classroom. This activity also looks super cute posted on bulletin boards (if you’re looking to save a little time with an easy board).
Digital Version
More and more our resources are moving online and teachers crave the ability to use these worksheets in the digital world. Below is a link to a Google Slides presentation with the worksheet embedded into it. Students need only double-click inside the boxes to type their answers. (I’ll leave the decision of whether or not you want the chaos of allowing students to change the font up to you.) Students can also search for a Creative Commons picture of the president to include on the page. (For my students, this may be their favorite part.)
I hope this activity is useful to you and your classroom (and one less thing you have to worry over/create/pay for). If you try this activity with your students, don’t forget to tag me on Twitter or TikTok. I would love to see their work!
Laura M. Davis 