Hand-Spun Holidays: President's Day

Check your calendar. There’s a holiday coming up around the corner. Do you know which one it is? If you said President’s Day, you’d be close. As designated by a federal statute, the third Monday is February is the holiday known as Washington's Birthday. Washington's Birthday was first celebrated while he was still president. It became an official holiday with the signing of a bill by President Chester Arthur in 1885.

Why do we call it President’s Day?
In 1971, thinking that a Presidential proclamation was statutorily equivalent to an Executive Order, President Nixon issued a proclamation that the holiday would be known as "Presidents' Day". His attempt to redeignate the holiday was because previously both February 12 and February 22 were observed as federal holidays in honor of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington respective birthdays. Nixon was attempting to merge the holidays into one observation that would be done on the third Monday of February to honoring all former United States presidents. Since that day twenty-six years ago, the common term for this celebration has been "Presidents' Day".

A special thing to consider is that adopting the federal holidays is still a state’s option; it is not a federal mandate. Most states have adopted Washington's Birthday, while few officially recognize Presidents' Day. Some states recognize Lincoln's Birthday as a separate legal holiday in addition to Washington's Birthday.

What holiday to celebrate?
My children and I have decided to celebrate President’s day. We are starting by studying the presidency in general and then will move onto learning about specific presidents. The first 3 that we will introduce are Washington, Lincoln and T. Roosevelt as I feel these presidencies have elements that will appeal to young elementary age students. Here are some great activities that we have used or will use in our President’s day celebrations:

Books

• Woodrow, the White House Mouse by Peter W. Barnes
• Arthur Meets the President: An Arthur Adventure by Marc Brown
• If I Were President by Catherine Stier and Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan
• Let's Celebrate Presidents Day by Peter Roop
• Presidents' Day (Rookie Read-About Holidays) by David F. Marx
• Story of George Washington by Patricia A. Pingry
• Meet George Washington by Patricia A. Pingry
• A Picture Book of George Washington by David A. Adler
• George Washington's Teeth by Deborah Chandra
• George Washington's Cows by David Small
• George Washington's Breakfast by Jean Fritz
• George Washington by Ingri D'Aulaire and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
• George Washington: A Picture Book Biography by James Cross Giblin and Michael Dooling
• Washington's War by Stacia Deutsch
• A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln by David A. Adler
• Abe Lincoln : The Boy Who Loved Books by Kay Winters
• Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick
• Honest Abe by Edith Kunhardt and Malcah Zeldis
• Abe Lincoln's Hat (Step into Reading, Step 3) by Martha Brenner
• Meet Abraham Lincoln (Meet) by Patricia A. Pingry
• Abraham Lincoln by Ingri D'Aulaire
• Lincoln's Legacy by Stacia Deutsch
• Meet Thomas Jefferson by Patricia A. Pingry
• Thomas Jefferson: A Picture Book Biography by James Cross Giblin and Michael Dooling
• A Christmas Tree in the White House by Gary Hines and Alexandra Wallner
• Theodore Roosevelt: The Adventurous President by Editors of TIME for Kids
• My Tour Of Europe: By Teddy Roosevelt, Age 10 by Theodore Roosevelt, Ellen Jackson (Editor),
• Teddy Roosevelt (Ready-to-Read Series, Level 3): The People's President by Sharon Gayle, Bob Dacey
• Legend of the Teddy Bear by Frank Murphy
• Who Carved the Mountain?: The Story of Mount Rushmore by Jean L. S. Patrick and Renee Graef

Language Arts

• Copywork Poems:
  Abraham Lincoln
  16th President
  Born in a cabin
  Emancipation Proclamation
  No more Slavery
  Abraham Lincoln
  
  George Washington
  1st President
  Born in Virginia
  Father of our Country
  Never told a lie
  George Washington
• Make a President's Day book using the following text and illustrate it: This is George Washington. This is his hat.
  This is Abraham Lincoln.This is his hat.
  This is the flag.I love America!
• Fact or Fiction: Read story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree. Do you think this story is fact or fiction (fiction means a story that is imagined.)? Fiction. The story, known to schoolchildren for generations, seems to have been invented by a man named Mason Weems shortly after Washington's death. Weems was writing a book on Washington and tried to imagine what George must have been like as a child to grow up into such an honest man. Still, this story helps us to remember how honest our first president was.
• Truth or Fib: The reason he was honest was that he told the truth, not a fib. Now tell the children short phrases, and ask them to tell whether the phrase is the truth or a fib. Here are some examples:
  The moon is made of green cheese.
  We get light from the moon.
  All the children in the room are girls. etc.

Fine Motor

• Coin Rubbing: Make penny or quarter rubbings by putting a coin under a sheet of thin newsprint. Rub over the coin with the side of a crayon. For the younger children, secure the coin by putting a circle of tape on the under side of the coin and tape it to the table

Build with Lincoln Logs

Social Studies

• George Washington: Explain that we have had many different presidents. Our president now is George W. Bush but our first president was George Washington. Read books like If I Grew Up with George Washington. Place Washington on the timeline. Make a tricorner hat explain that George Washington is often pictured wereing his tri-cornered hat when we see pictures of him during the American Revolution.
• Abraham Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln is another important president that we celebrate. He was the 16th president. (Count to 16). Abraham Lincoln was the president who freed the slaves who were working in the southern United States. He was very different from George Washington. He was born on February 12, 1809, in a one-room log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. His mother died when he was 10 and by then they had moved from Kentucky to Indiana. This is what Lincoln says about the area: "It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up.... Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher ... but that was all." Even though he was poor and had to work hard, Lincoln learned while working on a farm. He became president in 1860. (Put Lincoln on the timeline.) Say:
  We talked about how George Washinton wore a tri-corner hat. In the 19th century, it was popular to wear a tophat or a stove pipe hat. Abraham Lincoln wore one during his presidency. Unlike many top-hats, this version was straight, like piping, and was not wider at the top and bottom. Some say Lincoln used to keep important papers in his hat. Make a miniature Lincoln's Stovepipe Hat.
• The White House: Use capitol Architecture blocks to build the white house. Ask the children who lives there. Explain that the White House is the home of the President of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. Every President except George Washington has lived there. Put a locator disk on Washington D.C. on your classroom map.
• Memorials: Explain that in Washington DC there area many other things to see and do as well. In fact two of the things that people most often go to see are the memorials to the two presidents we discussed this week. Do you remember who they are? Show the children pictures of the Lincoln and Washington memorials. Ask: Which memorial do you think belongs to which president?

Math

• Do George Washington Connect the Dots
• Sort coins and review their values using the following poems:
  Penny, penny, easily spent.
  Copper brown and worth one cent.
  
  Nickel, nickel, thick and fat.
  You're worth five cents, I know that.
  
  Dime, dime, little and thin.
  I remember, you're worth ten.
  
  Quarter, quarter, big and bold.
  You're worth twenty-five, I am told.
  
  25, 50, 75, a dollar.
  If you can spend money stand up and holler!

Science

• Activity 1: Use a magnifying glass to explore a penny and discuss what students observe about the penny. Have students look closely at the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the penny. They should be able to see Lincoln sitting in the middle of the building. Say : The penny is made out of copper. Copper is one of the cheapest metals to be found. Even the poorest person can carry the penny and be reminded of Lincoln and how he did so much for Civil Rights. When copper is exposed to air and water, it turns green. Show a picture of the Statue of Liberty. Explain that the Statue of liberty is made of copper but that it has been exposed to air and water and has oxidized and turned green. Explain that the oxidation can be removed.
• Activity 2: Materials: small glass container for each group or student, white vinegar, salt, paper towel, and a penny for each student. Drop a dirty penny into a clear container of white vinegar and add regular table salt. Watch the penny become shiny and new!

Technology

• For online stories of each president visit America’s Library. The give a short biography of each leader and then have stories associated with that president linked on the right-hand side of the page.
• Explain that before he was president, George Washington was a member of the wealthy gentry of Virgina. He lived in a mansion and ran a plantation farm. Tour his Mt. Vernon mansion here: Virtual Mansion Tour .
• There is a fun online maze at Billy Bear's.

Cooking

• Cherry Turnovers: Make cherry turnovers with refrigerated biscuit dough and cherry pie filling. Have your child flatten a biscuit using the bottom of a drinking glass. Place 1 tablesppon of pie filling in the center. Fold over and pinch edges or crimp with a fork. Bake until brown.

Music

• The American Presidents (To the tune of one little,Two Little,Three Little Indian")
  Verse One: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, VanBuren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk and Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan.
  
  Verse Two: Lincoln, Johnson, Grant and Hayes, Garfield, Arther, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland, Mckinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding and Coolidge.
  
  Verse Three: Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, Now it's George W. Bush!
• Play music from Washington and Lincoln's eras. For Washington you can play "Yankee Doodle" and for Lincoln, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"

Art

• Mt. Rushmore: Show picture of Mt. Rushmore. Have children use clay to make a statue of one of the presidents.
• Sihlouttes: Few shapes are more recognizable than silhouettes of Washington and Lincoln. In a darkened room, have your child stand sideways against a wall. Behind the her, tape a piece of white cardstock or poster board on the wall. The board should start about mid-chest and go above the person's head. Enlist another child to stand about six feet back from the wall, shining a flashlight on the person's head. Use a pencil to trace the person's shadow onto the poster board. After the image is traced, turn the lights on and cut around the tracing. Using the cut-out as a pattern, trace the person's shape onto a dark piece of paper. Cut out. Paste on a different colored background.
• Print out coloring sheets of the presidents.