Items filtered by date: January 2012

4 pages. A fun way for students to review the various facts about the penny, nickel, dime and quarter + a great way to whole-group assess.

Get In Shape On President's Day!

A quick and easy little booklet your students will have fun making on President’s Day, is The Dollar Shapes Up.

It’s a nice review of the 6 basic shapes.

Students cut out the shapes and glue them to the matching dollar bills.

To make it more of a keepsake, print off a copy of your class composite, cut your student’s pix into ovals and have them glue their photo to the cover of the booklet.

For an interesting discussion and math extension, inform students that President Washington is on the dollar bill as well as the quarter.

Ask them how many quarters does it take to make a dollar, how many pennies, nickels and dimes?

Click on the link to view/download The Dollar Shapes Up booklet.

Be sure and pop back tomorrow for 3 more cute President's Day ideas!

5 pages. Make a Washington or Lincoln hat as a fun center activity for President's Day.

Making Washington's Tricorn Hat and Lincoln's Stovepipe Hat On President's Day

For a fun center, on President’s Day, set up a hat-making table.  Students can choose to make a Washington tricorn hat or a Lincoln stovepipe top hat.

Lincoln’s hat is a perfect example of a cylinder and will make a nice review of that 3-D shape.  Washington’s hat is 3-cornered like a triangle.

George Washington's tricorn hat was the fashionable hat for his time period, as it was the thing to wear during the American Revolution.

American Patriots, including the Minutemen, wore a three-cornered, or tricorn hat.

The hat was made of wool. Men who considered themselves to be wealthy and fashionable would wear tricorn hats decorated with lace, feathers, and would often have silver or gold accents and buckles on them.

Even pirates enjoyed wearing these hats.  Your students might have seen the Disney character, Jack Sparrow, sporting one in the Pirate’s of the Caribbean movies.

Similarly, the top hat was very popular during the Civil War period when Lincoln was President.  History relates stories that Abraham often kept important papers and notes tucked under his hat  for safe keeping as  he hurried off somewhere.

For  directions of how to make a tricorn hat out of a paper bag click on the link. Washington's Tricorn Paper Bag Hat

For directions of how to make Washington’s hat out of black construction paper click on this link.

Washington's Construction Paper Tricorn Hat

YouTube has a short step-by-step tutorial of  how to make Lincoln’s stovepipe hat. 

This would be perfect for a Seuss hat during March is Reading month as well. To view the video click on the link.

How to make Lincoln's or Dr. Seuss's stovepipe hat.

This is a photograph of the hat that Lincoln wore the night he was shot while watching a play at the Ford theatre. It is on display at the Smithsonian institute.

Click on the link to read about the details. 

This is a photo of one of Lincoln’s favorite beaver hats. His fingertips wore marks on the brim where he continuously put his fingers to tip his hat.

Click on the link to see other Lincoln memorabilia.

To print out this article and pix click on the link. How to Make a Washington Tricorn and Lincoln Stovepipe Hat.

Hats off to you for being a wonderful teacher! I hope your students enjoy President’s Day and wearing a hat!

Pop back tomorrow for The Dollar Shapes Up! A fun way to review shapes, study money, and do a fun center for President's Day, all rolled into one booklet!

Scroll down for more President’s Day ideas.

Making Class Books For President's Day!

President’s Day is coming soon, Monday the 20^th.  I have some fun activities chock full of standards for you.

Students will enjoy writing so much more if they know their page will become part of a class book.  I think they take a little more pride in their work.

After you laminate and collate their pages into a class book, read it to the class by having each student share their page. Let them know ahead of time that you will be doing this.

Work on books in class, or send them home as a home-school connection for parents to work on with their child.

My Washington and Lincoln Fact Book is a quick and interesting way to learn a few things about both presidents in a side-by-side comparison method.

Students trace the sentence, write the main word, cut and glue the matching picture and then read the booklet via the picture clues.

There is a math graphing extension included.

Click on the link to view/download the Washington and Lincoln Fact Book.

Share with your students the responsibilities of the President of the United States and then have them complete the writing prompt:

If I Were President... Children illustrate their page and teachers collate them into a class book.  Adding student school pictures makes the books even more personal. 

There are 2 graphing extensions to this book as well. 

Click on the link to view/download If I Were President class book.

Washington or Lincoln Comparison Class Book allows students to decide which president they liked best and then write why. There’s a graphing opportunity here as well.

Click on the link to view/download Washington or Lincoln Comparison Class Book.

Facts About US Presidents is a nice mini research-computer lesson where students find three facts about the president of their choice and list them along with a picture and at least 2 sources. 

Teachers compile these into a class book as well.  A list of all the Presidents and the terms that they served are included.

Click on the link to view/download Facts About US Presidents.

Finally, I made a packet of 12 “Just for fun” skill sheets, including 2 similarities and differences worksheets.

(It’s a report card standard to recognize similarities and differences and so hard to find worksheets to assess this, so I’ve included them in all of my units.) 

Plus a complete the pattern worksheet (also a standard that’s hard to find practice sheets for.)

There’s a cute “Happy President’s Day” paperclip bookmark, that makes a cute gift from the teacher, included in this packet as well.

It could also be a quick center activity.

Click on the link to view/download Washington & Lincoln's Skill Sheets & Activities

I got the idea for them from these paperclips from Sherry’s Blog Altered To Perfection. 

Click on the link to see her creative things.

For a fun center activity, pop back on Friday to see how to make Lincoln and Washington’s hats!

Scroll down for yesterday's President's Day mobiles and past PD articles!