Celebrate Presidents’ Day in Kindergarten and 1st Grade

February is the month to celebrate Presidents’ Day. For a long time only George Washington’s birthday was recognized on February 22. In 1968, the holiday was adapted to also honor Abraham Lincoln. This Federal holiday was moved to the third Monday in February and sometimes Presidents’ Day considered to be a celebration of all U.S. Presidents!

Two Presidents Singable

We like to use this time of year to teach about the 2 most famous presidents, Washington and Lincoln. Because we LOVE to sing with our students we had to create a song. It is sung to the tune Three Blind Mice. Of course there is a mini movie included to help you and your students sing this song. Two Presidents covers many facts about these 2 famous men. There are writing papers and Sorting cards with photos to help students learn their differences. Many other activities are included in this 71-page packet.

 

There is a FREEBIE that has two short songs, one about George and one about Abe! This freebie has song charts in color and b/w, and some money activities. The George Washington song is easily sung to the tune Itsy, Bitsy, Spider while the Lincoln poem is sung to Yankee Doodle.

Here’s some meaningful ways to revisit the poems over several days in the pocket chart or with the student copy. (The pictures for the pocket chart for Washington is included in the FREEBIE. Those for Lincoln are found in the FULL product) Glue the clipart images of Washington to the end of a short dowel and use it to track across the poem as you sing together.

One day look for high frequency words such as the, and,he, we, and go, another day search for one, two, or three syllable words, a third day hunt for rhyming words such as name and fame. Use Magic Windows or colored pieces of a plastic folder to highlight features on the song. Plastic clothespins can also be used to clip above the words as they are “spotted” by the students. After looking for words on the big pocket chart you can have students circle words with different colored crayons on their Take-Home poem pages. (We usually include these pages in a year-long Poetry Notebook.) Activities such as these provide multiple readings of texts but with different purposes. Repeated readings help develop fluency.

Money

We honor some of our U.S. presidents by putting their pictures on bills and coins.  These two men get BOTH a coin AND a bill! Since recognizing money is part of our curriculum we have created some math activities with pennies  and dollars.  These provide a great way to count by ones and tens to 100. There are several recording sheets to go along with these counting activities. All  of this is in our February FREEBIE for you to use and enjoy in your classroom!

George Washington Craftivity

Here is a sample of a craftivity this is easy to make. Including print on the back of art work connects the art work with literacy. Glue the Washington Song page on the back of the craftivity.

American Symbols

This 80-page packet, 1-2 American Symbols for You, is an excellent way to introduce American symbols to your students. The Shared Reading non-fiction book uses real photos to support the text. This packet works well with any Presidents’ Day, Fourth of July, or American history units. It is LOADED with photos, math worksheets, BUMP Math games, Beginning Readers, Interactive booklets, themed writing papers, and much much more! (This is one of my favorite packets to teach!)

Favorite Books to teach about these Presidents

Here are some of our favorite books to build background knowledge. Most likely many can be found in your school library but they are also available at Amazon.

Happy February! It is flying by quickly! Enjoy the day off to celebrate Presidents’ Day!