Teacher Hub: Presidents’ Day Plans

Whether students have the day off or not, we can all engage our students in valuable lessons related to Presidents’ Day. Especially during the current political climate, it is important to not only teach our students about our history, but also about how to appropriately engage in discourse. Check out our suggestions to observe Presidents’ Day. How are you planning on impacting your students?

1. Geography

Rather than having out students color and label maps only to study basic locations, challenge students to look deeper. Study the past presidential elections and task students with analyzing changing trends in the electoral college based on the geography. For instance, what changes did we see in voting trends in the mid-west this election compared to last election? Then, guide discussion toward how our culture and geography impact each other.

2. Presidential Campaign Trips

In math class, students can map out presidential campaigns from beginning to end. Using the distance travelled in a campaign, students will determine the gas mileage of a campaign bus and calculate the expenses of gasoline on a campaign trip. Then, students can research FEC filings to determine how their calculations compare with the reported campaign expenses. Additional lessons may include comparing expenses from several years past to current campaigns, estimating costs of the next election, and more!

3. Presidential Speeches

In english class, review a famous presidential speech (there’s so many to choose from). Then, have students research presidential speeches. They will choose a speech, review it, and then write a speech with similar tone but with today’s context!

4. Presidential Botany!

The rose garden is famous for speeches. But what about the plants?! Students can research the rose garden. Depending on the level of the class, task with students determining the taxonomy. For higher level classes, students can analyze the ecosystem and suggest other plants that would thrive in the environment.

5. Presidential Policies

Nearly every president is known for at least one famous policy. Some are considered successful, some failures, some are too early to tell. Have students research three presidents’ “flagship” policies. Students should include an analysis of the policy including: how it changed US culture, what demographics the policy targeted to help, how costly the policy was, and whether it was successful. Of course, students will also need to define what success is when it comes to presidential policies.

All of these suggestions can easily be incorporated into Planbook Plus. Try it out yourself and share with us the success you experience!