Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln!

I know it's kind of late to be posting about Presidents' Day, but things have been crazy between conferences, report cards, and getting ready for Read Across America Day and our author's visit from Patricia Polacco. It's about two months away, but I wanted to get my students ready for her visit, so I killed two birds with one stone. Last week I read them Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln! This week they will be reading some of her other books in literature circles.

If you're looking for comprehension questions, check this freebie out! It has 15 comprehension questions and one open-ended essay.

In addition to all sorts of other President-themed activities, we visited http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents to learn about and write 3 facts about two presidents each. Two presidents x 22 students = 44 presidential fact pages! We also wrote about three things we'd like to accomplish if we were President or one thing we'd accomplish and three things we'd do to accomplish it. We decided that it would be a pretty tough job!

We also took the White House virtual tour.

I showed students pictures from my visits to the Washington area a few years ago.

Can you name the following monuments, statues, and buildings?

Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth

(closed for repairs when I was there)

The House Where Lincoln Died

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Eternal flame and graves of JFK and his widow, Jackie

Visit the White House National Park if you're in the Washington, DC area!