Presidents' Day Activities & a FREEBIE just for you!

I know most of us are gearing up for Valentine's Day this coming Friday, but we are also getting ready for a three day weekend in my classroom. We are starting some of our Presidents' Day activities this week and we will continue the learning into next week, as well. 

Every year, I start our discussion about Presidents' Day with the story Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers by Karen Winnick. 

This is a very special story and an incredible lead into our first writing activity. In the story, the little girl, Grace writes a letter to Mr. Lincoln while he is running for president. In the letter, she tells Mr. Lincoln that he should grow a beard because his face is currently too thin. She also says that all the ladies like beards and they will then convince their husbands to vote for him if he grows one. After reading the story the kiddos and I make a chart of pros and cons as to why Lincoln should or should not grow a beard.

Next, the kids write their opinion pieces and make their Lincoln craft.

How cute is that??? 

I am also working with the enrichment group of kiddos this week. We are going to be reviewing skills with my recently updated Presidents' Day packet. The Lincoln craft (along with a Washington craft and many other ideas) is part of the pack I will be using the next few weeks. Be sure to check it out, to get tons of ideas to use in your classroom.

I also created this little freebie packet to share with all of you. It includes some Scoot cards to review math skills, festive writing paper, word search, and an activity to identifly nouns and proper nouns. If you grab a copy, I would love your feedback. 

Super Bowl Weekend SALE and a FREEBIE

We ALL SCORE this weekend, thanks to TpT! I am joining many TpT sellers and everything in my store is 20% off this Saturday and Sunday! On Sunday, you can get any extra 10% of using the code SUPER at checkout! Time to empty those wishlist items into the shopping cart! I can't wait to go shopping!!!

Thank you Aimee from Primarily Speaking for this adorable button!

We continued working on learning about our presidents this week. Last week the kids learned about Lincoln and made an adorable craftivity and wrote if Lincoln should have a beard or not. If you missed that post, you can read about it HERE. This week, we learned about Washington and wrote about what we would do if we were president.

Bet you never knew Washington could be so cute, right? I attached the kids writing to these and hung them up in the room with our Lincolns. 

I have a little freebie for you guys to get you ready for Presidents' Day! It goes along with my Patriotic Presidents' Day Centers and Craftivity unit. 

I SPY Presidential Math Problems

Writing Paper, word search, identifying nouns and proper nouns. I hope you can use this with your kiddos. Happy Friday my friends! 

Presidents' Day Fun!

I have been wanting to write this post for awhile, but I wanted to wait until I had pictures to show all of you. As many of us are gearing up for Valentine's Day in our classrooms, I am getting my kids excited for Presidents' Day as well. Believe me, I have TONS of Valentine's activities ready to go, but I also want my kids to learn about a few historical icons in our country. Last week, we discussed Martin Luther King Jr. and yesterday we were able to watch a presidential inauguration. So, I thought today would be a great day to introduce Abraham Lincoln to my kiddos. My "hook: was this wonderful book Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers by Karen Winnick.
                                               
In the story, the little girl, Grace writes a letter to Mr. Lincoln while he is running for president. In the letter, she tells Mr. Lincoln that he should grow a beard because his face is currently too thin. She also says that all the ladies like beards and they will then convince their husbands to vote for him if he grows one. After reading the story the kiddos and I made a chart of pros and cons as to why Lincoln should or should not grow a beard.

The kids came up with some really funny ideas. Here they are working on their writing. They had to write a persuasive letter explaining why they thought Lincoln should or should not grow a beard.

When their writing was done, they glued their finally copies to the top of Lincoln's hat.

How stinkin' cute are those Lincolns??? They make me smile and the kids LOVED this activity.

We are going to learn about Washington tomorrow and make these:

We also are in a review week in our reading series, so that means enrichment and intervention time! I have the enrichment group, so we are going to be using the centers from my Patriotic Presidents' Day unit. The Lincoln and Washington craftivities are included in this unit.

I am also participating in an awesome giveaway over at Second Grade Math Maniac. Casey has reached over 600 followers and is celebrating by hosting a mega giveaway! I am giving my Let It Snow! Snowman Glyph to one lucky winner. Head on over and enter the giveaway for a chance to win some amazing prizes.