February is one of the best months to teach. Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day are both great events that you can plan learning activities around to begin the month. Then, you get a day off of school!
Since students are excited about having a day off of school, especially on a Monday, it is the perfect introduction to lessons on presidents. Moreover, because there are so many great learning activities about presidents you can use President’s Day Activities all month long.
President’s Day Activities for Kids
Whether you choose to teach about President’s Day all month long or for just a few days we have you covered. With four different activities for kids that are all focused on presidents, you have a variety to choose from.
To make it easy, we bundled three of these activities together. Complete with a read aloud, a STEM activity, and one of our famous learning quests, you have everything you need for a month of activities.
In addition, we have a second President’s Day read aloud activity. Therefore, providing you with additional learning activities for kids in February.
Here is a quick peek into the President’s Day activities for kids in our Everything President’s Day Activities Bundle:
- Presidents of the United States Learning Quest
- Lincoln’s Hat STEM
- I am Abraham Lincoln Read Aloud
The second read aloud available is for the book Duck for President.
To learn more about these activities, and how they can support you and your students, keep reading.
Presidents Day Activities for 2nd Grade
All of the activities below are designed specifically for 1st and 2nd grade students. These learning activities are aligned with the common core standards and are perfect for supporting first and second grade students in several content areas.
To help you see how these activities align with the standards we have provided some of the key standards that each activity addresses. Therefore, you can easily choose the learning activities that best align with the needs of your students.
President’s Day Read Aloud Activities
Read alouds are an essential part of elementary school. They are critical in helping first and second graders develop important literacy skills. Therefore, we encourage teachers to use a read aloud once a week (if possible).
As former elementary school teachers, we know that while it is ideal to use a read aloud once a week it is also a lot of work to prepare. Therefore, creating rigorous and fun reading activities for you and your students is one of our key focus points!
With this in mind, we have created two engaging read alouds to use for President’s Day lessons.
I am Abraham Lincoln Read Aloud
The first read aloud for President’s Day is, I am Abraham Lincoln. This read aloud goes with the book I am Abraham Lincoln by Brad Meltzer.
If you have never read this book before, it is a great book to introduce elementary students to Abraham Lincoln. The book takes students through events from Abraham Lincoln’s life – beginning in his childhood and up to the Gettysburg Address.
As with all of our read alouds, the activities provided in this packet provide enough for 3-5 days worth of lessons. Therefore, depending on your class schedule you can extend this for a full week’s worth of reading lessons.
Each day’s reading activities give students the opportunity to dive deeper into the text. Moreover, providing students with several opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and deepen their comprehension skills.
In addition to addressing reading standards through comprehension activities, we have also included fun craft activities. The end-of-unit craftivity is an excellent way to give students a chance to connect with the book in a creative way.
This read aloud is included as part of our Everything President’s Day Bundle. It is the perfect way to introduce students to President’s Day before moving into other activities.
Duck for President Read Aloud
In addition to the I am Abraham Lincoln Read Aloud we also have a read aloud for the book Duck for President. Duck for President is not included in the bundle but is an excellent addition.
If combined with the bundle, this read aloud provides a second week’s worth of reading activities.
One way to incorporate this is to use the first read aloud the week leading up to President’s Day or the day you return to school after President’s Day. Then, you can end your unit at the end of the month with Duck for President.
If you have not read Duck for President yet, this is another fun and engaging book for first and second grade students. We even love it for preschoolers!
This book is especially great for teaching students about the voting process. We have even included activities for students to explore the voting process from the personal perspective of running for class president.
Our Duck for President read aloud follows the same structure as the read aloud for I am Abraham Lincoln. It will cover another full week of lessons and has an assortment of comprehension activities, plus a craftivity.
Reading Standards for President Day Read Alouds
If you are focused on choosing read alouds that align with your state standards, here is a quick overview of the 24 standards addressed in these two read alouds.
- RL.1.1
- RL.1.2
- RL.1.3
- RL.1.4
- RL.1.5
- RL.1.6
- RL.1.7
- RL.1.9
- RL.1.10
- RL.2.1
- RL.2.2
- RL.2.3
- RL.2.5
- RL.2.7
- RL.2.9
- RL.2.10
- W.1.7
- W.1.8
- W.2.7
- W.2.8
- SL.1.1
- SL.1.2
- SL.2.1
- SL.2.2
To learn more about each standard check out a detailed explanation under our read aloud preview on Teachers Pay Teachers.
President’s Day Research Activities
Once you have introduced your students to the idea of President’s Day through a read aloud use our Learning Quest to help them explore the topic further. If you have never used our Learning Quest activities, they are mini-research units.
These mini-research activities are designed to foster independent learning for elementary students. However, they can also be used as whole-class activities or in small groups.
This particular research activity focuses on the presidents of the United States. It is an excellent way to introduce students to the different presidents and teach them about the election process.
Here is a look at what types of activities students will engage in during this mini-research unit.
President Firsts: Fun facts about things that different presidents did first. Did you know Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to appear on television?
Getting Elected: Students read (or listen to) an informational text that talks about the process of getting elected to the position of president.
Who’s Who?: Using their new information, students match what they have learned with the correct president
President Timeline: students demonstrate additional understanding by placing presidents on a timeline that goes align with important events in history
Is it True?: In this activity, students show comprehension by identifying true facts about presidents.
Check-in: Assess what students have learned with a quiz at the end.
Core Standards in President Research Activity
Students will encounter 23 different learning standards throughout the learning quest. This includes general reading and writing standards, plus several Common Core Reading and Writing Anchor Standards
- RI.1.1
- RI.1.2
- RI.1.4
- RI.1.5
- RI.1.7
- RI.2.1
- RI.2.3
- RI.2.4
- RI.2.5
- RI.2.7
- W.1.2
- W.1.6
- W.2.2
- W.2.6
- CCRA.R.1
- CCRA.R.2
- CCRA.R.4
- CCRA.R.5
- CCRA.R.7
- CCRA.R.10
- CCRA.W.2
- CCRA.W.6
- CCRA.W.9
President’s Day STEM Activities
In addition to read alouds and independent learning activities we have created a STEM activity for President’s Day.
This is a great activity that can be used at any time during your focus on President’s Day. It is perfect as a culminating activity at the end of the unit or as an immediate follow-up to the read aloud.
As with any STEM project, this learning activity focuses on a possible real-life situation. In this case, it uses a real-life question about Abraham Lincoln. Below is the situation students are presented with and the task they are asked to complete.
STEM Situation (problem): President Lincoln wore his top hat every day. He loved to keep his important papers in his hat so he could easily find them. Many people wondered how many papers he could keep in his hat at one time.
STEM Challenge: Find a way to fit the most papers in Lincoln’s hat.
To complete the STEM challenge, students will go through a detailed engineering process. This process supports students in planning and creating a solution. Moreover, it provides them with the background knowledge needed to complete the task.
Here are the steps students will go through leading up to and during the engineering process.
- Imagine (brainstorm)
- Explore (vocabulary and background knowledge)
- Plan
- Create
- Improve
- Reflect
While STEM challenges can be done independently or as a whole class, we encourage teachers to try doing them in small groups. To support you in this, we have provided a group evaluation assignment to use at the end of the activity.
Common Core Standards in STEM
Just like with all of our learning activities, this STEM challenge is aligned with several common core standards. Therefore, by combining it with other activities designed for President’s Day you can touch on several standards that your first or second-grade students need to practice.
Here are the standards covered in this President’s Day STEM activity for first and second-graders. If you have different state standards than the Common Core ones listed below, we have provided a quick overview of what these standards cover so that you can align them with your state standards.
K-2-ETS1-2
Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
K-2-ETS1-3
Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.
K-2-ETS1-1
Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
Printable President’s Day Activities
While we are living in a digital world we know that there is still a need for printable activities. Therefore, all of our President’s Day learning activities are available as both digital and printable.
From the read aloud to the STEM project, everything can be used as a printable. This provides you with flexibility in choosing what works best for you and your students.
Everything is still ready-to-teach. However, with the printables, we do suggest planning for a bit of extra prep time since you will need to print and organize the activities. Especially if you choose to use the printable version of the learning quest.
The Best President’s Day Activity
We can’t choose just one activity as the best because we love them all! Which is why we chose to bundle several of them together.
However, when choosing the best activity (or activities) for your classroom we suggest focusing on the standards you need to cover. For example, if your students need extra time with reading and writing then using the two read alouds is a great starting point.
In addition, the President’s Day learning quest is an excellent way to support reading and writing standards. If you need to choose one or two activities, begin with the standards.
If you have the time to focus at least two weeks on earning both presidents though, we suggest using all four activities. And, if you are ready for a full month’s worth of ready-to-teach activities then combine this bundle with our Valentine’s day lesson plans.
Between all of the activities for President’s Day and activities for groundhog day and Valentine’s Day you have the entire month of February planned for you. Then, you can enjoy your day off on President’s day!
