Presidents of the United States Unit

Posted by Cindy on October 27, 2009

Another unit bites the dust!    We’ve been motorin’ on the schedule so far and it makes me smile!

This unit took only two weeks.  We simply read a book everyday about past presidents, being the president, the White House and Washington D.C.  Each kiddo had to choose five presidents to research and complete a project about each one.  At the end of the two weeks, they presented their projects – short, sweet and simple for me!

They were able to choose from the following project choices:

• a file folder report
• a photographic poster
• a sculpture and mini-report
• a cereal box report
• a newspaper article
• a mobile

I gave them very little direction in completing projects this time around.  After the presentations, we talked about each project and the good points.  We also evaluated what could’ve been better.  My children were pretty hard on themselves – harder than I would’ve been!  But, it was good for them to notice what they might improve on next time.

The Projects

Mahayla’s (7th grade)

Before presentations, the projects were displayed for viewing.

This photographic poster uses clipart from the internet and color copies from books as visuals with colorful note cards for information about the pictures.

A cereal box report utilizes all the sides for various bits of information and stores a fun object inside to show-n-tell during the presentation.

The mobile uses clip art from the internet and photocopies from books to hang on the strings from a hanger.  Descriptions of the pictures are written on the back of each picture.

These are simple written reports.

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Caleb’s (4th grade)

This is another display of all the projects before presentation time.

Like above, this is another photograph poster.

This is a file folder report.  The inside holds two pages of writings and drawings.

Here is another mobile.

And here is a newspaper article.

If you’re new to unit studies or project-based learning, click on the links to learn more about how to implement them easily.

Our Unit Resources

Coloring Pages of the Presidents

Presidential Hangman

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You might be interested in our US Government study, too!

US Government Unit

Posted by Cindy on September 17, 2009

Last week we finished a unit on US Government and Civics using The United States Government 7th-12th grade lapbooking unit from Knowledge Box Central.  It was a great refresher for me and a super way to teach my children everything from the history of the Constitution to the design and procedures of our government to the rights and responsibilities we have as citizens.  We should all be teaching US Government and Civics anyway, but in light of so many political issues in our country right now, it’s extremely important to teach our children the fundamentals of how our government is supposed to work and what we can and should do about it when it isn’t working like it should.  (Sorry for the run-on sentence and the soap box.)

Our Lapbooks

Final Exam

To be sure they understood the wealth of information learned during the unit, I gave the kiddos a US Government test.  Mahayla scored 100% without help.  Caleb was allowed to use his lapbook when he came across a tough question.  With the help of his lapbook, he scored 100%, too!

Be sure to take a peek at our unit study and culminating projects on the Presidents of the United States, too!