President's Day Fun, Facts, and Trivia

Here's a trivia fact about U.S. presidents:  

There have been a total of 44 men that have served as president of the United States of America but Donald Trump is the 45th president.  Looks like the numbers don't add up!  Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president.  He served two nonconsecutive terms which accounts for the mismatched numbers.

I've made a freebie for President's Day! 

Are your students old enough to start experimenting with anagrams?  I discovered that the word "recipe" was an anagram for "Pierce" so a made a little sheet for the kids to learn about anagrams.  They can use the timeline on the page to find the answer.  They can create their own anagrams on the back of the page. 

I also made a graphing activity which includes the 44 men who have served as president of the United States.

We celebrate "President's Day" in the month of February but as you can see from the graph there are other months that were just as popular for birth months.  According to the recognized federal holidays, it's called "Washington's Birthday" in honor of the first president.


I made a set of word problems that students can answer by referencing the graphing sheet.

You'll need a book about George Washington (or a DVD) to develop knowledge of facts about the first president before using the writing activity.  I like the famous persons picture books written by David Adler. 

There have been 44 men that have held the office of the president in the United States of America.  Some of them have alliteration in their names.  The beginning letter in their first and last names are the same.  Do you think the use of alliteration makes them more memorable? I'm partial to names with alliteration.  Ha!  Ha!  I made a first and last names match up sheet with the presidents' names that fit the criteria.  The students can invent a first and last name that uses this form of alliteration.  I'm planning to make a teaching resource for matching the presidents' first and last names with all U.S. presidents' included.  It's a summer project!

Last of all, I made a coloring sheet for the numeral "45" with the trivia fact that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. 

Get all of the President's Day goodies shown above by clicking on the image shown below.

That's all for now!

Molly McMahon, Lessons by Molly 

Messages on Gift Bag Toppers

If you've visited Pinterest, you may have seen the gift bag toppers that are used to embellish treats created for students.  They usually include a cute and catchy phrase for the recipient to enjoy reading.  But written messages are not just embellishments on gifts.  They signify a specified reason to have a celebration.  They're like mini achievement certificates that tell children what they've accomplished.  

I've made some gift bag toppers for you.  Use the toppers to seal treat bags for your students as you celebrate reading next month (March) or whenever you desire to recognize students for their reading efforts!

I came up with the idea of using the idiom, ". . . Music to my ears."  (I probably saw is on a Valentine's Day cards!)  I've typed the phrase:

 "Listening to you read is MUSIC to my ears." 

I also made ones for "talk", "sing" and "play".  If you teach preschool, they're probably NOT ready to read!

I found some musical instrument toys at the DOLLAR TREE that worked perfectly.  You can grab the free gift bag toppers by clicking the image shown below or use the link HERE.

Keep reading if you need information about the materials needed and how to assemble.