The fourth graders at Eisenhower Elementary School really know their presidents. Students of Priscilla Rose and Sherri Brantley were each assigned a random U.S. president to research. On Tuesday, other students were invited to the “Hall of Presidents” in the Eisenhower library, where each student had a presentation about his or her former POTUS.
Half of the fourth graders made posters and half made video presentation on Chromebooks using the program Google Slides.
Mathias Aumiller now knows that John Adams, the second President of the United States, died on the Fourth of July, and was one of only two presidents who signed the Declaration of Independence.
Kali Beckham can tell you that our 14th President Franklin Pierce was married to Jane had three boys. “Franklin Pierce’s wife did not want him to be elected president,” she said.
Nevaeh Bowman knows that John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president, was the youngest elected president, taking the oath of office when he was 43. (Theodore Roosevelt became president following William McKinley’s assassination, at the age of 42 years.) She said she hadn’t heard of JFK before the project, but knows a lot about him now.
Olivia Edwards was in the group that made posters, so she stood for two hours showing her research on the 25th President William McKinley to students coming through the library. When her feet began to ache, Anna Bitter – standing next to her with a poster of Andrew Johnson, our 17th president, laughed and said Edwards shouldn’t have worn heels.
The students with computer programs got to sit at tables. Caleb Hayes advanced the slides of his Millard Filmore presentation and noted that the 13th president had a horse in the White House.
Paige Sanders explained her slide show about Rutherford B. Haeys, our 19th president, who was married to Lucy. “And this is Lucy,” she said, bringing up the photo on her computer screen.
Although the students searched for “fun facts,” they also learned when the presidents were born and when they died, if they are no longer living.