Rewind: President's Day

"Do you want to be President one day..."

That is what I asked Tyler after we had read "I Want to be President" starring Betty Lou from Sesame Street.  What kid doesn't want to ride in parades, live in the White House, and talk all day?!  Well, mine doesn't!  Tyler said, "No."  I asked him, "Why not?"  And apparently, "No" means end of story-- don't ask anymore ; )

We spent a couple days this week learning about two very important President's-- George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I pulled activities from all over the place to keep him busy.  And since this was the first time we've really talked about this topic, I kept it pretty simple.

Using a set of US Presidents cards, Tyler completed a President's Day Sequencing Activity-- practiced numbers 1-44:

President's Syllable Sort:  Tyler used stickers to keep track of the sound chunks in each name.

Andy Warhol style art with George Washington; idea came from Toddler Approved and it turned out so great!  I printed off four pictures of George Washington and had Tyler watercolor them; after they dried and I cut them out, Tyler picked four pieces of paper for the background of each face. 

Tyler found words he knew in the President's Day Poem found at Lakeshore Learning:

We have talked about pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters before and how much they are worth but we reviewed his skills with a Coin Sorting Mat:

Tyler can tell you how much each coin is worth, yet when I put a penny and a nickel in front of him, he said it was 2cents, not 6cents.  To practice I made a Money Tree worksheet, but we still need more practice on this one!

Tyler made a fact book about Abraham Lincoln.  I didn't mention the word slavery or freedom-- they seem a bit abstract for his innocent mind, but he does know that Abe Lincoln helped those that were "stuck."  We used this term because while we were watching a video on George and Abe on YouTube, it showed a person's hands in handcuffs (meaning slavery), and Tyler said, "They are stuck!" 

Made Washington's Cherry Tree using Tyler's arm/ hand as the tree trunk, hands as the leaves, and pink tissue paper for the cherry blossoms:

After reading that Abe Lincoln grew up in a log cabin and wore a black hat, Tyler and I made an edible log cabin and an edible top hat.  Yummy!  Sorry for the blur!  I used graham crackers for the base of the log cabin and house.  For the log cabin, I covered it in peanut butter and jelly and we topped it with logs (pretzels!).  I also covered the top hat in peanut butter, but used Kellog's new Krave cereal to make the black hat.  And FYI-- the new Krave cereal is AMAZING!  If you love chocolate, you are going to love eating it cold or with milk!  Soooo good!

That's a summary of what we did for President's Day, plus a few more activites listed in the list below.  For the rest of the week, we "rowed" a B4FIAR book, "The Quiet Way Home" by Bonnie Becker.  Like the last B4 book, it's not an easy one to blog about!  We have talked about relationships, opposites, sounds, and the ear so I will see what I can come up with to share with you! 
Also check out:
Kindergarten Hoppenings: President's Day Theme
President's Day Pinterest Board
President's Day Number Order and Skip Counting Puzzles
President's Day Mini-Unit
President's Day Alphabetical Word Sort
Coin Equivalents Printable