What Is A President Lesson
What Is A President Lesson
What Is A President Lesson
Standard - 5.3.3.J. Identify key ideals of the form of government practiced in the United States.
Standard - CC.1.5.1.B: Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or
through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if
something is not understood.
Learning Targets/Objectives: Students will be able to describe what the president’s role is by listening
to an article read aloud and answering comprehension questions
Assessment Approaches: Evidence:
1. Comprehension Questions 1. Observational
Assessment Scale: none
Subject Matter/Content:
Prerequisites:
Students must have a basic idea what a president is
Key Vocabulary:
President- leader of our country
Speeches- talks that a person gives in front of a crowd or group of people
Laws- rules made by the government
Content/Facts:
The president lives and works in the White House
The president gives speeches to share his ideas with us
We can watch the presidents speeches on TV
The president flies around the world to meet with leaders of other countries
The president signs laws of our country
Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
1. Tell the students that this week we are learning about Presidents Day and yesterday we learned
about Abraham Lincoln and the day before that we learned about George Washington
2. Tell them today we are going to learn about what the role of the president
3. Ask the students to come to the rug with their chalkboards
4. Play the scholastic news video about what the president does in the White House
5. Ask students what they remember from the video and what they thought about it
6. Give time for students to ask questions
Development/Teaching Approaches
1. Pass out the student version of the Scholastic News Articles We Have a New President
2. Have the online version on the Smart Board
3. Go over the vocabulary words on the Smart Board
4. Read the article aloud to the class and stop after each box and ask the class who can raise their
hand and tell you what they learned about what a president’s job is
5. Give time for questions after you read the article
6. Turn the sight word game on the Smart Board and call on students to tap a sight word
7. When a student taps the word, a fact about the White House will be said aloud with the sight
word in the sentence
8. Call on students to come up to the Smart Board and click the words until 5 words are clicked
9. Talk about each fact after it is read
10. Tell the students that now we are going to write about what it would be like if they were the
president
11. Have students go back to their seat
12. Pass out If I Were President craft
13. Ask for some examples of what they would say (What they would do, what the hardest thing
would be, what their goal would be, and what the best thing would be if they were president)
14. Write some examples on the board
15. Have the students fill in their paper and when they are done put their pictures in the circle in
the middle of the paper (have pictures ready of each student)
16. Crafts will be hung up in the hallway when they are completely finished
Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
1. Have some of the students share their craft and what they wrote
2. Remind the students what the president’s role is
3. Tell the students that tomorrow we will be learning about the voting process and we will be
voting for a class president for the day
Accommodations/Differentiation:
For students who are advanced have them complete the quiz on the back of the article while the
other students are working on their craft
For students who are struggling
Materials/Resources:
Scholastic News Article (teacher version, student version, and online version with video and
skills game)
Smart Board
If I Were President Activity
Pictures of each student
Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels
Remediation Plan (if applicable)
Additional reflection/thoughts