Matching each U.S. president's name to his picture provides an opportunity to teach children about the presidents, too. After you arrange pictures of all of the presidents in order on a bulletin board, create name tags for each picture, but do not hang the name tags. Ask the children if they know the identities of the men on the board. Once they discover that they are presidents, teach the children about each president. Hang the name tag under each picture one by one, starting with George Washington, and share a few facts, stories and accomplishments of that president. Then you may take all the name tags down and mix them up in a bowl or hat. Let each child come up one by one and pick a name tag from the pile. Have them match the name to the picture and share something they learned about that president.
To teach children about President George Washington, tell stories about his life and explain that he was elected the first president of the United States. Then students can create three-cornered hats. Give each child three strips of construction paper, each of which is 12 inches long by 3 inches wide. Help them staple the corners together to make the hats. While the children wear their hats, teach them the song "My Hat it Has Three Corners." Then students could share their favorite aspect about the first president.
After you teach the children facts about the current U.S. president and his job duties, have each child write a letter to the president that includes questions about him and ideas about his goals and various political topics. Mail the letters in a packet to: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500. Your class should receive a response within six to eight weeks.
Students may need help to create finger puppets of Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Have each child bring a Lincoln penny and a Washington nickel to class, and have some on hand in case some children forget. The puppet project begins with each child cutting a 3-inch square from blue and black construction paper. Instruct them to roll each square around their finger to form tubes and then tape the back of each tube. Then the children glue the nickels to the blue tubes and the pennies to the black tubes about 1 inch from the top. Their next task is to cut a thin rectangle out of black paper and glue across the black tube right above the penny to create a top hat for President Lincoln. Then they can cut a triangle out of blue paper and glue it above the nickel to make a three-cornered hat for President Washington. Narrow triangles cut from white paper and glued underneath the coin on each puppet serve as places for the children draw bow ties. As the students play with their puppets, tell them stories about the two presidents.