Presidents on Parade: Each student picked an American president to study, wrote a one-page report, dressed in period costume as their president, and prepared and presented a speech about themselves as president.

Each second grader learned to describe their president in Hebrew as well. They practiced giving their speech as president in Hebrew to the “Congress,” their classmates. Hebrew descriptions were placed around the room and each child had to find the description that matched “their” president. They had to complete Hebrew sentences describing their president. Working in collaboration with the HDS art teacher, students illustrated portraits of their president using traditional paintings as models.

Corresponding Standards in the HDS Second Grade Curriculum:

History:

• Read and understand biographies; articulate contribution of individual to society, and recount events through the eyes of this individual
• Gain better understanding of process of American government through study of its Presidents

Inquiry:

• Acquire information from multiple resources, including school and public library
• Gather, analyze and organize information for research report

Writing:

• Write for a variety of purposes including to inform
• Form block letters with ease
• Use rubric or self-assessment tools to evaluate quality of work
• Write biography of two to four paragraphs in length
• Write two informational paragraphs
• Proofread
• Use capitals, punctuation, proper sentences structure
• Use commas, quotation marks and apostrophes