Summary:
Often times history books forget to include the pets the Presidents have that live with them in the White House. Being a president can be a very difficult job, and as a way them to deal with stress they deal with on a daily basis many of them invited lets to live with them. Throughout the book readers will meet the different animals that each of the Presidents owned. Some of the animals included; cats, dogs, parrots, alligators, elephants, mice, goat, a cow, and many more 'weird, wacky, little, big, scary, strange animals. Along with learning about the animals readers will learn about each president and things that happened while they were in office. This book will not only give reader a overview of each president, but give them a look into a world most readers do not have the opportunity to see.
- Informative
- History
- Animals
- Interesting
- Nonfiction
Teaching Strategies:
Key Vocabulary To Help With Understanding:
- Term: The length of time during which a person has an official or political office
- First Lady: The wife of the U.S. President
- Political Party: An organized group of people with at least roughly similar political aims and opinions, that seeks to influence public policy by getting its candidates elected to public office.
- White House: A residence of the president of the United States
- Vice President: A person whose rank is just below that of the president of a country, business, etc.
Definitions found from Merriam-Webster dictionary online
Electronic Resources:
Presidential Pet Museum: This is a website students can visit to learn more about the different pets that have lived in the White House. There is a short video that shows some of the exhibits that are located in the Museum. Also on the website there are actual pictures of the presidents with their pets.
White House: This is the White House website. This website show pictures of the presidents and their pets. Under the pictures you can read a short discription about which president it is and the name of their animal. Not all the presidents are pictured here, however there are many and you can see first hand how the presidents interact with their animals.
Before Reading Activity:
Before the students begin reading having them complete an anticipation guide. Here the students can identify 3-5 things they hope to learn from this story. This is book where readers learn something about presidents that can not be found in a history book, therefore readers can learn something new.
During Reading Activity:
While the students are reading have them do split page note taking. This way the students can write down the presidents name on one side of the page and things they learned about the president on the other side. This does not need to be for every president, but for the presidents that the readers think are the most important.
After Reading Activity:
As an after reading activity have the students choose 3 Presidents and their pets and fill out the presidential pet work sheet located below the writing activity. This worksheet asks students to identify the President's name, the dates of their term, 2 Facts about the president, 1 accomplishment, their pets name, the type of animal it is, and then ask them to draw a picture of the pet.
Writing Activity:
As a writing activity have the students create a book jacket for the book. The book jacket should include illustrations on the cover. On the inside flap, or the back have the students write a summary of the book and things that other readers will learn while reading it.
presidential_pets_worksheet.pdf |