Presidents Day is celebrated in February, so it’s the perfect time to have your students write President Bio Poems. This lesson is also a great way to sneak a little research and creative writing into your social studies curriculum!
Bio Poems Made Easy is a teaching resource I created several years ago to teach students how to write bio poems about themselves, and it can easily be adapted and used in many different content areas. Bio Poems Made Easy can be found in my TpT store, but it also happens to be free for my email subscribers. (Click the Freebies link in the menu to sign up.) This lesson includes complete directions for the basic poetry writing assignment, as well as two graphic organizers for brainstorming and planning. For this activity, I created a President Bio Poem graphic organizer with the specific categories needed for this assignment.
Before this lesson, download and print one copy of the free President Bio Poem graphic organizer for each student, and write the names of well-known presidents on slips of paper.
To start the lesson, ask each student to draw out the name of a president and write that name on the line at the top of the graphic organizer. Follow the suggested lesson plan described in Bio Poems Made Easy, but tell your students they will be writing bio poems about their presidents instead of about themselves. They will start by filling out the boxes on the graphic organizer using information they learn through research. This task involves quite a bit of higher level thinking, because students not only have to gather information, they have to analyze what they’ve learned to decide where to write their facts. Specifically, they will be searching for information in these categories:
Completing the graphic organizer might be a bit of a challenge for some kids, so you may want to let your students work in partners. They can each conduct their own research and then collaborate to complete the form and write the poem. After students complete their poems, they can also create “word clouds” to display with their poetry. Be sure to allow time for students to share with the class!
If your students haven’t written a bio poem before this lesson, it’s best to have them write bio poems about themselves first. You can find complete directions and printables in Bio Poems Made Easy. This resource is available in my TpT store, but it’s also free for my email subscribers. If you’d like a free copy, click the Freebies link in the menu and and sign up for my email list. Then check your inbox for a welcome message with a link to a page with over 75 free teaching resources.
Did you know that Presidents Day is not the official name of the holiday? It’s actually George Washington’s Birthday! Over time, the public began to refer to the holiday as one that honored all the presidents which has caused confusion about its correct spelling. Many refer to it as Presidents Day (without an apostrophe), but others insist that the plural possessive form, Presidents’ Day, is the correct way to spell it because it refers to more than one president. But does it? If the holiday officially honors George Washington, maybe it should be the singular possessive form, President’s Day! How do YOU spell this holiday? The good news is that whatever spelling you use, no one can say that you’re wrong!
