Planning Ahead: Presidents’ Day
February 10, 2010
Presidents’ Day, originally known as Washington’s Birthday, falls on the third Monday of February. As the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen, the holiday was celebrated on Washington’s actual birthday, February 22. By the mid-1980s, with a push from advertisers, the term “Presidents’ Day” began its public appearance. This day has since expanded the focus of the holiday to honor another President born in February, Abraham Lincoln, and often other Presidents of the United States. Although Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, was never a Federal holiday, approximately a dozen state governments have officially renamed their Washington’s Birthday observances as “President’s Day”, “Washington and Lincoln Day”, or other such designations.
There are many websites to read about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. President Washington is almost universally admired. President Lincoln is viewed from several different perspectives which I won’t go into in this post, but may be worth further study. Below are two sites that interest me and that I will be using on Monday with the kids.
Read about George Washington here.
Read about Abraham Lincoln here.
Now for some activities to help celebrate the day. Dress up like the Presidents of the past with this fun “Powdered Wig“. This looks so easy and fun. We don’t do a lot of crafts in our home but this one has to be done. I just need to run over to the paint store to get the paper painters hats. I think it will be fun for all of us to put on our wigs and read about these two popular Presidents.
If the wig isn’t easy enough, you can fall back on these wonderful coloring pages. I am thankful that I downloaded these last year from the White House Kid’s website. The Obama administration has since removed them from the site. You are free to use and pass them on as long as they are used for personal use and not for profit.
Download a full coloring book of all 41 Presidents:
Download a George Washington coloring page only
Download a Abraham Lincoln coloring page only
Happy Presidents’ Day!!
Original posting February 13th, 2009
Today in History
March 19, 2009
The History Channel website has a page called This Day in History and everyday they will have a quick snippet of what occurred on that particular day in the past.
Today, in 1831 was the first bank robbery in American history! Fun stuff, check it out.
Visit The History Channel; This Day in History
Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States
January 20, 2009
Historical Paper Dolls
January 10, 2009
Get FREE historic paper dolls from Dali. Time periods include the American Revolution, Holidays, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Biblical Times, King Arthur & Knights, Saints, and the Wild West.
“Inspired by her daughter’s love of paper dolls and her own love of history, Veronica Maria launched Paper Dali as a free resource for homeschooling parents. Paper Dali’s collection of free historical paper dolls makes history come alive for students. Paper Dalis can be used for: coloring pages, notebooking, lapbooks, fact sheets and, of course, just playing.”
