Lesson: Letters to Presidents

Objective: Students will write a letter to either the current U.S. President or a past President, dead or alive, about questions they might have of that President, advice they might give, or anything else the student is interested in sharing/asking.

Strands: Imaginative, Letter Writing
Content Curriculum Areas: Social Studies, History, Research skills (gathering info on President)

Anticipatory Set: Previous or current studies on particular era or President

Literature Connection: From Jelly Beans to_______________ , by
Letters to Presidents, by

Process:

1) Introduce Unit and Objective (2-3 min.)

2) Brainstorm possible list of Presidents on board to get students thinking (2-3 min.)

3) Teacher gives example of who they would write letter to: (5 min.)

* Franklin D. Roosevelt:
served 3+ terms
Polio (hard time getting around)
President during WWII
Care for poor & less fortunate
Scottie Dog
Worked w/wife Eleanor a lot
Important sayings


4) Teacher shares some examples either from their own letter or from the book Letters to Presidents (5 min.)

5) Students decide which President they want to write to and do research in books provided regarding background/biographical information that might be useful in their letter ( 10 min.)

6) Write rough draft of letter (20 min.,

7) Exchange paper with one peer to read it and give feedback (10-15 min.)

8) Revise letter (5-10 min.)

9) Decorate stationary and rewrite letter nicely on it

10) Voluntary sharing of a few letters.

Materials in Trunk:
  1. Markers and stickers for decorating stationary
  2. Plain white paper (20 bond)
  3. Books & background info

Adaptation Ideas:

  1. Put together a class book containing all the letters & keep it in the classroom
  2. If the class is studying a particular era in history, write a letter to the President at that time regarding the current issues (then this lesson combines history and language arts)
  3. During an election year, the students could write letters to the candidates regarding issues that are most important to them (i.e., education, public services)
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