Presidents
of the
United States

WebQuest

Designed by Melanie Lewis
bookladymel@yahoo.com

Lesson Plan

 
 
INTRODUCTION

You and your partner are free lance book authors and have been hired by a large publisher to write a reference book for elementary aged children. Your job is to research your president and answer the questions on the sheet provided. You were immediately excited about this topic as there have been only 43 men that have served as president. The editor wants you and your partner to use your reference skills to uncover some unusual facts on the president that you are researching. It is very important that you have a complete and accurate bibliography at the end of your project.

The group will need to use at least 4 reference sources (web pages, books, and reference books) when searching for your information. This is your chance to prove your abilities and knowledge of reference sources. This could be a big break to get a permanent job with the publisher.

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TASK

Your task is to create a Power Point Presentation that will tell interesting and unusual facts about an American President. Your writing, research, and product will be from the viewpoint of an elementary school student. You will 'be' the author.

Your presentation will have at least one picture of your President captured from the Internet. Each slide in the presentation will include several facts. You can include illustrations and/or backgrounds to add 'fluff' to your presentation, but remember, your content is most important.

 

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PROCESS

Your group will create a 5 slide presentation on your President using Microsoft Power Point.

  • Slide 1 ~ Title Slide including name of the President and picture and your names.
  • Slide 2 ~ Informational
  • Slide 3 ~ Informational
  • Slide 4 ~ Informational
  • Slide 5 ~ References ~ including all reference sources used in proper format

Step 1:

Choose an assignment with the name of your President. On your activity sheet will be the following questions for you to answer.

Name of President

  • Picture of the President and additional pictures which reflect events in his life. (These are to be saved on your computer.) Date of birth and death (if deceased)
  • Place of birth
  • Name of wife or wives
  • He belonged to which political party?
  • Which college or university did he attend?
  • What was his occupation before he became president?
  • What years did he serve as President?
  • What was his nickname?
  • List three interesting facts about his presidency.

All of your work will be done in the library.

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Step 2:

Search the Internet for information on the sites supplied in this Web Quest. Be sure to include all of the information on your assignment sheet for later reference. You bibliography will be graded.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/

http://www.americanpresident.org/history/h_home.shtml

http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/3_frame.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/

President Truman's Library

Presidnet Franklin D. Roosevelt

George H. W. Bush Library

Ronald Reagan Library

Richard Nixon Library

Lyndon B. Johnson Library

James E. Carter Library

Dwight Eisenhower Library

John F. Kennedy Library

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Step 3:

Search two reference sources in the library. You can use encyclopedias, biographical dictionary, and/or books in the history or biography section. Keep all of your notes on your handout for easy reference. (Remember: When using history books you need to search in index for your President.)

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Step 4:

Use your storyboard to organize your research and prepare for your Power Point Presentation. Be sure that you have answered all the questions on the worksheet before your make your storyboard.

Step 5

Design your presentation using Microsoft Power Point. Be sure to have answered all questions on your assignment sheet before beginning the presentation. Have a copy of the rubric so that you can meet all of the assessment areas.

     
     

 

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EVALUATION

Your Microsoft PowerPoint slide show will be presented by you to the class and will be evaluated using the following rubric by the teacher. Please go to that site and view it out so that you KNOW what I am expecting.

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CONCLUSION

When you have finished this project you will have proved your ability to do research in several different mediums and display your final project. You will also have proved your ability to do a bibliography witch will also be graded. I hope that you have enjoyed this project!

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©2003 Melanie Natal-Lewis All Rights Reserved Last Updated March 26, 2007
Bonne Ecole Elementary Library
900 Rue Verand Slidell, LA 70458 (985)643-5068