Thematically Planning--President's Week

You know those quotes that stick with you...the really important ones? 

The ones we find most meaningful?

At the I Teach 1st conference Cara referenced a quote in one of her sessions that blew my mind.

"97% of students will retain information if it is taught thematically."

Then what on earth have I been doing the last four years!

Operation: change how I teach

So of course, I came back from the conference and have been planning out our weeks thematically ever since. It makes the weeks more fun and more engaging for the kids.

I do believe their brains pick up on more as they are hearing it all throughout our day!

This last week we learned about the President, well because we were off for President's Day. 

Hello! I'm sure they had absolutely NO idea WHY there was no school Monday. 

So I read a short little mini book on President's Day.

Intrigued they were, so I went on to introduce our poem for the week. 

During whole group reading time, we read a book called If I Were The President.

My kiddos LOVE telling me their schema so that's what we recorded first.

I  gave them 3 minutes to record 3 things in their schema about the president. 

We came together to share then we read the book. 

This is a great book because it has kid-friendly facts and terms. 

{book pictured below}

We recorded our new learning together and then on their paper. 

Throughout the week, we read several other fiction books.

We made connections to Arthur Meets the President.

We made our campaign posters after reading Grace for President.

We held our election after Reading Duck for President.

Once students were well aware of the many jobs of the president, we held a class election.

They were pumped!!!

Step 1: hang campaign posters around the room

Step 2: make voter registration cards

Step 3: vote!

Step 4: count votes and make pictograph

Step 5: declare a winner, graph results and tabulate data

We also incorporated writing into this day of fun.

After I was declared the official winner {what can I say--they LOVE me}, we pretended they were chosen as the president!

"I would play with my dog. Sign bills. I would make laws and rules to help people." 

Let me just say that I packed a lot into their little brains and LOTS of it stuck!

If you stayed tuned in this long, I've managed to throw in a FREEBIE for you loyal thing you!

Snag this with most of the templates (that I created) seen on this post in my TpT store!

As I began to think about our theme for next week, I based it off of our science unit: Objects in the Sky. I found several fiction and non-fiction books, scoured Pinterest for relate-able craft ideas, and pulled in as many other things I could--like our poem and math unit on time.

Check back at the end of next week for more on how week 2 of thematic planning went!