Presidential Monuments

Subjects

• U.S. History
• Art
• Language Arts
• Technology

Grades

• K-2
• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Brief Description

Students create a new monument for a U.S. president!

Objectives

Students

• define the word monument,
• learn about monuments honoring U.S. presidents,
• design a new monument for a president.

Keywords

president, monument

Materials Needed

• teacher-selected library, textbook, and/or online sources about monuments honoring U.S. presidents
• drawing paper
• pens or pencils
• markers

Lesson Plan

Suggestion: You may want to complete this activity in two lessons.

Lesson 1

• Discuss the meaning of the word monument. Ask students to name some famous monuments in the United States. Ask which of those monuments honor presidents.
• Have students study images of some of the monuments honoring presidents from teacher-selected library, textbook, or online sources. Begin your research with these sites:

  Washington Monument
  Lincoln Memorial
  Thomas Jefferson Memorial
  Mount Rushmore

• Tell students: Imagine you are an artist who has been asked to design a new monument for a president. Which president would you choose to honor with a monument? Why? What kind of image and design would you create for your monument?
• Divide the class into small groups. Distribute drawing paper. Tell students to work together to choose the president for a new monument and create a design for the monument. Tell students to write a short paragraph telling the reason they chose their president and describing the design for the monument. Encourage students to use print and/or online sources for any needed research.

Lesson 2
Have students present their completed designs to the class. Ask the class to choose their favorite designs.

Extension:Let the class choose one design to build as a model. Let students choose the materials for the model.

Assessment

Evaluate students' designs and presentations.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Lois Lewis