Presidential Trivia for Presidents' Day (Free Interactive Notebook Activity)

NOTE: Click here for a free downloadable version.

Trivia

1. Dogs, cats and birds have often found a home in the White House.
2. There have also been some unique pets such as John Quincy Adams's pet alligator, Martin Van Buren's two tiger cubs, and James Buchanan's elephant. President Coolidge had a wallaby and a pygmy hippo and Theodore Roosevelt had a lion, hyena, five bears, a piebald rat, and a zebra. Only Presidents Arthur, Fillmore, and Pierce had no pets.
3. President Washington was an avid spelunker (i.e., cave explorer).
4. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only president to be elected four times. The Constitution was later changed to allow only two four-year terms.
5. President Theodore Roosevelt named the Executive Mansion or President's House, the White House.
6. Only President George Washington did not live in the White House. It was opened in 1800.
7. The "Star-Spangled Banner" became the national anthem under President Herbert Hoover.
8. President William Henry Harrison only served one month after taking the oath of office, dying from pneumonia.
9. President Van Buren is said to have started the expression OK, signing paper with his "Old Kinderhook" nickname.
10. Left-handed President James Garfield could write with both hands at the same time and in different languages such as Greek and Latin.
11. President John F. Kennedy was the first president who had been a Boy Scout in his youth.
12. President George W. Bush was appointed President in 2000 by Supreme Court after the election results gave him more electoral votes but his opponent, Al Gore won the popular vote. John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison also won the presidency without winning a majority of the votes.
13. The teddy bear was named after President Theodore Roosevelt.
14. President Richard Nixon was the first president to resign his presidency over a scandal called Watergate.
15. President Taft became chief justice of the Supreme Court after leaving the White House, saying he preferred this job to that of being President of the United States.
16. Gerald Ford was the only president of the United States to not be elected by the people. He was appointed vice president by President Nixon and later assumed the office of president when Nixon resigned.
17. President John Quincy Adams liked to swim naked in the Potomac River...in the early morning.

Your Turn

1. Pretend you are the president of the United States. Write a diary entry about a day in your life. Who did you meet in the Oval Office? What issue(s) did you address? Etc.
2. Which president would you like to meet and why? What would you ask this President?
3. What are FOUR characteristics you feel that someone who is president should possess? Why are these characteristics important?

Extension Activities

1. Try this free webquest on the presidents of the United States.
2. Have students illustrate a presidential factoid.
3. Have students share some of their responses from YOUR TURN.

You may wish to check out these resources:

The Election Process! (A Webquest/Extension Activities) - Students will learn about the election process including who the candidates are, requirements to run for office, requirements to vote, the Succession Act, the Electoral College, and more. There are 12 web questions, Did You Know? Comprehension Questions, a teacher page with extension activities, an answer key, and links.

Do YOU Know Your Presidents is a series of three challenges. Each challenge worksheet has 25 questions (with 3 answer choices). The first challenge is the easiest with the third, the hardest.

Did You know that President John Quincy Adams had an alligator, Martin Van Buren had two tiger cubs, and President McKinley's pet parrot could whistle, "Yankee Doodle?" Did you know that President Franklin D. Roosevelt served HOT DOGS to the King of England? Did you know that President Garfield could write with both his right and left hand at the SAME time? These factoids and more can be found in my Presidential Webquest/Extension Activities.

Learn about the White House with 10 informative web questions, comprehension and discussion questions, and several extension activities. Check out all my resources (summaries) in one place.

Gail Hennessey

Visit my website at http://www.gailhennessey.com

Note: Photograph from wpclipart.com