Pamphlets of the Presidential Homes
By John Bartke

Overview

The White House was only a temporary residence for the forty-one first families.  Before and after their sojourn in Washington they lived elsewhere.  Just as a look at our student's rooms might, the President's homes tell us much about their occupants values, interests, and personalities. 

This lesson will acquaint students with the houses the presidents called home.  In the process, students will learn the personal histories of the presidents and their families while they sharpen their internet and library research skills.  Students will create pamphlets dealing with a home (or homes) that will tell in brief detail the history of the house, the history of the presidential family who lived there, and the president himself.  This pamphlet should be designed in a form that could potentially be used as a 'hand-out' to be given to visitors of the presidential home.  Access to the Internet, while not required, will make the task of completing this project much easier.  Designed for 8 th through 11th grades, this project is quite flexible and may also be adapted for 5th grade students as well.

Objectives

Students will:

  • Research and report on the history of a president and his family
  • Research and report on the house which a president called home
  • Organize a hand-out on the presidential home using and developing lay-out skills to utilize illustration to make the hand-out attractive
  • Use summarization skills and literary economy to include as much information as possible in the limited space provided
  • Develop a report of information in a concise and engaging fashion

Time Required

This lesson should take one class period to explain and model.  Students will need 2-4 hours of research time, depending on the resources available, and 2-4 hours of homework time to complete the layout of the pamphlet.  It is expected that the research and layout time will be outside of class, but lower level classes may require in-class time to help students prepare their brochures.  Some classes may want to take class time for presentations of their pamphlets.

Materials Required

  • Internet access to research a presidential home.  A variety of web pages have been noted below under "Related Works".  A good encyclopedia may also give the information necessary on a few Presidential Home sites.
  • Materials that show presidential biographies
  • The American President videos
  • The American President Biographies
  • Presidential History Gateway sites
  • Encyclopedias and almanacs
  • Other reference books that deal with presidential biographies and/or presidential homes (coordinate this with your school librarian)
  • Paper, pens, pencils, and colored pencils, to create the pamphlet.
  • Historic Site 'hand-outs' from local sites of historic interest to see their layout and the information included.  The National Park Service can provide these to you.
  • Flyers from a local real estate office to show the students what sorts of information are included on these.

Initial Motivation

Show an excerpt of Chevy Chase's "Summer Vacation" film showing a visit to an historic site.  Another option is to distribute real estate flyers to the students and ask them if they would be interested in seeing these houses.  Why or why not?  Ask what would make a visit to an historic site interesting?  Ask students if they have ever visited one of the homes of the presidents.  Tell them that most historic sites have on hand a number of informational pamphlets that let visitors know the history of the site and the people who lived there.  Distribute examples if you have them.  Inform the students that they have been asked to create just such a pamphlet that is to be handed out to visitors at the home of one of the presidents of the United States.  This pamphlet must be short, inexpensive to reproduce, informational, concise, illustrated, and interesting.  Your assignment will be complete when you have produced a pamphlet on one (or more) Presidential Home.

Procedures

1.  Show a model of such a student made pamphlet (after doing this assignment once, you will have many examples to choose from).  Using the model explain the project.

2.  Students will work on their own, or in groups, as designed by the teacher and depending on the grade level.  While working in groups each student should have a specifically assigned task to complete.

3.  Students will then need to do the research on the presidential home site, the presidential family, and the biography of the president.

4.  Students will need to plan out on a single piece of 8 _ x 11 paper a mock-up of the pamphlet they hope to create.

  1. The pamphlet can be a triptych – a three-fold pamphlet using an 8 x 11 sheet of plain white paper.  Hold paper side-ways and fold into threes, much as one would fold a letter to fit nicely inside of a legal-sized envelope.  Other designs can be used if so desired.
  2. The pamphlet should include all of the following:
    • The exact address and phone number of the presidential home site and a map or directions to help visitors get to the home Site
    • The hours the home site is open to visitors
    • An exterior illustration of the house
    • An interior illustration of the house
    • An illustration of the president and/or his family
    • A brief description of both the interior and exterior of the house
    • A brief note as to items of interest in the house or its surroundings
    • A brief biography of the president
    • A brief note about who lived in the house, when it was built, when the president and his family began to live in it, and when it left the possession of the president's family
    • Quotes from the president or his family describing life at home (optional)
    • Other sites related to this president or his family
    • Near-by sites of interest


Some Additional Possibilities

1.  The teacher may want to show a brief section of a Chevy Chase's Vacation film, to show students how many things can go wrong with a trip that is not planned with adequate information.  This might focus the students' attention on making sure their project says everything that needs to be said.

2.  The teacher may, depending on the grade level of students involved, increase the number of research tools available to the student, and the amount of time allocated for this project.  The teacher might also choose to eliminate some of the elements of this project so that it is less time consuming or better matches the students that she/he is working with.

3.  The teacher may ask the students to produce a pamphlet on two different presidents from differing times periods and in differing areas, then ask the students to produce a compare and contrast essay.

4.  The teacher may also ask the student to critically analyze the home of the president:  When was this home used?  Before the president took office or after?  What does this house say about the president and his family?  Is the house an expression of wealth, a refuge for the family, or is it a creative expression of a brilliant mind?  How well is the president reflected in the home in lived in?  How well is the home reflected in the president?

5.  The teacher may ask the student to draw a larger map of the area surrounding the presidential home site.  What other sites might be close by?  What cities, towns, rivers, mountains, and roads surround the home?  What does the broader view of the surrounding areas say about the president and his environment?  How has that environment changed since the president lived there?

6.  The teacher may ask the students to orally present their pamphlet and the information.  Ask the students to convince each other as to why their home site would be the most interesting one to visit.  Which home site would the students most like to visit or take a field trip to?  Why?

7.  The teacher might also ask students to decide which home they would most like to live in.  Why?  How does the presidential home they researched differ from the house they currently live in?  Would they rather live in their current home or in that presidential home site?  Discuss how housing has changed over the years.  What sorts of things are available in homes today that might not have been possible when the president lived in his home?  How has everyday life changed?

8.  The students might also be asked to request a grant of funds to develop the home site further.  Why is this home site worthy of such a grant?  What could be done with extra funds?

Assessment

The final grade on this project should be based on the pamphlet produced, how attractive it is, how interesting it is, how much information the student was able to incorporate, and the extent to which the student was able to demonstrate how the president's home tells us about his values, interests, and personality.  Student generated rubrics would be the most useful because it provides the student with 'ownership' over his/her own grade and how well he/she hopes to do on this assignment.  A model assessment sheet, however, has been provided at the end of this lesson plan. Click here to go to the model form below

A creative suggestion is to display the pamphlets produced by all of the students on a bulletin board and then ask all of the students to vote on which they would consider to have achieved the requirements to the highest level.  A reward, (i.e. free homework pass) could be awarded to the winning individual(s) or group.

Model Rubric: Below you will find a sample rubric that includes the elements of this project.  Although each part is established in a type of 'check-off' list various parts could easily be weighted differently depending on the emphasis and design of the teacher.  This project is designed to be flexible for the needs of each individual teacher and should be easily adaptable.

Additional Resources

In addition to the American President Website and the Presidential History Gateway addresses listed in each of the 41 biographies, a wide variety of Internet sites are listed below that might assist your students who have access to the Internet.  There are, however, many other sites beyond those listed.

Sites on American Presidents
www.americanpresident.org
www.ed.gov/free
www.whitehouse.gov
www.americanpresidents.org
 www.ipl.org/ref/POTUS/dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/History/U_S__History/People/Presidents
www.gl.umbc.edu/~cgehrm1/gpoaframes.html
www.maryland-us.com/uspresidents.htm
www.9starki.com/prez1.htm
ahp.gatech.edu/Default.asp
 www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3594/presidents.html
www.robinsonresearch.com/PRESIDENT/listing.htm
www.usahistory.com/frames.htm
www.uspresidents.org/
www.presidentialexpert.com/
www.theriver.com/TheRiver/Cafe/Calendar/us2pres.html
 www.fujisan.demon.co.uk/USPresidents/preslist.htm

Sites of Presidential Homes
Directory www.cr.nps.gov/history/pres.htm
Washington www.mountvernon.org
Jefferson www.monticello.org
JQ Adams www.kmkelly.com/quincy/
Madison www.montpelier.org/
Monroe departments.mwc.edu/jmmu/www/
Jackson www.thehermitage.com/
Van Buren www.nps.gov/mava/
Tyler  www.sherwoodforest.org/
Polk  www.jameskpolk.com/
Pierce  www.newww.com/free/pierce/pierce.html
Buchanan www.parec.com/state_parks/buchstpk.htm
Lincoln www.nps.gov/lihol/
A. Johnson www.nps.gov/anjo/
Grant  www.ohiohistory.org/places/grantbir/
Hayes  www.rbhayes.org
Garfield www.nps.gov/jaga/
B Harrison www.surf-ici.com/harrison
T. Roosevelt www.fieldtrip.com/ny/
Taft  www.nps.gov/wiho/
Wilson  www.woodrowwilson.org/
Hoover  www.hoover.nara.gov/
Truman www.trumanlibrary.org/
Kennedy www.nps.gov/jofi/
L. Johnson www.Instar.com/mall/txtrails/stonwall.htm
Nixon  www.nixonfoundation.org

Interdisciplinary Connections

This lesson gives the student an opportunity to delve into a wide variety of academic disciplines including: The use of technology, research in history, research skills, writing, illustration, art, lay-out, architecture, historic preservation, public access to information, and more.  A computer programming class could use this activity to design a website for a presidential home.

John Bartke teaches at Littlerock High School in Littlerock, California as well as Chapman University.

 Click here to go to a printable version of the below form

Sample Assessment Form for a
Pamphlet On a Presidential Home Site

Student's Name: ______________________________________  Date: _____________

___ Exact address and phone number
___ Map/Directions
___ Visiting hours

___ Exterior illustration
___ Interior illustration
___ Illustration of the president and/or his family

___ Biography of the president
___ Notes on items of interest in/around home
___ Who lived in this house?
___ When was it occupied?
___ When did it leave presidential family?
___ Attempts to demonstrate president's interests etc.
___ Amount of information on president and family

___ Quotes on the home from the president or his family
___ Other sites related to this president
___ Near-by areas of interest

___ Pamphlet has a good lay-out
___ Pamphlet is attractive
___ Pamphlet is interesting
___ Pamphlet is accurate, succinct, and engaging
___ Artwork originality/creativity