Presidents Day for Omnifile subscribers

Although Presidents Day was originally designed to pay tribute to George Washington, it has often been expanded in recent years to include other presidents, and some states have officially included Abraham Lincoln in Presidents Day.

An article in Scholastic Update, Teachers' Edition, from January 1998, suggests that alongside Washington and Lincoln, the holiday should honor Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

In your library:

Public libraries could run a poll to see which president their local community would like to see alongside Washington and Lincoln in the Presidents Day honor roll. One starting point for this project could be "A Leader From the Start," an article in U.S. News and World Report, June 2009. In this article, the writer discusses five presidents who have had the most far-reaching first 100-day periods in U.S. presidential history.

Elementary school libraries could take ideas from an article in the January-February 2007 edition of Instructor, in which teacher Trina Gunzel describes four of her favorite ideas for students to share what they have learned about Presidents Day.

And for other school libraries, the February 2008 edition of Arts & Activities has an article in which the writer outlines an activity that teaches mainstream and learning-disabled students and adults about the creation of busts throughout art history. The writer points out that holidays like Presidents Day are often over looked by art teachers, when in fact there is a wealth of presidential art material available.