NEA: Presidential Monuments

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Presidential Monuments

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

Subjects: History, Fine Arts, Language Arts, Technology

Grade Levels: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Objectives
Students will:

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

Procedure

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

Part 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:
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.

Part 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.