1st grade students make George Washington’s favorite breakfast for his birthday
On Wednesday, February 11th, Mrs. Genzel’s 1st-grade class made George Washington’s favorite breakfast to celebrate President’s Day and all of the presidential facts they have learned.
The class has been learning many different presidential facts, via online sources such as Brain Pop Jr. and children’s biographical sites as well as by reading biographies about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, some read by the students and others read aloud by 1st-grade teacher Mrs. Genzel. They learned that George Washington’s favorite breakfast was Indian Hoecakes, which are very much like a pancake, except they were made out of cornmeal instead of flour. The students used the recipe and followed the instructions to make their own Indian Hoecakes using real-life math skills while measuring the ingredients and doubling the recipe. The only difference was that the class had to make theirs on an electric griddle versus the iron skillet that would have been used over an open fire.
The 1st graders decided that George Washington’s favorite breakfast was definitely “fit for a king”. However, they changed that to “fit for a president” when they learned that the colonists wanted Washington to be their first “king” after he helped them win the Revolutionary War. They also learned that Washington was the one that decided we should not have a king, but we should elect a president to help govern the land for the people.
The students each took the recipe home and some of them have already made these Indian Hoecakes for their family. One student even had his mom stop at Publix on the way home to buy the ingredients so they could make them for dinner!
After the event, the students created Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast Abraham Lincoln with George Washington. Next, the 1st graders will write about their Presidents’ Day celebration from a journalist’s point of view documenting the “who, what, where, when, why, and how” of the event.
“Their study of presidents has been integrated with their social studies unit called Our Government, which will culminate with the students doing group projects on ‘Symbols of America’,” said Mrs. Genzel. The students will research an American Symbol and create a poster about it that they will present to the class. The students also finished sharing their very own timelines that they made which coincided with learning about history and biographical timelines.
On March 6th, they have a special secret guest coming to visit them from the past…Thomas Jefferson! He will be dressed in historical attire and will be meeting with Kindergarten and 1st grade together first, then with 2nd and 3rd.
