In 2024, the United States elected its 47th president. There’s a lot of history to cover. While students may not need to memorize all of the U.S. presidents, knowing who the presidents are and having a reference tool they can use to research these important figures in U.S. history is helpful. It’s your gateway to learning more about government, U.S. history, and more. Use the U.S. Presidents Chart as a handout for your students or print it poster size and display it in your classroom to help students learn about each president.
Why tell the President of the United States?
The President of the United States is the highest-ranking official in this country and the most powerful person in the country and the world. The president of the United States shapes what happens in the world and changes what happens here at home. Because the presidency is a unique office, not something like a king or emperor, but one that shaped the U.S. government as we know it today, it is important for students to understand the role of the president and the personalities that have shaped him over the years. It’s important to understand.
US President Trivia
To get your students thinking about U.S. presidents, here are some fun facts about presidents in general.
The most common first name for US presidents is James. To date, six presidents have been named James. Virginia is the home state with the most presidents. Eight presidents were from Virginia. The youngest presidents were Theodore Roosevelt (42 years old) and John F. Kennedy (43 years old). The oldest presidents (at the time of election) are Donald Trump (78 years old) and Joe Biden (78 years old). The shortest-serving president was William Henry Harrison, who served for 31 days. The longest-serving president was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served for 12 years. Many historians agree that Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were the “best” presidents.
How to use the US presidential chart
You can use the U.S. presidential chart as a reference, print it poster-sized and hang it on your wall, but that’s just the beginning. Use the letter-sized printable U.S. Presidents Chart for these fun activities. Perfect for social studies, President’s Day, election year, and more.
Participate in a mock discussion
If there’s one thing a president must do, it’s debate. Divide students into pairs. Each student chooses a president. (Make sure no two students have the same president.) Students then conduct a mock debate. Have students create a statement specific to the president.
What were the main issues of their time? What did each person represent? What was important to them? What was their party platform?
Next, have students share what they have learned, one at a time, and the class votes for their chosen “president.”
Assign Presidential Biography
Assign a president and have students complete a biography of that president. Some ideas about presidential biographies:
Write a speech and give a speech as if you were this president. Create a campaign poster. Create a social media account and create 5 posts for this president. Create a timeline of this president’s life. How does their timeline overlap with the lives of other presidents? Which presidents were children while this president was in office?
Create a presidential timeline
Use notecards to research and create a timeline of the United States. Put each president’s term on a timeline. Next, analyze your timeline to see:
Who was the president in each major war? Who served as president during major events such as emancipation, the civil rights era, and 9/11? Who was the president when your town or city was founded? Who was the president when your teacher was born?
make a picture book about the president
Assign each student a president and have them create a picture book about the president. Next, work together with the lower grades to read the picture book aloud to the lower grades. Keep your students’ books in the classroom library with a picture book biography set of presidents.
Additionally, check out our presidential books for the classroom.
Why is each president important?
For this activity, ask each student to choose a lesser-known president (for example, not Lincoln or Washington) and find out what that president accomplished. How would America be different if he were not president? How would the world be different if they had not become president? Students use presentation slides to present what they have learned.
Play the Presidential Trivia Game
Use the US Presidents Chart to find interesting facts about each president. Next, create a presidential trivia game that you can play all year long.
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Get your free printable US presidential chart
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