So You Want to be President

St. George, Judith. So You Want to be President (2000). Small, David (Illus.). New York, New York: Philomel Books

In this text you learn all the positives and all the negatives that come with being President of the United States. While learning about the positives and the negatives, you also learn a little about each President. Not only do you learn fun facts about each President but you also learn fun facts about all the Presidents, like how many were born in long cabins and how many have the same name.

Connecting to Standards
Grade 2 W (7): Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g. read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations)

• This content standard is met by the students getting into groups and doing research on the description of the president and having to report back to the class 

Grade 2 W (2): Write informative/ explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

• This content standard is met by the students having to write paragraphs about one President of their choice. These paragraphs will be comprised on the information they found when doing research on the President of their choice

Learning Outcomes
After reading this text, students will pick a President to research and will write a paragraph biography about said President with 80% accuracy.

Adapted to Classroom
Prior to reading this text we would discuss the different Presidents of the United States. While discussing the Presidents we would make a time line so that students can visually see when the Presidents where President. While we are making a timeline we would discuss each President, whether that be by watching a video, reading a book, or doing some class research together on said President. During this discussion we would do some class research about the job's the President has, requirements to be President, and just overall important information regarding the President. This research would be done by having students break into groups and pick different categories of information to research on the President

After priming the students with all the information we would read this text. While reading this text we would start by taking a tally of how many students say "yes" or say "no" for wanting to be president. While we are reading the text we would make connections to the research that the students did.

After the read aloud is finished we would retake our poll and see who still wants to be president and who does not want to be President. After taking this poll we would discuss what we read in the text. While discussing this would be when I introduce the project to the children. For the project each student would research one particular President. They would answer research questions and would write a paragraph about the President they picked. These paragraphs would then be hung in the hall with a picture the student picked. 

Bloom's Taxonomy 
What is the name of the house the President lives in? (Knowledge)
In your opinion what is the best thing about the President you researched? (Evaluation) 

Differentiation
One way to differentiated this lesson is by allowing students to work in partners. This will allow students who are ELL or with SPED services to receive extra help from their classmate.
For students who are gifted you can require extra questions for them to answer forcing them to go in depth with research.