A few weeks ago Miss Bug came home and informed us that she had 2 weeks to complete her 3rd grade President's Day project! She was to choose a President, do some research, write a report, make a puppet and give an oral report to the class --- pretty big assignment if you ask me!!
Anyway, we have had some GREAT conversations over the past few weeks about past Presidents in our house! Since my hub absolutely LOVES this type of thing - he was all about discussing numerous Presidents with her - strategies, votes, decisions, politics, parties... And we also decided to check out a few books from the library including:
Three Presidents Died on the Fourth of July ---- Great book for elementary students! It is full of interesting and quirky facts about our first 25 Presidents!! Do you know which 3 died on July 4th??
So, long story short - Miss Bug decided that she wanted to do her project on President Martin Van Buren. Who???? Yes, he was the 8th President of the United States and in Miss Bug's own words "He did something special for our family!"
We learned that President Van Buren was the first President born in the US - the seven before him were born before the US was separate from Great Britian. He was born in Kinderhook, NY and many of his friends called him "Old Kinderhook." Over time, they formed an "OK" club (for Old Kinderhook) which is where the term OK came from. He served as a US Senator from New York, Governor of New York and then as Vice President with Andrew Jackson. Later he served as President from 1837-1841.
So, you may be wondering what he did for our family that was so special! Here is Miss Bug's last paragraph from her written report:
In the early yearsof the United States, people moved west because if they farmed land they couldown it. The land was given to them from the government. My ancestors moved to our farm and President VanBuren land granted us 80 acres of land in 1837 that we still farm today. I amthe 7th generation on our Kelsay family dairy farm. I think he was agood President because he made good decisions and helped to start our farm. Ithink President Martin Van Buren was OK!
There you have it! Although many people don't know much about President Van Buren - he was very important to our family and what an awesome experience this school project has been with our 3rd grader!!
Oh, and the answer to the question above... The 3 Presidents that died on July 4th were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Monroe!
Happy President's Day!!
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