Feature the WHITEHOUSE website at http://www.whitehouse.gov as part of your President’s Day activities.
The Whitehouse website is organized into five major sections that are easy to access and use.
The Briefing Room section features timely information about the President’s activities and public statements. Think about ways that proclamations and executive orders could be integrated into informational reading activities related to language arts and social studies.
The Issues section examines key issues facing the nation and plans for addressing these challenges. Economy, education, energy and the environment, immigration, and health care are a few of the hot topics addressed. This page would be an excellent way to kick off information inquiry projects that make use of contemporary primary source documents.
The Administration section highlights the key people in the Obama-Biden administration. It also includes information about the Offices of the White House and current initiatives such as Let’s Move!
The Participate section encourages the public to participate in White House activities including Google+ Hangouts known as We the Geeks. Follow the Whitehouse on social media including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and others. This is an excellent activity to promote digital citizenship in your library.
The 1600 Penn section is a content-rich resource for learning about the US government, the Whitehouse, and the presidency. Of particular note is the excellent database of American Presidents at http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents.
To learn more, go to the Whitehouse website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/.
