Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for If I Were President will find this post helpful. It includes resource recommendations, free teaching ideas, and information about the book. You’ll have everything you need to deliver engaging interactive read aloud lessons based on this story.
With themes of compassion, this If I Were President picture book by Catherine Stier is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It will be a big hit in your classroom too! Learn more about this book below!
Engage Your Students with If I Were President Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of If I Were President. You can find it in the section below.
- Check out the teaching ideas for reading comprehension strategies, grammar topics and social emotional learning skills that can be taught using this children’s book.
- Download the book companion to make lesson planning simple with If I Were President reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
IF I WERE PRESIDENT SUMMARY
The book If I Were President follows a diverse group of children explaining what their day to day life would be like as president. Students will learn about the events like the State of the Union and presidential duties like signing bills into law. Students will get to hear about the different special experiences that come with being president like throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game or having your own private chef. This book makes a great read aloud before an election or in honor of President’s Day.
IF I WERE PRESIDENT LESSON PLAN IDEAS
Each of our 400+ Starts With a Story book companions come with a teacher’s guide to make lesson planning quick and easy, printable worksheets and digital resources that cover ALL of the standards-based reading comprehension skills.
When it comes to writing lesson plans and finding activities for If I Were President, we’ve already done all of the heavy lifting for you.
We found this book was especially good at teaching the topics listed below.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
The text-based If I Were President reading comprehension questions focus on:
- summarize/retell
- analyzing illustrations
- ask and answer questions
- identifying genre
- identifying theme, message, and moral
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- compassion
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- articles
- verb tense
- multiple meaning words
- adjectives
IF I WERE PRESIDENT ACTIVITIES
You’ll receive all of the following resources aligned to the story:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
YOU HAVE 2 OPTIONS! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK COMPANION?
BOOK INFO FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
What are the reading levels for If I Were President?
- Lexile® Measure: NC860L
- Guided Reading Level: T-U
- DRA Level: 44
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 5.5-5.8
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Catherine Stier. It was illustrated by Diane DiSalvo-Ryan.
What genre is If I Were President?
It is a fiction book. You may want to check out our genre activities or read our blog post, How to Teach Genre to Elementary Students.
How many pages are in the book?
The story is 32 pages long.
