American History Game Using U.S. Presidents Biographies Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The American History Game Using Presidential Biographies by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

It is sometimes easier to remember events in American history, if you learn them through the lives of American presidents. 

This game will teach you to research items in history and analyze what you find as answers.

Objective:  Gain knowledge you need to be a president who enriches the American people of all ethnicities and defends the nation.


Nota bene:  What is true of presidents is true of leaders in fashion, show business, and publishing almost always.

Use resources such as the following to do your research:

-The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events by Bernard Grun

-Presidents Fact Book: The Achievements, Campaigns, Events, Triumphs, and Legacies of Every President from George Washington to the Current One by Roger Matuz and Bill Harris (Editor)

-World Book Encyclopedia – available at most public libraries

-Presidents of the U.S. – whitehouse.org

-Presidential Documents, the U.S. Presidents, and Presidential Libraries

archives.gov

-Presidential Places in the National Parks

nps.gov

Level 1 – Basic Fact Bank

-In a notebook or journal, note the following:

-Write down the full name of the president

-Write down which number the president is

-Write down the president’s birthplace

-Write down the president’s birth year

-Write down the president’s death year

-Write down where the president is buried

-Write down where the president has his library

Note:  Presidential sites and libraries are interesting to visit:

-      to see what kind of communities a president grew up in

-      to see what kind of education he was able to receive

-      to see exhibits of the achievements of his term (s) in office.)

Level 2 – Read about the President from a Variety of Sources

-Write down 5 – 10 of his achievements

-Of these achievements, are any still in place today?

Level 3 – Domestic and International Threats to National Security

-From your readings about the president, note any problems that the United States had due to his presidency domestically or internationally

-Were these problems caused by him or opposition to him by the opposing political party?

Level 4 – The Health of US Commerce under this President

-What did this president do to promote commerce?

-List 5 – 10 achievements

-Are these achievements still in place?

-Use historical statistics to back up your claim

-Are this president’s achievements in commerce still in place?

-Are Americans today richer or poorer due to this president’s accomplishments?

-If the president’s achievements did not endure, examine why.

Level 5 – Wars Fought During the President’s Tenure

-Were any wars fought during this president’s term in office?

-Did the U.S. win or lose territory as a result of this war?

-How much money did the U.S. spend on this war? Look at various budget pots

-Were these wars officially declared by Congress?

-Were treaties signed to end the War(s) or Conflicts?

-What does the original treaty look like?

-What members of government or their family members had shares in weapons manufacturers?  The proverb runs, “Perpetual warfare is profitable.”

Do some weapons firms sell to both sides in a conflict?

Level 6 – Life of the Underrepresented Throughout American History

-What was the life of women, children, and minorities like under the president?

-For minorities, separate your analysis into treatment of men, women, and children for each ethnic group present in the U.S. at the time.

-What parts of the U.S. were the minorities located in?  What countries and regions in these countries did people come from?

Level 7 – Lessons Learned

-What did you learn about being a president from your analysis of this president?

-The Chinese say everyone is a teacher, even bad people for their bad example, so give some evidence for your opinions and how they might make you a better leader.

Level 8 – Presidential Contenders

Who were the main presidential contenders to run against each president?

Make the following data bank:

-the number of each president such as #1 for George Washington

-the president’s name

-the years for the terms the president served

-the president’s educational background – subjects studied, degrees obtained, and names of educational institutions

For each presidential contender, note:

-the contenders’ names

-the contenders’ party affiliation

-the contenders’ educational background

Level 9 – Election Platforms

What were the 5 most important points on each contenders’ platform?

How did the contenders’ platforms differ from the president’s?

Level 10 – What is the immigrant ancestry for each president and presidential contender?

Most people have more than one immigrant ancestor.

Look at women in the family for hidden ancestry.

Level 11 – Ancestry, Economic Policy, and Trade Preferences

How might the immigrant history of each president’s ancestors and contenders’ ancestors affect their economic and trade policies?

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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Global Trade Game that Promotes US Industry Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The Global Trade Game that Promotes US Industry by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Resources for this Game.  (You do not need to use all of them, but you should know how these resources work):

- Online CIA Factbook, which lists all countries of the world

- UN Statistics Division - unstats.un.org

- You Eat What You Are by Thelma Barer-Stein, which describes the cuisines of many countries of the world.  This book is old, but it reminds people of how important it is to have protein-carbohydrate-vegetable meals.

- Google Maps feature

- U.S. Geographical Service – usgs.gov

- State websites with Chamber of Commerce listings

- U.S. Department of Commerce – commerce.gov

 Google Microphone – learn to correctly pronounce all foreign words, especially people’s names

- The Lonely Planet World Travel Book

For Each Country of the World do the Following:

1 – Develop a strategy for making each country self-sufficient in food based following the principles of their traditional diet. 

Are there substitute crops that could be sold planted? 

Could the US sell seeds, agricultural equipment, and agricultural consulting services there?

Outline your analysis in a journal and discuss with your family your ideas before taking action. 

Can your food self-sufficiency plan still allow the country to produce products that the World Bank could finance, for example?

2 – Analyze What Food Storage and Cooking Products are Needed at the Most Basic Level that could be initially sold to the country and then produced there through subsidiary:

These items could include:

-plastic bins to keep dry goods dry

-cookstove

-pots

-pans

-utensils

-cutlery

-hot pads, napkins, tablecloths

-cleaning brushes

-plastic wash tubs

-knives

3 – Look at the Seed Resources, Livestock Breeding Resources, and Educational Resources in Your State

Could any of these resources or consulting services about these industries be sold to the country you are working on that would help make them self-sufficient in food?

Are any trade restrictions imposed by the US government that could prevent trade with that country?  Check with the US Department of Commerce and your state congresspeople.

4 – Look at the geography of the country you are analyzing:

Are there transportation items we could sell the country to help with food, clothing, and shelter in different areas of the country?

5 – Look at Educational Facilities in the Country:

Are there any needs the country has for trainers in teaching people how to type or use computers? Or, work on assembly lines or with statistics?

6 – What is the Communications Infrastructure in the Country Like?

Could your state sell them telecommunications products?

7 – Do a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat Analysis) for the Country You are Working on for sales of the following items:

-cooking items

-food storage needs

-transportation needs (many hi-tech trains run on tracks from the 19^th century)

-housing needs such as mobile homes or products such as insulation, paint, and/or Venetian blinds

8 – For Threats, how could trades with this country lower terrorism threats?

9 – What kinds of recycling consulting services and/or machines could your state offer to the country you are studying?

10 – What kinds of basic sanitation products and educational consulting services could your state offer the country you are studying?

11 - When you have done all of the above for every country in the world read Beyond the World Bank Agenda: An Institutional Approach to Development by Howard Stein.

Do a 5-page summary on Stein's book.  

Then, write a pro or con book review on whether or not you agree with Stein's book based on the research you have just done.

Keep your notes in a journal to discuss with your family.

Game Created by Ruth Pennington Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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French Dictation Teas in Anjou (France) Game by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

French Dictation Teas Game by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget 

I learned abut French Dictation Teas in the Anjou region of the Loire Valley when my family visited one of our relatives’ homes in the town of Saumur (France).

Saumur is a town located on one of the tributaries of the Loire River.  The town is home to the Cadre Noir Equestrian School, Quarts de Chaume and Bonnezeaux wine vineyards, and Crémant de Loire sparkling wine outlets.

Saumur is most famous as the setting for the de Balzac’s novel Eugénie Grandet.  (This novel has also been made into a film.)  There are “troglodyte” cave homes along the river decorated with window boxes of red geraniums dangling against the white rock of the hills.

I learned from our family member that senior ladies gathered for a cup of tea and cookies every week to this day to do their weekly tea dictation party, which is run as follows:

The leader chooses a paragraph from 3 different literary works by authors usually poets.  The rhythm of poetry preserves the French language best.

Before guests come to the leader’s home for the tea, the leader makes sure that she can correctly pronounce all the words in the three passages.

The leader also uses punctuation as an aid for listeners’ to better understand the passage.

On the day of the Dictation Tea, the group leader reads the first paragraph as guests listen.

Then, the guests ready their pens to write their weekly exercise to preserve the French language.  Each time the Germans have invaded and occupied France, French school children were made to learn German at school.  These Dictation Teas helped preserve the language in these circumstances.

The leader reads one sentence in the passage slowly as participants write the passage.  When the participants are done writing, the leader repeats the sentence allowing the participants to grammatically correct their sentences.

When that sentence is done, the leader goes on to the next sentence and repeats the process for the next sentence.

The leader continues this process until the paragraph is finished.

As a final step, the leader reads the paragraph again slowly, so participants can do their final edits to the paragraph.

The next step is for the participants to compare the edits they made and have a recorder (secretary) make a final copy of the paragraph that is the group or team project.

Then, the leader hands out a copy of the paragraph with a note about the source (title of the book where the paragraph came from, author, and the date of the publication) to correct against the team’s paragraph.

The group goes over the original text versus the copy the participants produced to correct the group paragraph.  This little game helps participants keep French grammar, pronunciation, and literature in the Anjou and Touraine regions standard.

The group leader and participants then repeat this process for the next two paragraphs chosen by the leader.

At the very end, the leader reads the Dictation of Mérimée for fun.  (See my blog on this dictation on the Savvy Mom Ruth Paget website for information about this dictation.)

The group attendees see how many errors they made on this dictation once the leader finishes reading it.  The participant with the fewest mistakes gets to be Prince Richard Klemen von Metternich, the Austrian diplomat, who beat Napoleon by making fewer mistakes than Napoleon did on this dictation.

I am not sure if this is traditional, but I would make the dictation winner, the player who leads off a card game of euchre, which is also called Napoleon.

The French Dictation Tea can be used with children and teens to teach French pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and the rhythm of the French language.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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