Thursday, January 18, 2007

Left-Hander of the Day . . .

James Garfield.

Here is what Yo, Millard Fillmore has to say about him:

Garfield was the third president in a row to have been a general during the Civil War. Part of a President's job in those days was to personally appoint people to government positions. Garfield was assasinated in Washington's Union Station by a man he'd refused to hire. Andrew Jackson was the first President to have been born in a log cabin. Garfield was the last. He was also the first sitting member of the House of Representatives to be elected President. Our first left-handed Chief Executive, Garfield could write simultaneously in Latin in one hand and Greek in the other.

Wow. Just wow. Jonathan is my only left-hander so far, so I guess he's the only one with a chance at accomplishing this feat. LOL!!! Just kidding. I don't think we'll be spending too much time on "simultaneous writing".

We are coming right along in memorizing the Presidents. We are going through the Millard Fillmore book, but more just for fun. I memorized the Presidents in 4th grade, and my teacher just broke them down into groups of 3 (Washington, Adams, Jefferson . . . Madison, Monroe, Adams . . .). We added a new group every few days, and it worked great. So that's what we're doing here. Today was "Hayes, Garfield, Arthur", hence the fascinating trivia about a little-known President. You're all very welcome.

1 comment:

mattkimuber said...

I enjoyed the little bit of trivia. I can't wait to get to teach history to my kids. I know I will be learning right along with them. Would you be surprised to learn that I never had to learn the Presidents? At least I don't recall having to learn them; if that is not a telling statement. Happy teaching!!!!