Ever seen this handout that helps you memorize the US presidents?
December 15, 2014 7:24 PM   Subscribe

As an elementary schooler during the early 1990s, I was tasked with memorizing all the US presidents. The instructor provided an illustrated handout that was supposed to help us remember the names in order by using mnemonic devices and sound-alikes. I would LOVE to see this handout again! Description inside.

As best I can remember, it was one horizontal page of paper with a full-page, black and white line-drawing type illustration separated into a top row and a bottom row. Each president had its own illustration: Washington was represented by a lady washing a ton of clothes. Adams was represented by an Adam's apple. Jefferson was, I believe, a lady next to a man with a nametag that said "Jeff" - he was Jeff, her son. Garfield was a car in a field. Taylor was a tailor. Buchanan was a cannon. McKinley was a pile of kindling. Kennedy was a can of Ds (like the letter D). I think Reagan was a ray gun.

All the illustrations kind of flowed into one another; they weren't separated into individual boxes or anything. They also weren't labeled with the names of the presidents - at best, there was the occasional word, like the Washington clothes weight said "1000lbs" on it. Given the time frame, I think it ended with Bush Sr.

I spent a LOT of time with this piece of paper as a second grader, and I still mostly remember the order of the presidents, largely in part to this handout, so I'd love to see it again if possible. There's of course the off-chance that this was created locally or something, but it seemed like the sort of thing a teacher would be able to photocopy out of a book to pass out to kids. (This was in North Idaho, in case it's relevant.)

Does anybody remember this or have a copy of it?
posted by meggan to Education (5 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Was it this? Source is the Ready, Set Remember by Jerry Lucas.

Second ten, Third ten, and
It ends with fourth ten. This ends with Carter though.
posted by flicken at 8:02 PM on December 15, 2014 [5 favorites]


Response by poster: Got it in one!!! I am so excited. Thanks!
posted by meggan at 8:10 PM on December 15, 2014


For what it's worth, there's a very similar book (also with goofy pictures to help one remember) with a two-page spread for each president, and part of the prior president's picture plays a role in the next one. It's called Yo, Millard Fillmore! (And all those other Presidents you don't know.)

For example, the big washing machine on the White House lawn is Washington, but in the next, we see atoms (Adams) sudsing up in the machine, followed by a chef helping his kid cook a frying pan of those atoms (chef's son=Jefferson; it's not perfect), followed by a close up of the underneath of the grill on which the frying pan lay, and there's an angry sun under there (mad sun=Madison). I can't tell if Ready, Set, Remember also has biographical information about the presidents and their presidencies, but Yo does, along with quizzes, in case someone wants to invest in both.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 10:35 PM on December 15, 2014


meggan, if you like these things I can vouch for the Ready Set Remember book of state capitals! I never had the president book but I did have the state capitals book, learned them all by the time I entered first grade, and was paraded around the elementary school by my teacher showing off my skill to the older kids. (To shame them, I expect.) They're great mnemonic books!
posted by phunniemee at 5:39 AM on December 16, 2014


First link has an error with no Clinton.
posted by brent at 6:44 AM on December 16, 2014


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