132 Presidents and American Symbols: Supplemental Guide 8A | Barack Obama
Presenting the Read-Aloud 10 minutes
Barack Obama
Show image 8A-1: Barack Obama elected president
Do you know who this is?[Pause for student responses.]
This is Barack Obama. He is the forty-fourth president of the United
States. Show image 8A-2: Crowd celebrates Obama election
There are always big celebrations when a new president is elected.
But this time, people were celebrating something more than a new
president. They were also celebrating the election of the first African
American as president of the United States. Before this, no person of
color had ever been elected president.[Point out Illinois on a U.S. map. Tell students that Chicago is a big city in
Illinois.]
In Chicago, where Barack was living at the time, almost a million
people went out in to the streets to celebrate. Some of them waved
flags. Some blew party horns and danced in the streets. Some cried
for joy. And many said three words over and over: “Yes, we can!” Show image 8A-3: Map of Hawaii and Kenya
Barack came from a humble background. Barack came from a plain
and simple background and had worked very hard to reach his dream
of becoming president of the United States.[Point to the island of Hawaii.]
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii. Hawaii is one of the fifty United
States, but it is not connected to any of the other states. It is an island
in the Pacific Ocean.[Point to Kansas on a U.S. map.]
Barack’s mother was from Kansas.[Point to Kenya, Africa, on the image and on a world map or globe.]
His father was from Kenya.