Math Activities
- Truman had some farm pets growing up. He remembered a pony he used to ride and a cat that was named Bob because a piece of coal had popped out of the fireplace and burned its tail off. Make a graph of the pets that the students in the class have.
- Compare Truman's height (5'9") to each child's height.
- Truman learned to walk at a fast pace in the military. Tell how Harry took morning walks and show photograph. Have students walk and count their steps for a minute. Compare how many steps they walked to Harry's 120 paces per minute.
- Practice counting to 120.
- If Harry took 120 paces per minute, have students figure out how many he took in 30 seconds, 15 seconds, 10 seconds, and 5 seconds.
- Discuss how Truman was the 33rd president and practice counting using ordinal numbers. (first, second, third...)
- Have students create a "footlocker" of their own with several items that represent them. Have students share them or display them around the room and try to guess what footlocker goes with which student. A replica of Harry's military footlocker with items that represent Harry's life is available from the Truman Library. There is more foot locker information in Resources.