Frances Folsom Cleveland, the wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to daughter Esther in the White House in 1893.

Frances Cleveland, First Lady to President Grover Cleveland, was the youngest First Lady ever to grace the White House and the first to bear a child in that historic building. Married in 1886 at age 21 to the sitting president, 27 years her senior, Frances Cleveland took to the role of White House hostess with charm and grace well beyond her years. When Cleveland lost his bid for reelection two years later, the Clevelands moved back to New York, where Frances gave birth to their first child in 1891, a daughter named Ruth. Only a year later, in a surprising and unprecedented political race, Cleveland regained the office of United States President; the family moved back into the White House, where second daughter Esther was born in 1893. While not the first infant born there—that was Thomas Jefferson's grandson James Randolph Madison—Esther was the first child of a president to be born in the White House.

EDSITEment
In the EDSITEment unit What Happens in the White House? (3–5), students view images of former Presidents living and working in the White House. They use primary source materials to learn about the different functions that the White House serves.

A second lesson in the series, What Has Happened in the White House? (3–5), helps students explore historic events that have occurred at or directly affected the White House.

In the unit From the White House of Yesterday to the White House of Today (3–5), students take a close look at the design of the White House and some of the changes it has undergone. They also reflect on how the "President's House" has been and continues to be used.

Students explore the role and impact of recent First Ladies through research and family interviews, then work in groups to present a documentary portrait to the class in Women in the White House (6–8).

Science NetLinks
Taking Care of a Baby (K–2) introduces young students to the basics of how a baby grows inside its mother until its birth. They then consider and discuss the birthing process. The third part of the lesson focuses on the early years of infancy, in which students are prompted to think about the kinds of basic needs infants have and the critical role adults play in ensuring a baby's healthy physical, emotional and cognitive development.

What Happens in the First 9 Months? (6–8) is designed to familiarize students with the stages of human development during pregnancy. While only an introduction to the complexities of the topic, the lesson helps enhance students' studies by providing them with the chance to explore human development using Internet resources that contain text, drawings, photos and video about human development.

ReadWriteThink
Young students respond to a read-aloud of a book about a new baby in the family in Text Talk: Julius, the Baby of the World (K–2). The text talk strategy in this lesson provides students with open-ended questions, which allow them to interpret the language, plot and characters of the story.