Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2022
Women in History Month Biographies
Did you know March is Women in History Month?! We have been working on Biographies A LOT, because it is such a great and easy way for kids to have CHOICE in their writing/research. See my last few posts about Biographies! If you are not on the Biography train, don't worry. You can still celebrate some AMAZING Women and their contributions to history.
I have these amazing Women in History Bubbleheads. Over 50 women to choose from to write research and use character traits. A character trait dictionary is included. You can use this to supplement research, as a culminating project, or a partner quick research. Those are just some ideas on how to use this. I left some resources below on websites, books, and dates.
The bundle below includes a lapbook for women in biography research that you can use to help assist you in looking for all the facts for your project. I love the lapbook because it aids students in the process and they know which steps they need to complete.
I love this book series for biographies. It is the Who Was... I call it the Bobblehead series because they look like bobbleheads on the front of the books. These books are awesome for a print source for research. They won't have every biography, but there are alot out in print.
Some great websites to try!
- https://www.womenshistory.org/ (A great website about different women and their contributions to history!
- https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/womens-history-month
- (Great resource for elementary students to explain what it is and how it started!)
- https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/topic/women-heroes (Great biographies on Women Heroes!)
Some Important Dates for this month:
- The National Woman's Party was formed in March 1917. The group was dedicated to getting women the right to vote.
- March 1st: Title IX was passed in 1972
- March 3rd: The first major march on Washington by suffragists happened on this date in 1913.
- March 8th: International Women's Day Itwas established as a holiday in 1911.
- March 22nd: The Equal Rights Amendment was passed in 1972.
Have a great month celebrating women and all their accomplishments both past and present!
Sunday, February 6, 2022
Biography Black History Resources for DIGITAL and PRINT to use in your Classroom!
February is Black History Month and it's always my go to month to introduce a research project. Students have learned most of their writing skills to begin a project like this and it is great for ANY age level. You can tailor the research to be as in depth as you would like.
Here are the steps I follow for Biography Research. If you want to skip ahead to the resources, I totally get it! BUT here's a quick guide if you need!
1.THINK about what you want the END product to be for your students. Would it be one paragraph of writing, a paper with multiple paragraphs, or a culminating project at the end? Maybe it is a combination of all three, but you will want to think about this before you assign your project and/or research.
2. INTRODUCE the project and have students choose their biography focus from a list! I have a HUGE comprehensive list in my Black History Bubbleheads packet.
Here is also a list of a few: https://theundefeated.com/features/the-undefeated-44-most-influential-black-americans-in-history/#introduction
3. GATHER materials for research! Local librarians can pull books for you, as well as your school librarian if you have one. I ALWAYS like my students to have a PRINT resource AND a digital one (minimum) for any age.
I LOVE this book series for grades 2-5 depending on reading level! It won't have all of your research people, but it's a great start!
Here are some other websites that you may like. Remember your school usually subscribes to some databases for you, so ask about those, as well as local library!
(A great website for information! You can search by person! It gives you a SHORT bio, as well as the source information for you. Better suited to older kids for the amount of text)
(Great website! Visit Explore- History- African American Heroes if it doesn't take you there. Great for little kids with short text! It doesn't have everyone, so you may want to see who this website has first!
Great website for some video research information! Check out the Elementary video section that has videos on certain people! It's quite a few!
Great list of other books that you may want to check out for read alouds!
Short list of Black History Biographies, but breaks information down into sections! Again, not everyone is listed, but an option for you depending on what access you have to a database. You could even have students research one person together as a class (for example Martin Luther King) to see what information you want them to gather!
Here is a FREE graphic organizer I found:
You could use this as a template to tailor it how you would like students to take notes and print it OR use as a template in Google Docs.
5. CHOOSE a project! Check out the Bubbleheads for an EASY project during or after the biography research. You can have them focus on character traits for their Black History Biography.
Another project that is a little more prep, BUT will guide them through step by step is the Lapbook. It has all the parts that they will find research for. I have these both bundled together below as well.
For younger students they may also like this Reading Contract for Biographies to use. It has all the graphic organizers for taking notes in each area, as well as comprehension pages and reading strategies while they take notes and read their biography.
I love Biographies and whatever time of year, it's great for students to have CHOICE in their research! Happy February!
Sunday, January 9, 2022
All About Martin Luther King, Jr. with a NEW Resource!
It's 2022 and I'm already swamped! I can't believe MLK Day is already upon us. This week I am putting all the MLK resources in this post. I am also trying as I said in my last post to keep things SIMPLE. The take-away for me this year is to implement a few ideas, but also try some NEW ones!
How do you celebrate and give information about Martin Luther King in your classroom? I think this depends on what age kids you teach. The most important thing is the message about Martin Luther King and acceptance of everyone.
For older kids I want to have them read a little more information about Martin Luther King, Jr. For me it is about half me presenting information, but also having students dig a little more into some of their own research and reading. Remember each year students are presented with information on this SAME topic, so trying to give them a little more each year as they get older.
Check out this NEW Martin Luther King, Jr. Mini Escape I just made that may help you present the information in a fun and informative way. There is a video, reading, fun facts, quotes, and a short puzzle. Best of all this is a NO Prep that students can do at home or school.
Also a digital resource for you if you have more time is the Digital Escape Room Lost in the Museum Civil Rights Leaders. It will take you through more than Martin Luther King so if you have the time to dive in more with Black History.
Something easy and more printable is this Martin Luther King, Jr. Biography Puzzle. These are going to be for upper elementary because of the reading and writing for your students. These are also super SIMPLE and NO PREP for your students.
Here is a list of books I like about MLK. Some are picture, some are just good information reads or resources.
Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?- This is an awesome book/series for research or just reading. It presents the information in a great way! For grades 2-5
I know you don't want to leave out your littles on this important day so I am linking a few FREE Resources for you with Martin Luther King, Jr.
Have a great day celebrating and remembering the MESSAGE of this day!
Sunday, January 2, 2022
Get Started Early! Happy NEW Year!
Happy New Year! I am still on break and relaxing one more day before we head back tomorrow. We have a teacher work day and then the tiny humans are back on Tuesday. Like most of the human race I always have great intentions for the New Year. I am a person who likes to implement too many new things, so I am here to tell you choose 1-2 new things to implement in your classroom for the New Year.
I am always thinking ahead and NOW is the time for you to be thinking about February and Black History Month. Why?! February is such a short month that if you start thinking about it now, I promise it will seem less stressful later. So this post is all about prep for February and making your life easier.
Ok here's some ideas for you and what I will be doing, but I am going to start NOW so that I am ready.
So if you are overwhelmed, stick to my advice and choose ONE of these activities!
1. Biography Puzzles: These are printable and you have FOUR people to research and learn about. There are 4 weeks in February... coincidence?! Study one person per week by reading aloud a picture book (yes older kids still like these) and working through the reading, writing, and puzzles as a class, partner, or individual. This is a super LOW prep option. This can also be an independent study. Have students choose maybe 2 people and then they have 2 weeks to work on them.
2. Biography Lapbook: The great thing about this is that it can be used for ANY person to research, so if you don't get around to this for February, you can have in your back pocket for any person!
Tip: If you have younger kids and any parent help, have a parent cut out the shapes and help you assemble OR send this home for a project that will be ongoing. Parents can pick-up and do the prep at home for you!
First I have students choose from a list 3-4 people they are interested in. I did NOT have them choose MLK. We do so much with him that he wasn't a choice. Once they narrow down their person, we start with the timeline.
I use Pebble Go for my students because it is super easy to navigate. It's a research site that our school subscribes to. Most schools or libraries have a kid friendly database which is easy to use for Biography research. I would check with your Media Specialist or look online for an option that is user friendly. Your media specialist may even have some books he/she can pull for you OR ask your local library to pull them now for you!
After students chose their person; they took notes about the character traits (I did a separate lesson on this) and chose a few vocabulary words. I used this dictionary and some picture books. Check out my other blog on Character Traits.
Here's a picture of one of the finished products.
I also gave my students scrapbook paper that I had laying around to use to glam this up! Don't be afraid to send home some portions of this as homework! There are a lot of parts so maybe you don't have time to do them all. You could easily pair this down to make it more manageable for you!
Check out this also for Biography Projects for Research. You have templates to assist your students in their Biography Project to present. This would be a great alternative if you don't have time for the lapbook and you are able to give students CHOICE!
3. Last is a NO PREP Digital Escape Room on Civil Rights. It has some of the same people as the above #1, so you could do both or just stick to this one.
This has video, reading passages, and puzzles to solve. So if you are short on time- I would highly recommend using this as your resource.
Remember this is YOUR year. I will be making a plan and trying my best to stick to it.
Cheers for the New Year!
Monday, March 18, 2013
Biography Lapbook Fun-CCSS for Writing
With all of the research requirements in the common core, I wanted to create experiences for my 2nd graders that were meeting those requirements as well as being meaningful to my students. I decided I would have them write a biography report. This is how we got it started.
We have an awesome resource available to us at our school called www.pebblego.com. I had the kids explore all around the biography section. I then gave them some guidelines for which people could be chosen. (I decided on African Americans and women) Of course, you can use books or other resources as well.
The kids then explored the people from the categories I chose. (Little do they know, they were learning a lot about a lot of different people! hehehehe) They then wrote down their top 3 or 4 people they would like to research. (I just had them write their choices on sticky notes.)
I went through and made sure to choose something from their list, but figured it out so they all were researching someone different. Oh, and I also took MLK out since we do so much with him.
We started our research with the timeline. I gave the students their timeline note page (included in this pack) so they could record the important dates and events.
The children then research their facts. I had them do most of this part at home so parents could help with the ‘in your own words’ part.
The only section that was left to complete was the character traits part. I put pages of traits and definitions into page protectors in 3-prong file folder. The kids had a mini-dictionary to refer to the definition of the various traits.
We completed this during guided reading groups. That way, I was able to work with a small group at a time. The children chose traits that they thought represented their person. They then wrote what their person did to earn the trait.
Now we were ready for the fun part . . . the organization of all our information. I’ve recently gotten ‘into’ lapbooks and have seen all sorts of neat ones around. However, I haven’t been able to find one that would work for anyone that we wanted to research. So, we got down to work. The kids chose a colored file folder.
We then folded each side so they met in the middle. I was amazed at how well they did. They then glued a piece of construction paper in the middle to make it sturdier.
I had a few of the foldables that were required for each lapbook and also provided extra booklets they could use for extra information.
After I showed the kids how to fold and assemble their foldables, I showed them a sample I made. I then put out some fun paper from my scrapbook table at home. You know, the one that has all the stuff and not very many completed projects? The kids got started on their research foldable. I was flabbergasted at the mess we created!
Here are some close-up samples of the lapbooks.
It was fun and my kiddos have learned bunches! Oh, and we did get the room cleaned up . . . thanks to 25 little vacuum cleaners!
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