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This is the power point that you need to use for your presentation. Click on the link below to open it. Then, save it in your folder and rename it as the name of the person you are studying. ...

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4th Grade Biography Writing Samples - - Yahoo Image Search Results

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WS 1.1 Select a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view based upon purpose, audience, length, and format requirements.

WS 1.2 a) Provide an introductory paragraph b) Establish and support a central idea with a topic sentence at or near the beginning of the first paragraph. C) Include supporting paragraphs with simple facts, details, and explanations d) Conclude w/ a paragraph that summarizes the points e) Use correct indention

WS 1.5 Quote or paraphrase information sources, citing them appropriately.

WS 1.10 Edit and revise selected drafts to improve coherence and progression by adding, deleting, consolidating and rearranging text

WA 2.3 Write information reports: a)Frame a central question about an issue or situation b) Include facts and details for focus c) Draw from more than one source of information (e.g., speakers, books, newspapers, other media sources)

Essential Questions:

What is the purpose of a biography?/What does it teach the reader?

Why is this person important?

What can we learn from this person's life?

What are the most important topics to include in a 5 paragraph report?

Which organizational strategy makes the most sense for a report?

What type of resources can we use in our research?

Construct a topic sentence for each paragraph.

Which details best support each main idea?

How can you put your notes and research into your own words?

How do you take organized notes?

How can you outline an essay?

What is a bibliography? How do you construct a bibliography?

How can we use a computer to make our report look professional?

Vocabulary: references, research, table of contents, bibliography, main events, organizational strategies, word processing

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WS 1.1 Select a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view based upon purpose, audience, length, and format requirements. WS 1.2 a) Provide an introductory paragraph b) Establish and support a central idea with a topic sentence at or near the beginning of the first paragraph.

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Teacher as Writer.

One of the most powerful ways to become a better writing teacher is to write. And one of the most essential things to write is what we expect our students to write. Dina Coverstone is doing just that. Her fifth graders are learning about research and speeches. Their charge is to research a president and then give a speech that reflects upon the president's life. Dina chose Abraham Lincoln. She is collecting research, taking notes, organizing her information, writing speech cards, creating a visual and giving her speech in front of her class on Monday.

Stacey shared the idea below with me as a way to organize research notes for expository writing. She does this with her personal essay unit; Dina is using the same technique for this speech unit. Regardless, Stacey's system is brilliant!

Each of the envelopes represents a subtopic. Inside the envelopes, students tuck pieces of support or facts for that particular subtopic. It folds up and fits into their writing folders. Thanks for the great idea Stacey!

And kudos to Dina for completing the same project she expects of her students.

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One of the most powerful ways to become a better writing teacher is to write. And one of the most essential things to write is what we expect our students to write. Dina Coverstone is doing just that. Her fifth graders are learning about research and speeches.

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Find and save recipes, parenting hacks, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

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Subscribe to the Biography newsletters to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives.

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A box of craft materials is an unclaimed treasure for children. Last night we had to finish making the biography poster for Leah's project on Helen Keller. The poster is to look as much like the person as you can create. You have to cut a hole in the poster so that your face, the face of the presenter, can be the face of the person researched. Simple and easy. Once we created the basic dress body shape we need to find things to make it look neat, not pretty. I moved our work to the basement so that we could sort through the bin of glitter, buttons, markers and everything else crafty to embellish this poster. Unfortunately that was harder than I expected. The girls were so distracted by the mother load of fun things that getting Leah to focus on finding things for the poster was difficult.

They scolded me for hiding this wonderful bin full of fantastic things from them. They wanted to know why I had kept such perfect crafty supplies to myself. How can you explain to a 6 and 8 year old that you didn't want them to trash your stuff before you could? I neglected to give a direct answer and they forgot quickly as they were way too busy searching for things to make stuff. Any stuff. All stuff. In a matter of minutes they were busy creating. There were flowers made from pipe cleaners, then mummies, then people, then mobiles. After every pipe cleaner had been used it was on to the foam butterflies and glitter glue. While I hot glued hair on to Leah's project poster she dug through the bin finding things in between her crafting. Leah found some paper doilies, buttons, scrapbook paper and ribbon for the features of Helen's dress. We cut each piece to fit and moved them around to try and make the best period dress we could with our supplies. While the dress parts dried Leah worked on writing her note cards to place on the poster. This part she loathed. She really wanted to get back to making things and watching Olivia busily working on one project to the next was torture. This whole process took an hour but must have felt like days to Leah. Overall the poster looks great. She's happy with the way it looks and it suits her well. The most trying part is getting her to actually present the poster. She has such stage fright and is very upset about the idea of talking about this poster. I am slightly irritated if only for the fact that she has been a walking informational pamphlet on Helen Keller these last 2 weeks. I coached her to just begin by telling the story of Helen's life, beginning with her birth and what she did. That was a dead end. Another hurdle. She sat on the floor and cried. Daddy came home just in time to give her some lessons. I have decided to leave it at that, Dad's gentle words will be in her head, maybe by my not saying anything further I won't stress her nerves.

As I admired her poster I began to think about the others made by her classmates. I know that when I go to school next week to work in the library I'm going to see these posters. I'll know which posters were made solely by the kids and those that were made by the helicopter parents. I can't say that I didn't help her, there were things she needed me to show her how to make, but I made it a point to remind myself not to do too much. It's her project and she has to have her hands in making the poster. When I see those perfect posters I'll chuckle to myself, thinking of those frazzled parents cramming more and more things on the poster. Those poor kids missed out on all the fun of the creating. Too bad for them. And their parents gained that much more unneeded stress.

***Editor's Note***
I have been receiving requests for instructions for this project. I have created a .pdf available on my Google Drive with the guidelines for this biography project. The document can be found here: Step into History Biography Poster Project

In addition my younger child's same 3rd grade project can be seen in the post: Another 3rd Grade Biography Project

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A box of craft materials is an unclaimed treasure for children. Last night we had to finish making the biography poster for Leah's project on Helen Keller. The poster is to look as much like the person as you can create.