Beginning Biography Research

Encyclopedia research skills will be taught using biographies of famous people. This is one lesson in a collaborative unit taught by both the classroom teacher and library media coordinator

A lesson plan for grades 2–3 English Language Arts and Information Skills

By Joan Milliken

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• read texts on a specific famous person using a Student Encyclopedia.
• learn how to use basic research skills to answer specific questions about this famous person.
• learn how to take notes, rather than copy exact sentences from the encyclopedia.
• learn the importance of citing sources and will complete a simple bibliography.

A follow up lesson will include using the information from the research and writing a short report in their own words.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

45 minutes

Materials/resources

• World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia(Different student encyclopedias could be used. World Book Student Discover Encyclopedia was chosen because it is easy for second grade students to read and because most of the biography articles were less than one page in length.)
• Louisa May Alcott by Jill C. Wheeler ISBN 1-56239-518-1 Abdo & Daughters, Publisher
• Amelia Earhart, by Marilyn Rosenthal and Daniel Freeman ISBN 0-7368-0203-7 Capstone Press, Publisher
• Dr. Seuss: We Love You by Patricia Stone Martin ISBN 0-86592-168-7 Rourke Enterprises, Publisher

Technology resources

Computer with any word processing software program.

Differentiation idea: Access to computer with Internet and/or CD-Rom encyclopedias (for students who complete their research form quickly).

Pre-activities

The classroom teacher will teach two pre-activity lessons in the classroom.

1. Autobiographies will be introduced first and students will answer questions about themselves as they learn about autobiographies.
2. Biographies will be introduced next. Students will read books about famous people. If this lesson is taught in January, Martin Luther King could be discussed. If this lesson is taught in February, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington could be discussed. After learning about a famous person students will collaborate to write a biography about what they have learned about this person.

This Beginning Biography Research lesson will follow as the third activity: each student will research a different person and share information with the class.

Activities

1. Names of famous people will be written on 3X5 index cards. Each student will have a different person.
   Differentiation idea: Students could work in pairs or small groups.
2. Cards will be randomly passed out to students.
   Differentiation idea: ‘easier’ or ‘familiar’ cards could be distributed to certain students as needed.
   Differentiation idea: advanced students could be given the cards for Louisa May Alcott, Amelia Earhart or Dr. Seuss; since appropriate websites and/or books are available for enrichment.
3. Students will go to the Library Media Center for research. Students will choose the appropriate volume of the encyclopedia (the volume with the author’s Last name).
4. The importance of citing sources will be explained. Bibliographic information will be written on the board, and students will complete a simple bibliography together.
5. Students will read the article and answer basic questions about their famous person. See attached research report form.
6. Students will draw an illustration at the bottom of their page. This can be a drawing of the person, or what this person is famous for.
   Differentiation idea: students who finish their questions quickly may be directed to other resources (books and/or websites) to expand their research.

When their research forms are completed, students will return to the classroom. Two follow up lessons will be conducted in the classroom. The first follow up lesson will be rewriting their notes from the research form. Students will use complete sentences to describe what they learned about their famous person. For the final lesson, students will give oral reports to their classmates, sharing what they learned. As oral reports are presented, students can add their famous person to the appropriate category on a chart on the board. Presidents, Inventors, Sports Stars, etc.

Assessment

Research skills, writing skills and oral report skills will all be assessed during this biography unit. Oral report and research rubric samples are attached.

Supplemental information

Attachments:

• Oral Report Rubric
• Biography Research
• Research Rubric

The list of famous people used with the World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia are as follows:

• Henry Aaron
• Louisa May Alcott
• Neil Armstrong
• Johann Sebastian Bach
• Clara Barton
• Louis Braille
• Jimmy Carter
• Grover Cleveland
• Davy Crockett
• Edgar Degas
• Amelia Earhart
• Benjamin Franklin
• George F. Handel
• Galileo
• Warren Gamaliel Harding
• Guglielmo Marconi
• Samuel Finley Morse
• Barbara McClintock
• Florence Nightingale
• Jesse Owens
• Georgia O’Keeffe
• Babe Ruth
• Louis Pasteur
• Pele’
• Vincent Van Gough
• Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Booker T. Washington
• Mark Twain
• Peter Tchaikovsky
• Valentine Tereshkova
• Charles Monroe Schulz
• Richard Scarry
• Dr. Seuss

Related websites

http://www.alcottweb.com
http://www.nationalaviation.org/enshrine_main.asp?section=enshrine *See the Enshrinee List

The websites were accessed for additional information; some students added specific details from the website, others added interesting facts.

Comments

This unit is comprised of the following lessons:

1. Autobiography Lesson in the classroom.
2. Reading about one famous person as a class and compiling a class biography on that person.
3. Beginning Biography Research Lesson in the library media center.
4. Writing activity to transfer information from research notes into a paragraph using complete sentences.
5. Presentation of oral reports to classmates.