Biography research reports are one of my favorite ways to integrate curriculum. By combining reading, writing, social studies, online research skills, as well as presentation skills. I am able to focus on several common core standards at once. A bigger bang for my buck! My biography unit spans several weeks depending on the ability levels of the students and begins with a shared research experience, including non-fiction reading and modeled writing. Click on the biography link to download a copy of my unit plan outline. For me, any writing lesson plan ALWAYS begins with my own writing. I plan the writing prompt and then complete the writing task as if I was a student. I use this as my guide as I model writing with the students. I take the students step by step through every part of the writing process. Below are some of the resources that I found on TpT that I use throughout my biography unit. Click on the pictures to download each. *Note...there is a cost for some of the resources and some are free. Finally, to celebrate all of the hard work that the kids have done in class we always have a celebration that includes a museum walk in which we invite next year's second graders (first grade) and last year's second graders (third grade). On museum day, every student in my class takes on the role of a "museum docent". He or she stands next to their research report, trifold display, and bottle model home project and teaches the visitors about their historian. This is so much fun for the kids touring but is even more meaningful to the student docents. It forces the students to actively engage the visitors in their presentation and gives them the opportunity to shine. Students often tell me that they couldn't wait to be in my class just so they could do the Biography Museum!
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About Me...I am wife, mother, teacher, instruction coach, curriculum writer, educational blogger, and self-professed workaholic. After years of spending long nights and weekends in my classroom I have decided that there has to be a better way. This is my journey in trying to find a balance for myself, my family, my students and for other perfectionist teachers out there like me. ArchivesCategoriesDON'T MISS OUT... |