Focusing on Famous People

AUTHOR: Maryann Buck and Sondra Mansur
SUBJECT AREA: Integrated
GRADE LEVEL: Upper (3-6)
SCHOOL ADDRESS: 1214 Lincoln Avenue, Utica, NY 13502
SCHOOL PHONE: (315) 724-0540

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

Declarative

Research skills and types of resources
Oral reading skills
Database and purpose

Procedural

Students will use resources to gather information
How to use a graphic organizer
How to write a biography
Students orally share written work
Use a database

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

How are our lives effected by other people?
Why is it important for people throughout the world to communicate their ideas?
How do we present information for understanding?
What literary sources can we utilize to find information?
What methods can we use to compare and contrast?

INITIATING ACTIVITY

Begin by asking students if they have ever heard of George Washington (or other famous person). Read a story to the class on the famous person you have chosen. In small groups, students discuss and write answers to questions given on a worksheet. See worksheet sample 1. Answers are shared within a class setting. Next draw attention to a bulletin board display entitled "Focusing on Famous People". See worksheet sample 2. Students are then told that in this unit they will be learning about many people who have contributed to our changing world. Groups are assigned their famus person for the month. (See worksheet sample3)

LEARNING EXPERIENCES

I. Activity: Graphic Organizer (Who is My Famous Person)

Discuss with the class the purpose of a graphic organizer. Use the example of George Washington (or famous person of your choice) to fill in the information on a graphic organizer displayed on an overhead or blackboard. (See sample worksheet 4) Each student is then given a graphic organizer with the name of their famous person and a due date for information.

**Please note that students are in groups, but each student will find his/her own information to compare in a future lesson.

Assessment: Product based assessment

Students will complete all information on their graphic organizer, using resources in Activity 2.

Research Skills and Types of Research

Students will be introduced to various resources available to them to locate information (encyclopedia, computer software, and information books).
Through the use of the library, students will use resources to gather information about their famous person.

Assessment: Product based assessment

In groups, students will compare their information. Discrepancies will be checked for accurate data.

III Activity: How to Write a Biography: "Getting to Know You"

Have on display the steps to good writing. Explain to the students what would comprise a good biography. Using the graphic organizer of George Washington (or the famous person of your choice). The class will write a first draft biography.

Assessment: Product Based Assessment

In groups students will use their information gathered on their graphic organizer to write a first draft biography on their famous person. Teacher edits the first draft. Students then write final draft on a given worksheet. See sample worksheet 5. A recorder is chosen by the group to write the final draft. A picture obtained from resource material is added to the biographies. A bibliography of resources that each student uses is added to the final draft.

Final drafts can be completed on the computer using any word processing program.

** Please note that biographies are now run off by the teacher so that each student in the class will have a copy of each famous person for that month.

Activity: Oral Reading Skills (We Present!)

When all biographies are complete and run off for the month, each group presents their famous person to the class. Each group distributes their run-off biography. One person from each group reads the biography orally to the class. Aquestions and answers follow. After all biographies are read, they are stored n individual folders for each student.

Assessment: Product and process focused assessment

The teacher will listen to and observe students during their oral presentation and question, answer time.

** Please note that Activities 2-3-4 continue on a monthly basis. Each month groups are given new famous people to focus on.

** This unit can be minimized to a single month, or famous people can be chosen in certain areas such as Presidents, Scientists, Historians, etc. depending upon your curriculum and grade level.

Activity: Database (Comparing and contrasting the Famous)

At the end of every three months, a database of the famous people for the three months is recorded. Students are then expected to retrieve information from the database using a given question worksheet. (See sample worksheet 6A-6G)

Assessment: Product and process focused assessment

Database 1: Teacher directed. Individual students come to computer to answer each database question

Database II: Teacher directed. Individual students come to computer to answer each database question.

Database III: Students work in individual groups to answer each database question.

Database IV: Each student individually answers database questions.

CULMINATING PERFORMANCE

Create a Book

Famous People for the year are complied into individual booklets. Students title the book "Focusing on Famous People". The book is given to the student to take home.

Jeopardy (Who's Who Among Famous People)

The teacher makes a jeopardy board. Categories center on areas of information gathered. Students are places in groups. The group with the most points become Famous People Experts and is given a certificate of accomplishment. See sample worksheet #7.

Meaningful Use Task: Decision-Making ("Famous Person Hall of Fame")

You have been asked to nominate someone you know for induction into the 3^rd grade "Famous Person Hall of Fame". It must be someone who has the qualities of the famous people you have learned about this year. It must be a person who has effected your life in a positive way.

Use the "Constructive Support" graphic organizer (Worksheet #8) to help you plan your paragraph. Then use your information to compose an essay to nominate your famous person.

** Students are asked to provide a picture of their nominated person. Essays are presented in a hallway display. A special presentation is held where essays are read and nominees receive a special certificate of honor.

SPECIAL NOTE:

If you would like any additional information regarding this unit or the worksheets associated with this unit, please contact:

holytrin@borg.com

mansur@borg.com

CONNECTIONS TO STANDARDS

Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Standard 2 Information Systems

Standard 5 Technology

Social Studies

Standard 2: World History

English Language Arts

Standard 1 Language for Information and Understanding

Standard 2 Language for Literary Response and Expression

Standard 3 Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Standard 4 Language for Social Interaction

Worksheet Sample 1:

Name__________________________________________________

You have just listened to a story about a famous person, George Washington. He is famous because in his lifetime he did things to make the world a better place to live in.

In your group, discuss what you have learned about George Washington. Answer the questions below.

Why is George Washington a famous person?

________________________________________________________________________

How did George Washington affect the lives of other people?

________________________________________________________________________

What can you do to be like George Washington?

________________________________________________________________________

Worksheet Sample 2:

Bulletin Board Display

A computer printout of a short biography and picture of each famous person for the month is displayed. Colored background enhances the display.

Worksheet Sample 3:

Famous Birthdays

This is used to select the famous people used for each month. I have decided my classroom students into six groups and select six famous people per month, one person for each group.

September:

Christa McAuliffe, Jane Adams, Grandma Moses, Jesse Owens, William H. Taft, Michael Faraday, H.G. Wells, Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman)

October:

Nat Turner, Mohandas Gandhi, Theodore Roosevelt, Chester Arthur, Elenor Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jesse Jackson

November:

Daniel Boone, Warren G. Harding, Marie Curie, Martin Luther, Will Rogers, Abigail Adams, Louisa May Alcott, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Robert F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Carry Nation

December:

Rudyard Kipling, Clara Barton, Emily Dickson, Martin Van Buren, Mary Todd Lincoln, Issac Newton, Andrew Johnson

January:

Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Paul Revere, Louis Braille, Martin Luther King, George W. Carver, Wolfgang Mozart, Robert E. Lee

February:

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, Elizabeth Blackwell, Galileo, Charles Darwin, Susan B. Anthony, Marian Anderson

March:

Johann Sebastian Bach, Michelangelo, James Madison, Harry Houdini, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Amerigo Vespucci, Grover Cleveland, Albert Einstein, Vincent van Gogh, Lilian Wald

April:

Thomas Jefferson, Hans Christian Anderson, Booker T. Washington, Leonardo da Vinci, Wilber Wright, Dorothea Dix, Samuel Morse, William Shakespeare, Ulysses S. Grant, Washington Irving

May:

Patrick Henry, Julia Ward Howe, Catherine the Great, Robert E. Peary, Florence Nightingale, Golda Meir, Johannes Brahms, Dolley Madison, John F. Kennedy, Walt Whitman

June:

Lou Gehrig, Nathan Hale, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Helen Keller, George Bush, Jefferson Davis, Jeannette Rankin, Gwendolyn Brooks, Charles R. Drew

Worksheet Sample 4:

FOCUSING ON FAMOUS PEOPLE

(CLUSTER OF IDEA)

bornbio

Worksheet Sample 5:

Focusing on Famous People

_____________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Worksheet Sample 6A:

FOCUSING ON FAMOUS PEOPLE

Last Name	First Name	Birth	Death	Age	Career	Nationality	Nobel Prize
Boone	Daniel	1734	1820	86	Pioneer	American	No
Adams	Abigail	1744	1818	74	Humanitarian	American	No
Appleseed	Johnny	1775	1845	70	Pioneer	American	No
Faraday	Michael	1791	1867	76	Scientist	English	No
Liszt	Franz	1811	1886	75	Composer	Hungarian	No
Alcott	Luisa Mae	1832	1888	56	Author	American	No
Nobel	Alfred	1833	1896	63	Chemist	Swedish	No
Twain	Mark	1835	1910	75	Author	American	No
Sousa	John	1854	1932	78	Composer	American	No
Roosevelt	Theodore	1858	1919	61	President	American	Yes
Moses	Grandma	1860	1961	101	Artist	American	No
Addams	Jane	1860	1935	75	Humanitarian	American	Yes
Curie	Marie	1867	1934	67	Scientist	Polish/French	Yes
Goddard	Robert	1882	1945	63	Physicist	American	No
Roosevelt	Eleanor	1884	1962	78	Diplomat	American	No
Owens	Jessie	1913	1980	67	Sports	American	No
Salk	Jonas	1914	1995	81	Scientist	American	No
McAuliffe	Christa	1948	1986	38	Teacher	American	No

Worksheet Sample 6B:

NAME__________________________________________________

USE THE COMPUTER DATABASE PROGRAM TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW CONCERNING OUR FAMOUS PEOPLE FOR SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, AND NOVEMBER. WRITE THE ANSWERS ON THE GIVEN LINES.

We are famous people. We lived to be over 70 years old.
DO THIS: LAYOUT/FIND

AGE >70

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ __________________________ _________________________

_________________________ __________________________ _________________________

_________________________ __________________________ _________________________

_________________________ __________________________ _________________________
I am a famous person. I died younger than 40.
DO THIS : ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

AGE <40

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
We are famous people. We are Americans.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

NATIONALITY AMERICAN

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
We are famous people. Our last name comes first and last in ABC order.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/LIST

ORGANIZE/SORT RECORDS

CLICK ASCENDING ORDER

CLICK LAST NAME

CLICK MOVE

CLICK OK

SEE LIST

__________________________ _________________________ _________________________
We are famous people. We are humanitarians because we helped and cared for others who were less fortunate.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

CAREER HUMANITARIAN

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ __________________________ _________________________
We are famous people. We won a Nobel Peace Prize.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

NOBEL PRIZE YES

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ _________________________ __________________________
We are famous people. We were noted scientists.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

CAREER SCIENTIST

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
I am a famous person. I lived to be over 100 years old.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

AGE >100

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

______________________________________________
We are famous people. We were famous musical composers.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

CAREER COMPOSER

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ ____________________________
We are famous people. We were born in the 1700's.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

BIRTH <1800

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
We are famous people. We were born in the 1800's.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

BIRTH >1799

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/FIND

VISIBLE

BIRTH <1900

RETURN OR FIND
LAYOUT LIST

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
We are famous people. We were born in the 1900's.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

BIRTH >1899

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
We are famous people. We are noted authors.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

CAREER AUTHOR

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

______________________________ ______________________________
I am a famous person. I was president of the United States.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

CAREER PRESIDENT

RETURN OR FIND
LAYOUT/LIST

______________________________ ______________________________
We are famous people. We were pioneers of America.
DO THIS: ORGANIXE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

CAREER PIONEER
RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

______________________________ ______________________________
We are famous people. Our first names would be first and last in ABC order.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/LIST

ORGANIZE/SORT

CLICK FIRST NAME

CLICK MOVE
CLICK OK

SEE LIST

______________________________ _______________________________
We are famous people. We died in the 1800's.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

DEATH >1799

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/FIND
VISIBLE

DEATH <1900

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ _________________________ __________________________

_________________________ _________________________ __________________________
We are famous people. We died in the 1900's.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/FIND

DEATH >1899

RETURN OR FIND

LAYOUT/LIST

_________________________ __________________________ _________________________

_________________________ __________________________ _________________________
We are famous people who are not Americans on the list.
DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/LIST

ORGANIZE/SORT

CLICK ASCENDING

CLICK BIRTH

CLICK MOVE

CLICK OK

SEE LIST

____________________ ____________________ ____________________ __________________
We are famous people. Our birth year is the first and last in our list.

DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDS

LAYOUT/LIST

ORGANIZE/SORT

CLICK ASCENDING

CLICK BIRTH

CLICK MOVE

CLICK OK

SEE LIST

_____________________________________ ___________________________________

Worksheet Sample 7:

Who's Who Among Famous People

Birthplace	Getting to Know You	Famous at any age	Inventions	Nationality	Careers	Nobel Prize
100	100	100	100	100	100	100
200	200	200	200	200	200	200
300	300	300	300	300	300	300
400	400	400	400	400	400	400
500	500	500	500	500	500	500
Name places of birth. Player names person.	Give reasons for being famous. Player names person.	Tell what the person did at a given age. Player names person.	Name an invention or name the person. Player names person or invention.	Give name of person. Player names nationality	Describe the career. Player names person.	Give year and area or give name. Player gives name or area.

Task Component	4	3	2	1
Opening	You clearly and completely stated your opinion on your nomination for famous person	You clearly stated your opinion on your nomination for famous person.	You stated your opinion on your nomination for famous persons, but it was not stated as clearly as it should be.	You stated no opinion on your nomination for famous person, or you were very unclear.
Support	You provided well-developed and logical support (examples, details, reasons) for your nomination.	You provided logical support (examples, details, reasons) for your nomination.	You provided some support (details, examples, reasons) for your nomination, but also had some illogical support.	You provided little if any support (examples, details, reasons) for you nomination.
Conclusion	You constructed a clear ending that fully reinforced your nomination.	You constructed an ending that reinforced your nomination.	You constructed an ending that did not fully reinforce your nomination.	You constructed no ending.
Mechanics	You independently used correct mechanics.	With minimum assistance you used correct mechanics.	With maximum assistance, you used correct mechanics.	With maximum assistance, you did not use correct mechanics.

Worksheet Sample 8:

FAMOUS PERSON HALL OF FAME

Constructing Support Graphic Organizer

Nomination (Position or statement)

Reasons For Nomination

Born

When

Where

Relationship to you

Years known

Career

FACTS

Qualities Of a Famous Person

Worksheet Sample 9:

FAMOUS PERSON HALL OF FAME
Paragraph Rubric

Task Component	4	3	2	1
Opening	You clearly and completely stated your opinion on your nomination for famous person	You clearly stated your opinion on your nomination for famous person.	You stated your opinion on your nomination for famous persons, but it was not stated as clearly as it should be.	You stated no opinion on your nomination for famous person, or you were very unclear.
Support	You provided well-developed and logical support (examples, details, reasons) for your nomination.	You provided logical support (examples, details, resons) for your nomination.	You provided some support (details, examples, reasons) for your nomination, but also had some illogical support.	You provided little if any support (examples, details, reasons) for your nomination.
Conclusion	You constructed a clear ending that fully reinforces your nomination.	You constructed an ending that reinforced your nomination.	You constructed an ending that did not fully reinforce your nomination.	You constructed no ending.
Mechanics	You independently used correct mechanics.	With minimum assistance you used correct mechanics.	With maximum assistance, you used correct mechanics.	With maximum assistance, you did not use correct mechanics.

References

Encyclopedias, Reference Books, biographies and autobiographies containing information on given famous people are used throughout the year.

Computer Software

Bookshelf '98

Encarta '96

Use any encyclopedia software or information software that enables students to find information about their famous person.

Internet Site References