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. Students learn about many people who have contributed to our changing world. Groups are assigned their famous person for the month.
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
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 3rd 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.
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/FINDAGE >70RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ __________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________ _________________________
- I am a famous person. I died younger than 40.
- DO THIS : ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDAGE <40RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ _________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________________ _________________________
- We are famous people. We are Americans.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDNATIONALITY AMERICANRETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ _________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________________ _________________________
- We are famous people. Our last name comes first and last in ABC order.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/LISTORGANIZE/SORT RECORDSCLICK ASCENDING ORDERCLICK LAST NAMECLICK MOVECLICK OKSEE LIST__________________________ _________________________ _________________________
- We are famous people. We are humanitarians because we helped and cared for others who were less fortunate.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDCAREER HUMANITARIANRETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ __________________________ _________________________
- We are famous people. We won a Nobel Peace Prize.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDNOBEL PRIZE YESRETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ _________________________ __________________________
- We are famous people. We were noted scientists.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDCAREER SCIENTISTRETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
- I am a famous person. I lived to be over 100 years old.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDAGE >100RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST______________________________________________
- We are famous people. We were famous musical composers.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDCAREER COMPOSERRETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ ____________________________
- We are famous people. We were born in the 1700’s.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDBIRTH <1800RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
- We are famous people. We were born in the 1800’s.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDBIRTH >1799RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/FINDVISIBLEBIRTH <1900RETURN OR FIND
LAYOUT LIST_________________________ _________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________________ _________________________ - We are famous people. We were born in the 1900’s.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDBIRTH >1899RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
- We are famous people. We are noted authors.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDCAREER AUTHORRETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST______________________________ ______________________________
- I am a famous person. I was president of the United States.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDCAREER PRESIDENTRETURN OR FIND
LAYOUT/LIST______________________________ ______________________________ - We are famous people. We were pioneers of America.
- DO THIS: ORGANIXE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDCAREER PIONEER
RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST______________________________ ______________________________ - We are famous people. Our first names would be first and last in ABC order.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/LISTORGANIZE/SORTCLICK FIRST NAMECLICK MOVE
CLICK OKSEE LIST______________________________ _______________________________ - We are famous people. We died in the 1800’s.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDDEATH >1799RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/FIND
VISIBLEDEATH <1900RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ _________________________ ___________________________________________________ _________________________ __________________________ - We are famous people. We died in the 1900’s.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/FINDDEATH >1899RETURN OR FINDLAYOUT/LIST_________________________ __________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________ _________________________
- We are famous people who are not Americans on the list.
- DO THIS: ORGANIZE/SHOW ALL RECORDSLAYOUT/LISTORGANIZE/SORTCLICK ASCENDINGCLICK BIRTHCLICK MOVECLICK OKSEE 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 | ||||
| BornWhenWhere | 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
Use any encyclopedia software or information software that enables students to find information about their famous person.
Further reading: How to Write a Lesson Plan: 7 Steps