Famous People Biographies
Jill Breslin
Introduction
Standards
Objectives
Activities
Assessment 
Results
Resources

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Abraham Lincoln

 Introduction
This lesson will have the children research different famous people in history and create a power point presentation of a famous person.
Subject: History/Social Science
Topic: Famous People
Grade Level: 2
Student Lesson name and URL: http://berners.bcoe.butte.k12.ca.us/~jbreslin/
Standards Addressed

Second Grade
History/Social Science

 2.5 Students understand the importance of individual action and character and explain how heroes from long ago and the recent past have made a difference in others' lives (e.g., from biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Louis Pasteur, Sitting Bull, George Washington Carver, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Golda Meir, Jackie Robinson, Sally Ride).
 

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Instructional Objectives
  1. The student will write 5 facts about 1 famous person.
  2. The student will research and write 10 sentences on a famous person of his/her choice.
  3. The student will produce a power point slide for the person chosen.
  4. The student will give an oral presentation on his/her person.
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Student Activities

Introductory Activity(ies) 
The children will take the pretest on famous people. 
They will read a variety of different books and view a variety of different videos on famous people.  (These activities will take a number of days to complete.  You may choose as many different people to learn about before the students begin their own research.  The more people you introduce to the children, the more variety of people the students will choose for their final project.)

Enabling Activity(ies)
The children will research a famous person of their choice with the help of the teacher or aide on the internet and other resources.  The children will write 10 sentences about the person he/she has chosen.

Culminating Activity
The children will create a power point slide on their person.  (example of slide)  The children will present their slide to the class.  The children will take the posttest on famous people.
 

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Assessment

The final project will be graded in 3 parts.  (The posttest, the power point slide, and the oral presentation.)  Each part will be graded on a rubric (4-1).  After all three parts are graded the scores will be averaged to get an overall score.
 
 

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Results
Reflection and Adaptations

The graph above shows the Pre-test, Post test and final project grades of my class.  I used this data to revise and modify this project.
 

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Web Resources & Supplementary Materials

Introductory Activity

Web Sites:
Abraham Lincoln for Primary Students http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/lincoln/
Research site for Abraham Lincoln
http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln2.html
George Washington research site   http://www.mountvernon.org/education/biography
George Washington biography  http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/gwash.html
Eleanor Roosevelt biography and research site  http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95oct/roosevel.html
Martin Luther King Jr. Day research site  http://www-cgi.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1998/mlk.page/
Sally Ride biography and research site   http://www2.lucidcafe.com/lucidcafe/library/96may/ride.html
George Washington Carver text biography file.  This file is the information from the ABC CILO Science CD.   George Washington Carver 
Presidents of the United States   http://www.ipl.org/ref/POTUS/
 

Software:
American Science Leaders  by ABC CLIO
130 Cremona Drive, Santa Barbara, CA  93117
 www.abc-clio.com
 
 

Culminating Activity

Software:
Microsoft Power Point

 
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Final Presentation
(This presentation is large.  It is best if opened with a T-1 line.)

Jill Breslin 
e-mail:  jbreslin@curriculumcompanion.net
Shasta Union Elementary
P.O. Box 1125 
Shasta, CA  96087

Last Revised: 4/11/01