Writing a Biographical Sketch

1st Grade, Unit 5, Arc 2-6

(5 Weeks of Lessons)

Recommendations for Texts:

Mentor Texts:

Kids like me in China by Ying Ying Fry

Dare to Dream! 25 Extraordinary Lives by Sandra McLeod Humphrey

Who was Albert Einstein? by Jess Brallier (or any books in this series)

To the Top of Everest by Laurie Skreslet

My name is Celia by Monica Brown

(Additional examples of biography books from your school library)

Websites:

http://gardenofpraise.com/leaders.htm

http://www.biography.com/people

Additional Resources:

Nonfiction Writing: Procedures and Reports by Lucy Calkins and Laurie Pessah

The Conferring Handbook by Lucy Calkins

Unit Materials:

Mentor texts, chart paper, markers, colored pencils, crayons, all previously made

anchor charts, student writing booklets, publishing paper, writing process chart,

student writing journals, writing folders

Teaching Notes:

A biography is the non-fiction account of a person’s life. Biographies are typically

organized either topically or chronologically. As you proceed through this writing

project, it is important to emphasize for your students the importance of

organization. Students will have the opportunity to determine how to best organize

their writing using graphic organizers.

Remember that as students proceed through this writing piece, they will do so at their

own pace. Be sure to scaffold mini-lessons appropriately and conduct both guided

writing lessons as well as one to one conferences with students.

Day 1: What is a Biography?

1. Explain to students that today they will begin writing a new genre, the biography.

2. Read aloud one of the suggested mentor texts or another book of your choosing.

3. Ask students, “What is a biography?” and use the mentor text as a guide to create a chart

with the class.

4. Provide other biographies for students to examine either in pairs or small groups.

5. After an adequate amount of time, allow students to come back and share their findings with

the class.

6. Add other elements of biographies discovered by students to the chart.

7. Provide time for students to write independently.

8. Gather with the whole group to allow students to share.

Partner Writing

Mini Lesson

Peer Sharing

What is a biography?

A non-fiction true story

About a person’s life

You will continue to add to this chart throughout the writing process.

Day 2: Who Are Biographies About?

1. Remind students of the genre they began studying yesterday. Remind them that we know

biographies are written about someone’s life.

2. Create a chart with the class, “Who are biographies about?”

3. Read aloud another mentor text for students and add any new information to the previous

day’s chart.

4. Provide more mentor texts and post-its for students to examine biographies.

5. Model for students how to use post-its to mark any features found in a biography.

6. Gather with the whole group to allow students to share. Add any new features to the

previous day’s chart. (Possible additions include real pictures, chapters, table of contents,

timeline)

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Who are biographies about?

Famous people

Real people - Alive or dead

People that did something interesting

Day 3: Choosing a Person to Write About

1. Reexamine the two previous day’s charts. Tell students that today they will begin to talk

about how a writer chooses a person to write about.

2. Create a chart which includes a few possible people to write about.

3. Model going through the list and thinking aloud about why some topics may not be good

choices. (Example: Well, I know a lot about my mom and she has done some funny stuff. I

know Shrek isn’t a good choice because he’s not real….)

4. Narrow down your choices to two possible writing topics (your mom and a famous actor.)

5. Explain that writers can ask themselves a few important questions to help them make a final

decision:

6. Tell students that, although you are interested in the famous actor, you don’t know that much

about that person, and it may be hard to get information. However, your mom is interesting,

you know a lot about her, and you can talk to her. Model choosing your mom as your

writing topic.

7. Suggest to students that they may also consider other family members, family friends,

teachers, coaches, and other people they know well.

8. Have students begin to think of possible writing topics. Encourage them to use anchor charts

and mentor texts to guide this process.

9. Allow time for students to brainstorm ideas with a partner.

Independent Writing

Mini Lesson

Possible people

1. Mom 2. Shrek 3. Baby nephew 4. Famous actor

Choosing my writing topic…

How interested am I in this person?

Do I know a lot about this person?

Can I interview this person or get

more information?

10. After providing adequate time for students to generate many ideas, have them work with a

partner to narrow down their choices and make a final choice.

11. Gather with the whole group to share topic choices. Have students share how they made

their ultimate decision.

Day 4: What Information is Found in Biographies?

1. Tell students that now that they have decided who they will write about, they will need to

gather information about this person. If the person is a family member or someone they

know well, they will be able to interview this person to gather information for their

biography.

2. If students chose a famous person or a person from history, the same questions can be

reworded to be research questions, and the teacher will help these students find books or

internet sites where they can find answers to the questions. Note: You may need to ask a

parent helper to read the biography information aloud to the student.

3. Refer back to some of the biography books you gathered for this writing unit. Ask students,

“What kinds of information do we find in these biographies?” Students may say, “When

they were born and where they were born.”

4. Write their suggestions on a chart titled ‘Information Found in Biographies’.

5. Have students work with a partner to explore the biography books to find other types of

information written in biography books. Allow them to use Post-it notes to mark the

information they find in their books.

Peer Sharing

Mini Lesson

Partner Writing

6. Bring the whole group back together again. Ask ‘What information did you find in the

biography books you read?”

7. As students share their findings, add their ideas to your class chart. Your list might include:

Day 5: Gathering Information: Writing Interview Questions

1. Review yesterday’s chart showing the type of information we find in biography books.

2. Tell students that today they will get ready to interview (or research) the people they will be

writing about.

3. Ask students to think about what kinds of questions we can ask the people we are writing

about to encourage them to tell us about the important things that have happened in their

lives.

Peer Sharing

Information Found in Biographies:

When and where the person was born

What they were like as a child

Things that happened to them when they were young

What job they worked when they got older

Bad things that happened in their life (obstacles)

Good things that happened in their life

Things that are important to them

Mini Lesson

4. Allow students to talk with a partner about ideas for interview questions. As they share their

ideas, shape their responses to create the following interview questions:

(A handout is included at the end of this unit for students to use when conducting their interviews.)

5. Read the questions several times with the students to make sure they will be able to read the

questions when they interview their person. The person may help the child write their

answers, if they wish.

6. Have students share with a partner who they will be writing about and when they think they

will interview this person.

Note: You may need to help facilitate some of your students’ interviews with teachers, coaches,

etc. You may want to write a short letter explaining the biography project and the reason why

your students are asking these questions. See the attached letter.

Interview Questions:

When were you born? Where were you born?

What were you like as a child?

What do you enjoy doing as an adult?

What obstacles have you had in your life?

What important things have happened in your life?

Partner Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 6: Ways that Biographies are Organized

It will take a few days for all children to conduct their interviews and bring their information to

class. In the meantime, you can proceed with the following 2-3 lessons and the children can

begin working with their information when it is available.

If students chose a famous person or a person from history for the topic of their biography, the

teacher or a parent helper will need to help these students find books or internet sites where they

can find answers to the research questions.

1. Tell students that once they have gathered some information from the person they will be

writing about, they will have to decide what information to include in their report and how it

will be organized.

2. Show a few published biographies and tell them that

these biographies are organized in two different ways. If

a Table of Contents is available, highlight how the Table

of Contents shows these two different ways.

3. One way to organize biographies is by topic. Model

creating a Table of Contents using your mom as your

subject and organized by topic. Be sure to emphasize

that the topics will be determined by the information the

person provides during his/her interview.

4. Another way to organize a biography is chronologically,

or by time. Show an example of a Table of Contents organized by time, if one is available.

Model organizing your Table of Contents chronologically.

5. Provide several different types of biographies (books and pages from websites for students to

examine.

6. Model for students how you don’t really have to read all the words in the entire book or

website page to figure out how the information is organized. Often the section titles or

subheadings will provide clues. Sometimes the first sentence of each paragraph will provide

the clues. Students should also look closely at photos, timelines, and other graphic features

that are a part of the biography.

7. Provide several different types of biographies (books and pages from websites.) Students

work with partners to read and determine how the biographies are organized. Provide Post-it

notes for students to label the biography ‘Chronological’ or ‘By Topic’.

Mini Lesson

Partner Reading & Writing

Topic: Mom

Table of Contents (topic)

1. Favorite things 2. Places visited in world 3. Dreams 4. Sad Moments

OR

Topic: Mom

Table of Contents (chronological)

1. Young years 2. Schooling 3. Getting Older 4. Present Day

8. Students should talk to their partners to explain how they know the biography is organized

chronologically or by topic.

9. Confer with partner groups or call together a small guided writing group to help students who

are having difficulty.

10. Students share their findings with the class. Be sure to ask them to explain how they know

the biography was organized chronologically or by topic.

Days 7-8: Biographies Include Details

1. Have a few students who have completed their interviews share two pieces of information

they learned about their person with the class.

2. Remind students of the two different types of Table of Contents you wrote yesterday.

Explain that each title in the Table of Contents will be a different chapter in your biography

book. Model, using your example Table of Contents, how authors add details to each chapter

using a web graphic organizer.

Peer Sharing

Mini Lesson

3. Be sure to emphasize for students that all the details they add must be true information. In

addition, it is important to model adding details that are interesting and will be important to

the reader.

4. Have students work with the same partners from yesterday to examine the same biography.

Today they will find details that the author added to each chapter.

5. If the biography does not have a Table of Contents, suggest that students write a Table of

Contents to show the way the biography is organized.

6. Have students look for one or two details that the author added to each chapter. Students may

create a small web on a Post-it note showing the details found in each chapter.

7. Choose a few students to share their findings with the whole group.

Day 9: Choosing Appropriate Tools for Organization - Chronological

Depending on how many students have completed their interviews or their research, you may be

ready to proceed with this lesson. If you need more time for students to conduct their interviews

or research, you can spend another day or two having students share the information they learned

from their interviews and studying mentor texts to determine how they are organized and what

details the authors chose to include. This is not wasted time! As students read more of these

mentor texts, they will internalize the organization and types of details that make biographies

interesting.

1. Have a few students who have completed their interviews or research share two pieces of

information they learned about their person with the class.

Peer Sharing

Partner Reading and Writing

Mini Lesson

2. Remind students that they have learned that biographies can be organized in two different

ways, chronologically or by topics. Have students quickly share with a partner what it means

when biographies are organized chronologically.

3. Today, you will model the chronological sequence.

4. Remind students of the Table of Contents you created for a biography about your Mom.

Draw their attention to the chapter titles for a chronological sequence.

5. Tell students that if their biography is organized chronologically, they will need to write their

sentences in order, from when the person was born and their childhood years, to important

events during their years in school, to events that occurred when they were an adult, to the

present day or death.

6. Remind them of the detail webs you created for each chapter in your biography. Tell them

that they will create detail webs for each chapter of their biography, based on the information

they learned in their interviews or in their research.

7. Students will write their own Table of Contents based on the information they learned from

their interviews.

8. They will create detail webs for each chapter in the Table of Contents. Students may create

their detail webs on half sheets of paper or large Post-it Notes.

9. You may need to provide a template paper for students who are struggling with the

organization. Teacher should use this time to conference with students or provide additional

instruction in a guided writing lesson. A template for struggling writers:

10. Choose a few students to share their work with the whole group.

Peer Sharing

Independent Writing

Day 10: Choosing Appropriate Tools for Organization – Topic

1. Have a few students who have completed their interviews or research share two pieces of

information they learned about their person with the class.

2. Remind students that they have learned that biographies can be organized in two different

ways, by topics or chronologically. Yesterday you showed them how to organize their

information chronologically.

3. Today, you will model the organization by topic. After today’s lesson, students will be able

to choose whether they want to organize their information chronologically or by topic.

4. Remind them of the Chapter titles you created for your mom that were organized by topic.

The topics were based on the information you collected about your mom.

5. Explain how their writing will look if their biography is organized by topic. They will need

to put the main idea first with the supporting details underneath. They will need to decide on

topics that make sense for the person they will be writing about.

6. Tell them that once they have determined the topics for their Table of Contents, they will

create details webs for each chapter. Their detail webs will include the information they

learned in their interviews or in their research.

7. Students may decide whether they want to continue with the Table of Contents they began

yesterday (chronological) or whether they want to create a new Table of Contents organized

by topic.

8. Students will write their own Table of Contents based on the information they learned from

their interviews or their research.

9. They will create detail webs for each chapter in the Table of Contents. Students may create

their detail webs on half sheets of paper or large Post-it Notes.

10. You may need to provide a template paper for students who are struggling with the

organization. Teacher should use this time to conference with students or provide additional

instruction in a guided writing lesson.

11. Choose a few students to share today’s work with the whole group.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Days 11-12: Adding Details

1. Tell students how proud you are of the way they are writing their Tables of Contents and

detail webs to plan their biographies.

2. Explain to students that writers have to make decisions about what information to include in

their biography reports. We want the biography to be interesting and we want our readers to

be excited about reading our biographies.

3. Ask students what kinds of details are interesting for readers? Encourage them to use

examples from their interviews or their research.

4. Explain that biographies are more interesting when we include details that are surprising,

important, or emotional.

5. In addition, it may be helpful to review the previously made chart, “What does it mean to

write more/tell more?”

6. Students continue writing their Table of Contents and adding details to their webs.

What are interesting details?

Something surprising

Something unique

Something that makes you laugh or cry

Something important

What Does It Mean To Write More/Tell More?

Tell what it is (give examples)

Describe (give a picture to the reader)

Tell when

Tell why

Tell where

Tell what happens

Tell your feelings

Tell more to make it BETTER (not just longer)

Independent Writing

Mini Lesson

7. Teacher should use this time to conference with students or provide additional instruction in

a guided writing lesson.

8. Choose a few students to share with the whole group.

Days 13 – 15: Drafting

1. Tell writers that they have made some excellent plans for their biography books.

2. Today they will begin to draft the pages of their biography booklets. Show them the pages

and covers from which they may choose to create their booklets.

3. Using your own booklet, show them how each item in the Table of Contents now becomes a

separate page in their booklet. The detail webs will help them remember the sentences they

will write on each page.

4. Each page should include a space for them to draw a picture. Explain that writers draw their

pictures first, because they often think of details they can add to their writing while they are

drawing their pictures.

Mini Lesson

Writing Conventions: Complete Sentences, Capitalization, Punctuation

Teacher should provide explicit instruction and modeling of the writing conventions during modeled

and shared writing. In addition, teacher should keep anecdotal notes to guide further instruction in

small group and individually.

Writing Conventions: Adverbs

Teacher should provide explicit instruction and modeling of the writing conventions during modeled and shared writing. In addition, teacher should keep anecdotal notes to guide further instruction in small group and individually.

Peer Sharing

5. Over the next few days, students will use their Table of Contents and detail webs to draft

their biographies. Each item in the Table of Contents should be a separate page in their

biography book.

6. The details they planned in their webs will help them remember the sentences they will write

on each page.

7. Writers will draw their illustrations for each page. The details they add to their illustrations

will help them think of details they can add to their writing.

8. Students will be working at a variety of places in their booklets. Teachers should check in

with students to ensure they are progressing at an adequate pace.

9. Conference regularly with individual writers or hold small group conferences to nudge

writers to do their best work and more.

10. Many students will also need help with writing more and telling more:

11. Each day, provide time for a few students to share with the whole group the work they are

completing in their biography booklets.

Possible conference questions include:

Where can I help you add interesting details?

How are you organizing your biography?

How can we change your details into sentences?

Independent Writing

What Does It Mean To Write More/Tell More?

Tell what it is (give examples)

Describe (give a picture to the reader)

Tell when

Tell why

Tell where

Tell what happens

Tell your feelings

Tell more to make it BETTER (not just longer)

Peer Sharing

Day 13: Adding to Our Details Through Revising

1. Show the students one of your pages you’ve drafted for your biography. Be sure to have

included some details that are boring.

2. Read aloud your example draft emphasizing for the students that you feel your writing is

lacking interesting details.

3. Ask students for their opinion and how they think you could improve your writing.

4. Tell them one way to revise our writing to make it more interesting is to add more specific or

lively language to the details.

5. Model adding adjectives, adverbs, or interesting facts to your draft. Have students continue

to help you revise your boring sentences.

6. Have students work in pairs to revise one page of their biography booklet by adding

adjectives, adverbs, or interesting facts to their writing.

7. Allow students to work on their biography independently.

8. Ask students to share how they improved their details or allow students to request help from

their peers in this stage of the process.

Mini Lesson

Peer Sharing

Independent Writing

Day 16: More Ways to Revise

1. Remind students of the work they began yesterday on revising their work.

2. Tell students that we know revising means, “I can make my work better!”

3. Review with the class the previously made chart on ways to revise.

4. Model for students revising a model draft by adding a word or sentence, omitting a boring

detail, and moving a sentence into a more appropriate place.

5. Tell students that today they’ll continue with their writing either drafting or beginning to

revise.

6. Allow students to share how the improved their work through revisions today. Have

students tell whether they added, omitted, or moved their writing.

Mini Lesson

Peer Sharing

Independent Writing

Ways to revise

Add more

Omit unnecessary or boring

information

Move words or sentences so

writing makes sense

Day 17: Editing Symbols

1. Remind students what they know about editing. Remember editing means, “I can make sure

others can read my writing!”

2. Review the previously made chart of editing symbols.

3. Introduce a new symbol to identify misspelled words. Model with students using your

editing symbols to edit your draft. Have students help you identify misspelled words,

missing or incorrect punctuation, lack of capitalization and words or letters that can be

removed.

4. Have students continue revising or, if ready, begin to edit. Place the chart with editing

symbols in a location for student use.

5. Gather students together and let them to share with a partner.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Editing Symbols

Make upper case

Delete

Insert Period

Check misspelled words

Day 18: Review of Peer Editing

1. Remind students that writers work with peers to help improve their work.

2. Review your previously made chart outlining how to peer edit and revise.

3. Add to the chart on revising with a partner. Tell writers that when we work with a peer we

take turns, listen carefully, give positive feedback, and try to help our peer make their writing

better.

4. Have children peer edit and revise with a partner. Have them use appropriate tools such as

post-its and editing pens.

5. Choose some students who have taken the advice of the minilesson, students who have

received or given positive feedback, to share.

Mini Lesson

Peer Sharing

Independent Writing

How to Revise a Piece with a Partner

-A writer and editor read over the writing carefully.

-We ask:

Does this make sense?

How can we fix it?

What can we add?

-We take turns.

-We listen carefully.

-We give positive feedback.

Day 19: Editing and Revising

1. Today students will continue to edit and revise either independently or with a partner.

2. As students continue to work on their biography, you should conference or provide

instruction in guided writing lessons. Remember that guided writing is an opportunity to not

only meet with students who are struggling but also to extend learning for your most

proficient writers.

3. Choose some students who have received or given positive feedback to share with the whole

group.

Mini Lesson

Possible conference topics:

What can you add, omit, or move to help

make your writing better?

What tools can I use to help with my

spelling?

What details can I improve on, add, or

omit?

Technology Integration: As students work through the revision process, it is a good time for them to

begin typing their drafts. Assign Learning.com® lessons to help prepare them for this: “Creating

Documents” and “Formatting Text.” For many students, it is recommended that you also assign First

Grade lessons on “Introduction to Keyboarding.”

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 20: Adding Text Features

1. Remind students that this year, they have studied non-fiction writing and the special features

that can be found in it.

2. Ask students to name some of those non-fiction text features or review charts/class books

that contain them.

3. Using mentor texts, show that in biographies we often find some of the same non-fiction text

features we are familiar with, as well as a few others.

4. Create a chart of non-fiction text features in biographies and provide an example with each

feature.

5. Have students talk with a partner about which non-fiction text features they want to include

in their biography. Teacher should have a requirement for a specific number of non-fiction

text features to be assessed on the biography rubric.

6. Allow students to work on their biography independently, possibly creating their non-fiction

text features.

Allow students to share which non-fiction text features they have begun to work on.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Non-fiction text features:

Table of Contents

Timeline

Photographs

Captions

Family Trees

Index

Day 21: Publication: Mentor Texts

1. Tell students that they are beginning to prepare for publication. Remind them that when we

publish we do our very best work to share with others.

2. Have a wide variety of biographies available for students to examine. Encourage students to

look at the biographies for creative ideas they can include in their biographies.

3. Afterwards, create a chart of what the students noticed in the biographies. Provide the list

and encourage students to include special features in their biography to make it more

appealing to the reader.

4. Tell students that today they’ll continue with their publishing. Provide a variety of materials

such as paper, pens, markers, and magazines.

5. Have students leave their work out for other students to walk around and examine the

different ways they are publishing.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Special Features for Publishing

Borders

Different Fonts

Colorful pictures

Captions

Text set around photos

Days 22-24: Publishing

1. Over the next few days, students should continue to publish their biographies.

2. Encourage students to use mentor texts, anchor charts, peer’s work, and their own creativity

to create a final product.

3. Students may also bring in artifacts from home to include in their final, published

biographies.

4. With the class, teacher should create a biography rubric. This rubric should guide students as

they finish up their work to ensure that they do quality work, including all necessary

elements such as strong organization, interesting details, non-fiction text features, and a clear

understanding of what a biography is.

5. Students continue to publish their biographies, using mentor texts, anchor charts, peers’

advice, and the class rubric.

6. Teacher should continue to conference and guide students during these days. In addition,

teacher may conduct other mini-lessons determined by students’ needs.

7. Students who have finished publishing may want to create invitations to your publishing

celebration or help edit peers’ work. Be sure that students throughout these days are using

time efficiently and are held accounable for completing their final pieces.

Possible conference topics:

How can you make your published piece more

interesting?

What special features can you add to your biography?

I’d like to help you work on your spelling and writing

conventions.

Writing Conventions: Pronouns, Complete Sentences, Capitalization, Punctuation

Teacher should provide explicit instruction and modeling of the writing conventions during modeled and shared writing. In addition, teacher should keep anecdotal notes to guide further instruction in small group and individually.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Day 25: Authors’ Publishing Party

1. Today students will celebrate their completed biographies.

2. Invite parents, other classes, fellow teachers, and friends to read and celebrate your student’s

hard work.

3. Publishing parties may be organized in a variety of formats. Teacher may consider having a

tea party, scavenger hunt using student books, or reading circles.

4. Be sure that guests provide feedback to students on their hard work and provide time for

students to read their feedback.

Dear Parents or Guardians,

We are beginning a writing unit on biographies. Your child has chosen to write a

biography about ____________________________. We are asking for your help

to find the time for your child to interview this person. The interview questions are

attached. We’d like your child to ask the questions and write the answers as much

as possible by him/her self. However, you or the person being interviewed may

want to help with writing the answers. Please be sure the child knows what you

are writing and can read the information you write on the interview page.

Thank you for helping with this important project. We will share our final product

with you soon!

_____________ (Teacher’s Name)

Student Writer: __________________________________________________

Person Being Interviewed: ________________________________________

Interview Questions for My Biography Report:

When were you born? Where were you born?

What were you like as a child?

What do you enjoy doing as an adult?

What obstacles have you had in your life?

What important things have happened in your life?