Mission Possible

As part of a project-based learning, I was invited to help 2nd graders research historical figures that showed good citizenship.  This is an important TEK in Texas Social Studies.  So I wanted to tie the lesson of learning about historical figures with a library skill aligned with AASL standards (American Association of School Libraries).

Find the lesson here: Historical Figures Teach Good Citizenship

For the lesson, students would be diving into a short (45 min.) research lesson, learning how to find biographies about specific historical figures in an online database, closely reading the short biography with a partner and drawing a conclusion of what character trait that person showed and giving evidence.

  

This was an undertaking, but well worth the time it took me to prepare the lesson and the effort both the teacher and myself had to give for the students to be successful.

Students were amazingly able to figure out the gist of what these historical people did and how it related to the good citizenship traits.  I won't lie, there was guidance... pointing to a specific paragraph, or showing read-aloud features, or trouble-shooting technology, but the kids really got the idea.

Each pair were able to complete a card, share what they learned with the group and conclude that learning about "old people" can help us learn to be good citizens.  The cards left over were sent back to the classroom to be added to a literacy center and blank cards were sent as well.  Students were encouraged to use the blank cards to add people they knew to the circle map in the classroom.  Of course evidence of the good character trait has to be included!

Biography Inquiry Jump Start

To jump start an inquiry research project I chose to start with a read aloud.  Duh, I'm a librarian.  The objective is to begin a research unit on importance of past United States presidents.  Instead of the typical, fact gathering research, my hope is to make the students think deeper and more at what really matters about the subject.
So, I started with a picture of the Washington DC Mall that maps out the Presidential memorials.  They noticed only 5 out of 44 presidents have a memorial.  I then read aloud Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman.  This biographical information book shares the life of Abraham Lincoln and ends with a look at his memorial in Washington, DC.  After listening I asked students to write about why they think Abraham Lincoln was one of the 5 presidents chosen to have a memorial.  This is the first of two lessons on biography inquiries.  The next lesson students will choose one of the other 4 presidents to learn more about. They will have to justify why they were also chosen to have a memorial on the Mall.