5th grade biography unit

• ELEMENTARY TEACHING , INTEGRATED CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES

Teaching Biographies To Elementary Students (Grades 1-5) in 2024

Teaching biographies can feel intimidating at first, but once you have a solid understanding of the genre, a roadmap of how to teach it, and teaching resources and activities, it’s easy! This post will equip you with all of that and more! You’ll feel prepared (and maybe even excited) about teaching biographies (especially if you are using this biography project and these biography activities )!

The Benefits Of Students Reading Biographies

There are so many benefits of teaching biographies and autobiographies! Readers are transported into that person’s life. They learn all about the person’s achievements, struggles, culture, life lessons, and personality. Biographies can also teach us about the world through the eyes of the subject while allowing the reader to make connections to them. Most students can find biographies they enjoy when they find people to read about that connect with their likes and dislikes to top it off. 

How To Introduce The Biography Genre To Students

The easiest way to introduce and teach biographies is by gathering as many biographies and autobiographies as possible from your classroom library, school, and public library. Make sure that all the books you collect are around your student’s reading levels. This idea works for any theme.

Then, set out the books you collected on each of your students’ tables and have them explore. Ask them to write down what they notice. What do all the books have in common? Have students write down their findings on chart paper. 

Next, have each table share with the class what they noticed. They should come up with some ideas like: 

• They are all about people.
• The person accomplished something big.
• They all include essential dates or a timeline of the person’s life.
• They included real pictures or illustrations of the person.
• The books all tell factual information, and there are no made-up stories.

Lastly, tell students that books with these characteristics are called biographies or autobiographies. Be sure to tell students the difference between biographies and autobiographies too. Create an anchor chart to hang up for students to reference throughout your biography unit! 

4 Ideas For Biography Mini Lessons

After introducing biographies, try one of these mini-lesson ideas for teaching biographies! 

• Have students pick a person they are interested in learning more about. Then have them find books about the person and complete a research project about that person to present to the class. You could even take it a few steps further and have students share what they learned in costume as the person they researched in a wax museum activity! 
• Have students create a social media page of the person they learned about in their biography
• Have students read about a person of interest, and then write journal entries as that person. 
• You could make it seasonal! Around fall, have students paint a pumpkin like a person they read about and present important events or accomplishments as they share their pumpkin. In spring, students could make biography flowers where the center was a photo of the person, and the petals are important events and accomplishments. 

Strategies For Using Mentor Texts To Model Reading Biographies

Teaching biographies is simple when you use these strategies!

First, pick any biography or autobiography mentor text and read it aloud. Ok, maybe not ANY. Be sure to choose one that will be engaging to your students. Think about the things they enjoy and go from there. I love picture books because students can generally read them in one session. (Make sure you preview the text first and mark with sticky notes to remember to stop and discuss during the read-aloud!)

Stop at important dates, accomplishments, life lessons, or significant life events to discuss. I even stop to discuss any figurative language or text features included. This will help students with both reading and writing! Students generally have TONS of connections to share during biography read alouds that lead to great conversations. 

How To Teach Students To Write Biography Reports

One way to help students learn how to write biographies is to write their first one about themselves! Students can brainstorm what should be included in their biography by creating a timeline that includes important events in their life. Then, they use the timeline to help them write their biography in chronological order. You can model this with a biography about yourself on an anchor chart for students to use if they need help. This is also an excellent way to get to know each other at the beginning of the year! 

When it comes to writing biographies about other people, students need to have read several biographies to get an idea of how authors organize this type of writing. When you read aloud, be sure to point out that authors of biographies generally write the story of the person’s life from beginning to end. So students will need to be familiar with sequential order/chronological order text organization. Have students fill in a timeline when you model during read alouds. Point out that biographies usually focus on a part of the person’s life that taught them a life lesson. This biography project and biography activities are great resources for teaching biographies.

Resources for Teaching Biographies

Here are some resources for teaching biography:

1. Biography Project for Elementary Students

Are you looking to begin using a biography project ? Perhaps you are just looking for something better than you already use. If so, this is the resource you need! It is a great resource for teaching elementary students about biographies.

This is a great project to complement a genre study of biographies, an author study, social studies concepts and more. I’ve recently updated the entire product so that it now includes an option to do the Living Biography Museum where families come into school and the students “perform” in character OR can instead be used simply as an independent research project in class or as a homework assignment.

The twist is that instead of having the students dress in costume (which can be a hassle for the parents since most kids can’t put their own costume together) they make a poster board costume with a space for their head to pop through.

A-DOR-ABLE!!!

In the past I’ve done the living museum and had students prepare a brief speech to recite in character. This year I opted to send it home as a homework project and will instead take their photos with their poster board and display them with the written report.

This download now includes BOTH the original version and my new and improved updated version as well. If you have high achieving students who need enrichment this is a perfect activity for them to do on their own or you can use it with an entire class. It’s ideal for grades 2-5.

This biography project contains everything you need to have your students complete a project of their very own to present in class or at a Living Biography Museum.

What is included in this biography project?

Make teaching biographies fun by incorporating this biography project , which includes the following:

• Grading rubrics / criteria checklist
• Graphic organizer to plan writing
• Graphic organizer to record sources
• Student writing pages
• Poster board visual directions 

5 Reasons Why Teachers Love It

Below are 5 reasons why teachers love using this resource for teaching biographies.

• This comprehensive biography project includes differentiated materials, so all you will be able to meet all of your students’ needs and your they will feel successful.
• The project makes a challenging concept accessible for elementary students.
• This resource facilitates a fun hands-on learning experience that offers opportunities for students to practice important skills without them even realizing it.
• This print and go resource will save you lots of time planning and prepping.
• It is aligned to the Common Core Standards, so it will give you peace of mind knowing your students are practicing important grade level skills.

How to Implement the Project in Your Classroom

You can either do a Living Biography Museum where families come in to school and the students perform in character or it can instead be used simply as an independent research project in class or as a homework assignment.

How I Used the Resources in My Classroom to Teach Biography

We had so much fun making these bio poster boards.

As a bonus, the kids learned a ton.

I started by having them complete oodles of activities from my biography activities packet which acquainted them with a whole bunch of famous folks.

Then I had them work in teams to research Benjamin Franklin. They had discussions about why he was famous. They talked about his accomplishments. Finally, they each wrote about him in the 1st person and performed a monologue as if they were Ben.

To make it oh-so-much-more-fun, I gave them each a poster board to use as a “costume.”

I’m now having them each select their own historical figure of choice to repeat the process as an independent project at home.

I seriously loved this project. The kids did too.

They enjoyed walking around wearing their poster boards and singing, “Who flew a kite in a storm and made history… Ben Franklin Square Pants.”

They also enjoyed having “conversations” with each other while wearing the poster board.

Kid 1: Hey Ben

Kid 2: Yo Ben

Me: **Listening carefully how this conversation is going to go.**

Kid 1: Ben, I really liked how you proved lightning was electricity.

Kid 2: Thanks Ben. You know you’re awesome, right? I mean, you signed the Declaration of Independence and all.

Kid 1: I know dude, right? I totally rock!

And then there was the boy who did a stellar job with his presentation… and then ended it by yelling, “Thank you Philadelphia. Ben Franklin has left the building.”

Third graders make me laugh.

2. Biography Activities for Elementary Students

These biography activities are great resources for teaching biographies to elementary students. It provides teachers with no prep printable biography activities that can be used over and over when studying any person.

This unit was designed to enhance the study of individuals. The activities can be used as part of a genre study or within the content areas. I have also used them with author studies and have had the children complete them as autobiographies about themselves.

What is included in this resource?

This biography activities resource includes 7 activities. Learn about them below!

1. Biography Poster

Students gather information about any individual and use their research to create an 8.5 x 11 inch poster. The poster has spaces to record the person’s name, date of birth, place of birth, interesting facts, reasons of importance and character traits. They then draw a portrait of their individual.

2. My Life in Pictures: A Scrapbook Biography Project

To complete this biography, activity the student will take on the role of the individual they are studying. The student can either draw illustrations or print and attach photos highlighting important parts of the individual’s life. The student then writes captions. This biography report is so much more fun than writing an essay and more pages can be added as enrichment.

3. Top-Down Topic Web

This graphic organizer shows the relationships to the main idea and details. They represent main ideas in a hierarchy. These research-based tools help the students to comprehend what they have read because it organizes ideas in a systematic, visual graph.

4. The Important Book Biography Activity

The Important Book is a great book for teaching students about writing patterns. This activity was modeled after the format of that book and was designed to encourage students to identify key, important facts about the person they are studying. It makes a great bulletin board display.

5. Body Biography

A Body Biography project is a combination of artwork and writing. The packet includes a poster to use as directions or to display with the students’ completed biography projects. They complete sections such as a speech bubble with a quote by the individual, a thought bubble to show what they have thought about, shoes labeled with places the person has been, a heart filled with character traits. They then draw objects in the hands that relate to the person and create a background that tells the viewer more about the historical figure.

6. Timeline Biography Report

Unlike a lengthy written report, this is a creative way to showcase important events in the person’s life. Students identify key moments and tell about them in words and pictures. They are added to a foldable accordion booklet in sequential order.

7. I AM Poem

An I AM Poem is typically completed as an autobiography. I also have my students do one about themselves to learn more about them. The format is also great for showing what they know about a person they have learned about. The students take on the role of that person to write the poem in the first person.

• These biographies activities are high-interest for students, so they’ll be motivated to learn through reading and researching.
• This comprehensive resource includes differentiated materials, so all you will be able to meet all of your students’ needs and your students will feel successful.
• Your principal, colleagues and school librarian will be impressed by the creative methods of sharing learned information and the integrated learning that takes place.
• The resources can be used with an biography study and be used over and over again.

How to Implement it in Your Classroom

It’s part of our social studies curriculum and technically it is a study of Massachusetts Biographies, but we began learning about the genre with a mini-study of Martin Luther King Jr.

I read several picture books and the students buddy read a free printable reader from A to Z.

We created a top-down web listing information that we learned about MLK.

Then I read The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown, and the students completed an activity I created for my biography packet that was inspired by the book. They used the same format as Brown’s book to compose their own version, “The important thing about Martin Luther King Jr. is…”

Finally, each of my friends made a portrait of MLK using the directions from TLC. They came out crazy cute. I hung each of them up even though I’ll probably take them down and send them home soon. They were just too adorable not to display.

Today, we did another activity (The I Am Poem) from the biography activities packet and a craftivity to go with it. I really feel like I am able to get to know my students on a completely different level through projects like these. They really open up and share such sweet ideas and insight into who they are.

3. Biography Picture Books

Belo are 4 high-quality biography children’s books for elementary students.

1. Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport

Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport is a nonfiction picture book that teaches children about the life and dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Students will learn what life was like for Martin growing up and how he became a leader in the fight for equal rights.

Throughout the book, the author includes actual quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. This book explains how Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged people to use their words to make change and the impact he had on the country. This story follows Martin all the way from childhood through the end of his life.

I liked this book so much I added it to my Starts With a Story collection! Grab these Martin’s Big Words activities to deliver a highly engaging and purposeful interactive read aloud!

2. The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

The Story of Ruby Bridges details the struggles that six-year old Ruby Bridges endured when she was chosen to attend an all-white, segregated school as a black girl.

All of the other students’ parents pulled their children out of school because of her, and so she was forced to attend class all alone. She was escorted by U.S. Marshalls every morning, as she had to listen to jeers and insults being thrown at her while she was entering the school.

Despite these hardships, Ruby’s courage through non-violent actions did so much for the civil rights movement, and later that year, two white boys started to attend school with her. This inspirational true story teaches children that, no matter what age you are, anyone can be a trailblazer for change.

I liked this book so much I will be adding it to my Starts With a Story collection! Grab these The Story of Ruby Bridges activities to deliver a highly engaging and purposeful interactive read aloud!

3. The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca

The story The Girl Who Thought in Pictures follows the life of Temple Grandin. The story starts off with Temple being born, and the doctors thinking that she needed to be sent away because she was different. Temple liked to watch things spin, did not like loud noises or crowds, anything that was itchy, or big squeezy hugs. She also did not talk until she was three. Temple got diagnosed with Autism. Her mom said that Temple was “different, not less.”

When Temple goes to school, the children there would tease her relentlessly. One day, Temple’s mom thinks that it would be better for Temple to stay on her aunt’s ranch. There, Temple finally feels comfortable and explores ways to help animals. Temple goes to college and gets three degrees! Now she travels the world giving speeches and spreading hope. She spreads the message that the world needs brains of all kinds.

I liked this book so much I added it to my Starts With a Story collection! Grab these The Girl Who Thought in Pictures activities to deliver a highly engaging and purposeful interactive read aloud!

4. Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre by Anika Denise

The sixth picture book on the list of books that are great for teaching biographies is Planting Stories . It is a biographical picture book about Pura Belpre, who was the first Puerto Rican Librarian in New York City. When she started working the library, she realized that there weren’t any of the stories and folktales that she was familiar with in Puerto Rico. She decides to share her stories during story hour and through puppet shows, and eventually publishes a book.

Pura travels across the country and from classroom to classroom planting her story seeds and educating about her homeland. When she returns to the library, she sees that her story seeds have bloomed and everyone is telling her stories. Students will love learning about Pura and how she shared her stories with children everywhere.

I liked this book so much I added it to my Starts With a Story collection! Grab these Planting Stories activities to deliver a highly engaging and purposeful interactive read aloud!

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5th Grade Biography Writing Unit {W.5.2.C, W.5.2.D, W.5.2.E}

This resource is delivered digitally. You will receive a link to download via Google Drive.

Description

This fifth grade Biography Writing Unit is just what you need to teach your students how to write a biography! This unit has kid-friendly rubrics, anchor charts, graphic organizers, and even centers! With the included mentor text and lesson plans, you will be able to effortlessly guide your students through writing a biography report!

When it comes to writing, there is so much we want (and need) to teach our students. However, we cannot focus on all of it all at once or we will cause our students to hate writing. I have broken this down into easy to implement lesson plans and have included all of the materials you need. This unit can be implemented at an easy pace—spread out over four weeks, or can be condensed to be taught in a shorter time period.

If you choose to have your whole class write on the same person , this informational unit even includes resources that can be used for student research. (Topic: Wilma Rudolph). However, you can also use this unit with a specific person of your choosing or by letting students choose their own person.

What’s Included in this Biography Writing Unit:

• Mentor Text (a biography report to teach from!)
• Rubric & Checklists
• 12 Easy to Implement Lesson Plans
• Graphic Organizers
• Posters (These anchor charts can also be printed and put in a writing notebook)
• 1 Non-Fiction Text (article) and 1 List of Websites (also as QR codes) for Student Research
• UPDATE: Now includes a digital (Google Slides) version of the resource! Learn more here .

Mini Lessons Taught: (W.5.2.C, W.5.2.D, W.5.2.E)

• What’s a Biographical Report?
• Brainstorm Topics and Choose a Person
• Finding Sources
• Important Life Events
• Outline Chronologically
• In My Own Words
• Using Linking Words and Phrases
• Writing a Rough Draft
• Writing a Conclusion
• Editing with a Partner
• Revising & Revisiting the Rubric

TEACHERS LIKE YOU SAID…

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐This resource is so great. It paired very well with my biography essays. I was able to give them grades for each different section and teach section very clearly! Thank you for your time and talent!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ WOW. This was the complete package and was perfect for what I needed! Lesson plans were well thought out and made it SO easy for me. My students loved the anchor charts they could glue into their notebooks and I loved the rubric attached. Wonderful, wonderful resource!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐I loved this resource. It was perfect for my small group of fifth graders working on their biography essays! Thanks!

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Biography Lesson Plan: An Introduction to Biographies

Submitted by: stacey lopez.

In this lesson plan which is adaptable for grades 1-5, students will use BrainPOP and/or BrainPOP Jr. resources to learn about biographies. Students will then select a person whose biography they would like to read (or watch a short video about on BrainPOP). Finally, students will write their own biography on a selected person.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Students will:.

• Define and explain what a biography is.
• Read or watch an example of a biography.
• Compose a biography.
• Computer with internet access for BrainPOP
• Interactive whiteboard (or just an LCD projector)
• Chart Paper
• Markers--variety of colors
• Sticky notes and pencils for students
• Biography template (optional)

Preparation:

Lesson procedure:.

• Explain to students that a biography of a famous person includes many facts. Ask them to take notes while they are watching either the BrainPOP Biography movie or the BrainPOP Jr. Biography movie. Explain that they will contribute to a class anchor chart about biographies.
• After the movie has finished, ask each student for a fact to add to the anchor chart. Alternate the colors to make it exciting. Students will be able to identify their contribution to the class anchor chart.
• Ask to students to read or watch a biography for a selected person in order to gather more information. Students could watch any of the BrainPOP topics in the Famous Historical Figures Unit or BrainPOP Jr. Biographies Unit , or read about the person's life in a book or online. Instruct students to take more notes while reading.
• Talk with students about the common features their biographies shared. What makes a good biography? Add to the anchor chart as needed.
• Each student may then write their own biography of another person using some of the facts that the class gathered.

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Biography Lesson Plans for a Unit You’ll Love

These biography lesson plans can take your unit from blah to outstanding! First, kids read biographies. Then they respond with graphic organizers, templates, and crafts. For the grand finale, students participate in a living history museum.

Ms. Sneed Finds Some Biography Lesson Plans

Our favorite fourth grade teacher opened the file for her biography unit . Her thoughts turned back to last year’s genre study . Sure, the activities engaged her students. However, she reflected, something was missing in the ELA unit . As she tapped her pencil absentmindedly, it came to her: continuity. Great parts. But they just didn’t fit together all that well.

“What I need is some great biography lesson plans,” she said aloud. She clicked over to TPT and did a quick search. Aha! Her favorite teacher-author had posted a free set of plans .

Biography Lesson Plans Introduce the Genre

As Ms. Sneed scanned the plans for the first day, she nodded her head. The class would read a biography picture book and explore elements of the genre.

Next, each child would choose an activity from a choice board . So far, so good! She liked the idea of reading and discussing together – then giving the kids options.

Students Read and Respond

Quickly, Ms. Sneed’s eyes moved to biography lesson plans listed for the next two days. Kids would read one long or more short biographies. Her eyes lit up. For each of those days, kids responded with an organizer or craft !

On the fourth day, students picked a specific person to research. Using differentiated templates , they spent the next four days recording information about that person.

Present a Wax Museum

During the last week or so, the biography lesson plans laid out a wax museum project . They created a timeline for their person. Then they turned it into a monologue and practiced. For the grand finale, each member of the class dressed as their famous person, stood in an open area, and greeted guests with their monologues.

Now Ms. Sneed was really grinning. “I can’t wait to show these biography lesson plans to my co-teacher!” she said. “They will make our unit cohesive – and compelling.”

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Bill Gates Biography Writing Unit | 5th Grade & 6th Grade

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A biography writing unit about the life and career of Microsoft founder, Bill Gates. The NO PREP unit has been split into four separate lessons and is perfect for students in fifth grade or sixth grade .

Included in this PDF printable resource:

• Four fact sheets which students need to cut out and sort into paragraphs
• Writing templates for four draft paragraphs
• Two prompt sheets for students to write their introduction and conclusion
• A template for students to write up their neat biography text
• A crossword puzzle & wordsearch activity to consolidate learning

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This resource is great for:

• In class learning
• Independent work
• Creative writing sessions
• Assessment practice
• Emergency sub plans

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The first lesson is interactive and involves students cutting out facts, and then sorting these facts into paragraphs. In the second lesson the students need to use these facts to write four paragraphs. Then, in the third lesson children need to choose the most important facts and include these in an introduction; after this they need to answer several questions on a prompt sheet before writing up their conclusion. In the final lesson students need to check their draft paragraphs for mistakes before writing up their work on to a neat copy on the template provided.

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• Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
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How to Write a Biography: Upper Elementary to Middle School

Writing a biography can be a daunting task. When students hear the assignment of writing a biography, they may have thoughts of long, boring essays or a tedious 10-page book report. There are various ways to tackle writing a biography, and they can even be fun in the process! Let’s look at some less intimidating ways to get your kiddos to write a biography, whether in elementary or middle school.

Step 1: Read a Biography

The first step for students before writing a biography is to read one. They need to see a real-life example before tackling their own biography assignment. Elementary students can read biography picture books or Who Was? biography novels. Biography picture books are especially interesting to students as the splendid pictures bring the person to life. 

Here are some picture books we recommend for younger students: 

I Am Rosa Parks by Brad Meltzer

The Girl Who Thought in Pictures by Julia Finley Mosca

On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne

Upper elementary students love the Who Was? novel series. These books are more challenging, contain some pictures, and are age-appropriate. We recommend:

Who Was? Anne Frank  by Anne Abramson

Who Were? The Tuskegee Airmen by Sherri L. Smith

Who Was? Selena  by Max Bisantz

Middle school-aged students can read a variety of biographies from sixth graders reading Who Was? to advanced readers conquering even adult biographies. Some biographies or autobiographies my middle school students have read and loved are: 

I Am Malala by Malala Youfsazai

Gifted Hands The Ben Carson Story by Gregg Lewis

Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland

Step 2: Research a Person

Once students have read a biography to gain an understanding of what one looks like and how it is organized, as well as more about the person they are learning about, they can complete research from the biography or autobiography. A simple graphic organizer to help students organize crucial information would suffice. Important information that the student should gather from their book includes: 

• Birthdate and Birthplace
• Death Date and Place If Deceased
• Childhood/Family
• Adult Family
• Major Accomplishments
• Major Obstacles
• Lessons we can learn from this person’s life

Step 3: How to Write a Biography Tips

As a teacher, you can provide choices for students or provide a project students can tackle. Some biography projects require students to write a biography in a different format than a typical essay.

Paper Bag Biography

For elementary grades, a paper bag biography book report is an interesting way to create a biography. Once students have read their biography or autobiography, they color the front of the paper bag with a picture of the person as well as display the person’s name. On the back of the paper bag is written the major accomplishments, obstacles, and a lesson learned from this person’s life.

On one side of the bag is written fun facts and on the other side is written basic information such as birthdate, birthplace, family, death date, etc. Inside the paper bag, students place varying objects that symbolize the life of the person and explain or write about them. 

Cereal Box Biography

This same concept can be completed with a cereal box. Students would utilize construction paper and glue over the cereal box instead. They can create a cute name for their cereal that coincides with the person they’re learning about as well. For instance, a biography about Sugar Ray Leonard, a professional boxer, could become Sugar Rays on a cereal box biography report. 

Pizza Box Biography

Speaking of food, a pizza box biography report is something I have utilized for years in the classroom. It combines creativity, art, and writing to display a biography. A simple Google search can give you tons of templates, instructions, and student sample pictures to choose from. I’m not certain of the original creator of this project, but it is amazing!

Students decorate the outside and inside cover of a pizza box with pictures and facts of their person. Next, they create a pizza out of construction paper and each slice displays important information. They can use their creativity to decorate each slice with toppings. Some students create a flap that goes over their slice of information and on the flap are toppings they’ve drawn such as mushrooms, pepperoni, and peppers. I am always impressed with how students use their creativity to design elaborate pizzas!

Here is the link to a FREE pizza box biography book report guideline I have used for years. 

Biography in a Can

Keeping with the theme of biography projects centered around food containers, have your students grab a clean chip or coffee can (with a lid). After reading a biography, students will decorate their can based on whom they’re learning about. We recommend the Who Is? , Who Was? and I Am books for this.

Next, students will use a graphic organizer to gather information from their book and then turn that research into an index card biography report. The various index cards are then stored inside the can for easy access for presentations. This project promotes independent student research, incorporates art, and is plain fun. It is definitely engaging for students.

Grab the whole project, including graphic organizers , index card templates , a pre-design sheet , and a rubric below. 

Grab your Biography Research Project today.

Our Biography Research Project will guide your students through Biography Research with ease. In addition, this unique research project helps them to learn more about important figures, as well as write and create some awesome biographies.

Bonus: Our Biography Research Project is a great way to display your students’ work for the admiration of parents, admin, and fellow students. Your class will be the envy of your school.

MLA Biography Essa y

As students move into seventh and eighth grade, there is a huge focus on learning to write an MLA essay. Because of this, I require students to write a biography essay or book report. Using a detailed template, students write their biographies. Each paragraph is thoroughly explained and chunked to display the life of the person they’re investigating. Here is a simple template of how I have seventh-grade students organize their biography essays:  

1st paragraph contains:

Title of your biography and the author’s name. The book is a biography of __________, who was born on (Date) ______________ in (Birthplace) ____________________. Why did you choose to read this book? Write a brief summary of their well-known accomplishments.

2nd, 3rd, 4th Paragraph contains:

A summary of their life. Make sure their life is in sequence. Tell of major life accomplishments, major disappointments, and major obstacles they faced. Tell of their childhood, adulthood, etc.

5th Paragraph contains:

What is the most interesting fact about this person? Explain why. How would you describe this person? If you could meet your person, what questions would you ask him or her? Why? Would you recommend this biography to a friend? Why or why not?

6th Paragraph: Conclusion Paragraph

What are the major life lessons a reader can learn from this person’s life? 

Step 4: Publish through Technology

Students can create biography presentations by using Google Slides , all the while utilizing pictures, quotes, and thematic decor to make their project come to life. Slidesgo.com is an amazing template resource in which students can make their presentations fit a theme and be a bit more aesthetically pleasing and exciting. 

Furthermore, Canva has a plethora of resources students can use to create biographies, from a standard presentation to infographics to creating an eBook . Canva is an awesome resource. It contains varying fonts, pre-loaded graphics, and the ability to upload pictures online. Canva has become a favorite tool of our students here lately!

Writing a biography can be challenging but in a great way! Reading biographies such as picture books to novels, this readily prepares students to conquer biography writing. By presenting options such as activities or a detailed template for an essay, students can feel interested and ready to tackle the world of biographies.

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Biography Unit of Study for Reading

Download this free biography unit of study for reading to help you introduce and work with biographies in the classroom.

This biography unit of study contains anchor charts, lessons, graphic organizers and more within this collection.

This is another free unit of study for teachers and homeschool families from The Curriculum Corner.

We enjoy reading workshop because it is a great way for teachers to help students explore different elements of literature. At the same time, we love that we are encouraging our students to build a love of reading. 

The Key to Teaching Biographies

Biography is a genre that can sometimes easily be neglected in classrooms with regards to informational text studies. We suggested giving it a try because it’s one that can be truly engaging for lots of students.

The key to getting students excited about a study of biographies is to have many relevant and appropriately leveled texts for all of your various readers.

You might even want to think about having a class discussion (or present an interest inventory) to find out who your students might be interested in learning about. 

Once you know their interests, take some time to visit your school and local libraries. Add to your book basket by picking up some favorites at your favorite used bookstore or ordering from Amazon. You will keep interest and engagement high if students are reading about people who are relevant to their interests and lives.

Starting with Immersion

We believe that immersing students in books and letting them develop their own “noticings” is a great way to begin many language art units.  

Be sure your collection of biographies includes a variety of options. You will also want to be sure that your collection contains as many of the biography text features as possible.

We have included a Biography Noticings Anchor Chart that you can use with your kids during or after their immersion experience. Or, you might choose to record your students noticings on a blank chart (which we have also provided).

What We Learn From Biographies is another tool you can use to get your students familiar with this genre. It is an anchor chart that contains characteristics of many biographies.

We have also provided two Find the Biography  resources that require students to distinguish between different genres.  Begin by giving small groups two different types of texts. You can give them literature & biographies OR give them biographies & another type of informational text. They will need to flip through the books to determine differences. They can write their ideas on the organizers.  If you don’t want them to write on these organizers, another thought would be to just have them do a similar activity with Post-It notes.

Yet another resource is our Biography Text Feature Checklist. This would be a good tool to use to facilitate a class discussion as you flip through some biographies together. Check off when you see the specific text features listed within the books. This is also provided in a black & white version with a space for student’s name in case you want to use it as a literacy center activity.

New to reading workshop? Start here and then come back to this unit: Preparing Your Reading Workshop

Read Alouds

Another way to get students familiar with the biography genre is to share them during your read aloud time.  Choose a few examples that will be of high interest to your students, but that might be above their reading level.  

As you read the books or chapters aloud during your regular read aloud time, you can touch on the ideas you are teaching during your reading block.

Focus On Author’s Purpose

You might want your students to think more deeply about why specific biographies have been written. Obviously the purpose of a biography is to inform, but thinking about the reasons an author has to write the biography can help students to determine importance.  

Our goal as teachers is to help students pull out the purpose. You can use this half sheet Focus on Author’s Purpose during a mini-lesson or at literacy center. There is also a page of Author’s Purpose Exit Slips you can use as a quick check.

An extension of this could be our  Biography   Search , which is intended to be used as a literacy center as well. Once students are able to determine why biographies have been written about specific people, then you could have them search through a stack of books to find different categories.

Thinking About Background Knowledge

Activating schema is an important part of students becoming strong readers. A goal for teachers is for our students to think about what they already know before learning new information.

We have created two Building Background  organizers for students to record their background knowledge. Choose the one that you feel best fits your specific students.

Gathering Important Information

Your students might no be ready to begin reading appropriately high interest biographies and gathering information to share.  We have come up with a few different ways for your students to begin to pull out important information from the biographies they are reading.

One way for students to begin focusing on important information from biographies is to have them begin to take simple notes.  Students need guidance so that they don’t copy complete sentences or paragraphs from books.   Biographies: When Will I Take Notes  is an anchor chart that will help them begin to figure out what to write when taking notes. If you have other ideas about how and when you want students to take notes, you can use our blank template to write your own ideas on.

Our  Life Outline resource is a simple way for students to break down personal information from the biographies they are reading into portions of time in a subject’s life.

We have also included nine different Graphic Organizers that you can introduce to your students as they begin to read.  These cover a range of skills.

There is also a cause & effect organizer that will get your students thinking about how particular events have affected the lives of the people they are reading about.

You might also want to try our set of Important Information Bookmarks . These can be used for students to mark text.

Students simply insert them into the book at the appropriate places. They then go back to them to share information with the class or to fill out one of the organizers.

Most biographies share the impact that others had on the subjects’ lives. These influences can be either positive or negative. Whichever case is true, we want students to be able to name those people who were crucial to the success or failure of the person and why.   

This task may be difficult for students, so we suggest that you choose a short, simple biography to read to the class. You will then discuss the influences in the subject’s life. Identify why they had a positive or negative effect. Finally, fill out one of our two organizers with the students so that they can understand their use.

Biography Reading Response Prompts

You can cut these 8 prompts apart, assign to students and glue into reading response notebooks.

Character Traits

While reading biographies you will want to focus on the character traits of the biography subjects.  Many times it is these character traits that serve as the author’s purpose.  

For materials to use in focusing on those traits, you can check out our Character Traits post. You will find a range of lists of character traits and activities to use during reading workshop.

Sharing Student Learning

You will want your students to be able to share their learning as they read and learn. There are so many different ways they can do this. Below we have shared some of our own resources and ideas.

Biography Brochure – This template can provide your students with an outline to create a brochure focusing on the individuals they are reading about.  Choose the template that fits your students.

Simple Biography Books –  Once your students have read many biographies, you might have them create simple books to share with younger students. We have created templates for both female and male subjects. You will find them with handwriting and standard lines.  You will find this download here: Simple Biographies – Books

Timelines – Of course biographies lend themselves well to student-created timelines. Our students always love using PowerPoint for timelines, but good old-fashioned posters are always great visuals too!

Wax Museums – Another popular way to share student learning for this genre is the Living Wax Museum. Students view pictures and dress up as their characters. They memorize as much as possible and stand at-the-ready to tell others about their lives.  These can be fun presented during the school day to other classes. Or, make it an evening event where parents would be able to watch.

You can download the PDF printables for this unit of study here:

Reading Download

We know that some teachers like to have the lessons above in a document they can easily print and add to their lesson plans. You can download these lesson plans here:

Lesson Download

A few of our favorite biography studies can be found below. These are each free and designed to be ready to go literacy centers.

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thank you so much for this great resource on biographies for grade 2.

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Education Standards

Autobiography Rubric

5th grade autobiography unit.

This is a lesson plan can be used to add technology to your classroom. Students will creae an Narrative autobiography in both a media form and a 5 paragraph essay. 

Students will be writing an autobiography in an in person lesson that requires them to learn and understand steps of an autobiography, publish a written copy, and publish a form of technology to go along with their lesson that will be presented to the class. Students can use pages, iMovie, or Garageband to create their technology piece.

Background for Teachers

To teach this lesson you will need an understanding of the 5th grade writing process as well as what needs to be taught to teach autobiography writing. You will also need a basic understanding of how to use pages, iMovie, and Garageband.

Step 1 - Goals and Outcomes

Step 1: Goals and Outcomes

Students will be able to write a 5 paragraph autobiography and present their life story to the class using a form of media/technology. 

Writing Standard 3

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.

Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events.

Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.

Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or event

Writing Standard 6

With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

Step 2 - Planning Instruction

Prior to beginning their autobiographies tell students that an autobiography tells the story of someone’s life written by that person. To get ideas flowing about their own life students can create an ABC list of things about themselves. Ex. A is for apples which is my favorite fruit. U is for Utah because that is where I live. Students could create this using words or pictures.

Step 3 - Instruction

Students will fill out a graphic organizer to plan their autobiographies. They should start with a brainstorm where they can reflect on who they are and what they want to include in their autobiography. Remind students they will be telling their life story in narrative form. When they tell the story it will flow in order from their first part of life, growing up, their family, to their next part of life like school, and friends, etc. 

Things they can brainstorm: 

Family Members

Favorite Family Memory

Hopes and Dreams for the Future

Interesting Facts about themselves

Schools attended and teachers

Current Hobbies and Talents

Favorite School Memories

Favorite things like; food, sport, school subject, candy, TV show, movie, book, restaurant, music, super hero. Etc…

Remind students a narrative should include:

Beginning: This is where you will introduce yourself. Remember you are to tell the story of your life, so go in chronological order. Tell events in the order they happened. 

Middle: Each body paragraph will progress to different major events in your life. Start with your family, school and friends, and end with what makes you unique. Remember to keep this in a narrative story-like format, of your life.

End: This is the conclusion of your autobiography. Here you wrap up your thoughts and leave lasting impressions with your reader. 

Their 5 paragraph graphic organizer should include:

Introduction: Introduce my name, age and where I was born. Include one or two interesting facts about myself.

First, 

This paragraph will be about my family. Dad and Mom, brothers and sisters. Tell a story about a favorite family memory. 

Next, 

This is about school and friends. 

Then, 

What makes me unique? Interesting story about something that has happened to me, 

In conclusion,

Where am I currently in life? What am I doing daily? Activities, jobs, sports…

*Once their graphic organizers are complete they will type a final copy.

Last: 

Students can use ipads, computers, or class ipods to take pictures of the things they want to use in their digital presentation. They may also bring pictures from home that they may want to use. Baby pictures, family events, etc. 

Students can then choose if they want to create a flyer in pages of their life, an imovie with pictures and descriptions of their life, or a podcast recorded reading of them telling their life story in Garageband. 

Step 4 - Assessments

Attached is a Rubric for the students 5 paragraph autobiography as well as the Rubric for their media presentation. Part of their assessment will also be presenting to the class. This is attached to the media presentation rubric.

Media Presentation Rubric for Autobiography

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