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 Biography
Pen Pal Project
  
Dear Parents and
Students,
As we begin our literature unit on biographies,
I have a really exciting project to introduce to
you! It’s called Biography Pen Pals! Each child
will choose a famous person to read a
biography/autobiography about. This can be
anyone, current or in the past, but we recommend
that you choose someone who has had a huge
impact on our world today. Students will
then be assigned to a person in another third
grade classroom to correspond with, via pen pal
letters. The pen pal letters will be written
from the perspective of the person they are
researching. For example, “My name is George
Washington and I was the first President of the
United States.” Students will not know
the real identify of the person they are
corresponding with!
There will be two
letters sent back and forth between now and the
end of April. The first letter is just a basic
letter explaining the accomplishments of the
person they've chosen. I will provide a basic
format for the letter, but it can be altered
creatively as your child would like to write it.
It can be typed or hand-written. It can be
published creatively or just on regular lined
paper. In the past, some students have stained
the letters with tea (with the help of a
parent), and then rolled it into a scroll to
make it look authentically old-fashioned, if
their researched person was historical.
The second letter
is going to be about the time period that their
chosen person lived. They’ll have to research
cars, technology, clothing, music, and any other
interesting fact. This research can be done via
internet, books, or however else you can get the
information! Again, I will provide a format and
note-taking forms for this part of the project,
but it can be done as creatively as you'd like!
Following the
second letter, we will have a celebration called
Biography Day, which is broken into two parts.
The first part is where the pen pals finally get
to meet each other! However, they have to be
dressed the part! They must bring a costume
to school that displays their character as best
they can. You do not have to go out and purchase
anything- just be creative! Students will
interview other historical and famous figures as
they move around the room looking for their pen
pals amongst 150 other children from seven third
grade classes!
Finally, at the
end of the Biography Day, the parents will be
invited for a Wax Museum display, in which
students will strike a pose that they feel best
represents their studied person, and will freeze
as a “wax statue” to allow parents to walk
through our Wax Museum and take pictures. Times
will be announced as it gets closer.
This project was
very successful in past years and we’re really
looking forward to doing it again! I want to
thank you in advance for your help at home, and
hope that you enjoy our final celebration!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Gold
Important
Dates To Remember…
Friday, March 13th:
Students should have chosen a person to research
and have their biography books ready to read.
Students must be prepared to tell me their
researched person on this day, or earlier.
Friday, April 3rd:
Our first letter will be completed to send to
our pen pals!
Monday, April 27th:
Our second letter will be completed to send to
our pen pals!
Thursday, April
30th:
Biography Day
Celebration!
(Times to be
announced)
Graphics by
Tea's Hope Chest |
