Biography Research Project

September 29, 2016
Dear Parents,

Over the next few weeks, the upper elementary will be researching important notable men and women in history and will create a living wax museum on Halloween (Monday, 10-31-16).  Students will have time to work on this project in class, and we will research the time period, the lives of each individual, and the historical significance of their life events.  Students will need 3-5 scholarly resources, two of which must be books.  
We just returned from the library and the children are so excited to begin their research.  We have emphasized that this is their work and not work for the parents to do for them.  We have broken up this project into manageable steps so that the majority of it will be done in class.

Here is a brief overview of how you can support your student during each step of this research project:
❖Have discussions with your child about their research topic and guide them toward narrowing their focus.
❖Have ongoing discussions about your child’s research to help strengthen their understanding and help them begin using their own words for what they have learned.
❖Help provide support in finding scholarly resources on the internet. (They will have lessons and we will provide further guidance in this, but we don’t have as many computers as we would like, so it is helpful to give your child more time to hunt for appropriate resources at home).   The following link has a guide describing what is considered a scholarly source: http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/courses/scholarly1.htm
❖Read your child’s notecards and rough draft and have continuing dialogue about their research paper. (we will work on collaborative editing in class)
❖After the paper is complete, help with putting together a costume that matches their historical person of interest. This should be very simple—we do not expect expensive costumes (we will also provide some time for this in class).
❖Obtain a trifold project board or similar presentation material.
❖Attend our open house on October 31, from 10am-11:15!

It is imperative that each child do the majority of their work with as little outside assistance as possible.  Students will be compiling their research in class and receiving as much guidance as necessary in order to become competent and independent researchers.  Thanks in advance for your support!

Important Dates:
10/07
10 source cards and notecards are due.
10/19
20 cards completed from a minimum of 3 sources
10/21
Rough draft and bibliography are due
10/26
Final copy is due.
10/27-28
Bring presentation board to work on in class.
10/31
Wax museum. Join us from 10:00-11:15am.
Sincerely,

Ms. Liza, Ms. Cassie and Mr. Joe

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