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Lewis & Clark:  Rediscovering our past!
Lesson 2

Title:  "Bringing Biographies to Life with Paper People"

Grade Levels: 4-7 (teacher can adjust to meet grade level needs)

Subjects: Language Arts, Social Studies

Learner Outcomes:

• Students will know how to access Internet sites.
• Students will choose a person from the Lewis & Clark Expedition to research and learn how to create a biography on that person.
• Students will create a "paper person" in the image of the person they researched.
• Students will be able to give an oral or written biography report.

Duration: Approximately  10  40-minute class periods.

Materials:

• Large roll of brown craft paper
• Miscellaneous "decorating" supplies (crayons, markers, fabric scraps, yarn, beads, etc.)
• Scissors and glue

Technology Tools/courseware:

• Internet ready computers
• Word processing software
• Printers

Teacher Notes:

• The teacher should make sure that all students understand what a biography is before beginning this lesson.
• The teacher will need to help students choose a person from the list of people who were on the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition.
• The Men of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
• A Roster of the Lewis & Clark Expedition
• The Corps
• The teacher may want to give specific directions on how to search web sites for the students.
• Basic Web Searches  and  Web Search for Kids by Librarians
• Students should have basic word processing skills for this lesson.
• Basic Microsoft Word Tutorial

Procedures:

• The teacher will review the term "biography" and what it means.
• The teacher will direct students to the following sites to get listings of all those who participated in the Lewis & Clark Expedition.  From this list, the students will select a person on whom they would like to create a biography from their research.
• The Men of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
• A Roster of the Lewis & Clark Expedition
• The Corps
• The teacher will direct students to the Biography Maker web site to help create their biography using a word processing program.
• Once the students complete their biography, they can then create the visual to go along with their work.  The directions for "paper people" is at this site.  Paper People

Modifications:

• Students not able to do independent reading, research, and writing may be given a book on their reading level that tells the story of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.  They may either draw a picture about the journey or give a short oral report to their teacher or class.

Enrichment Activities: 

• If students would like to learn more about a very special member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition (Seaman, the Newfoundland dog), they can click on the following links. Our Dog   and   "My Dogg"

• The written biographies can be used as an assessment tool for Language Arts and Writing Skills.
• The "paper people" project can be used as an assessment tool for Visual Arts and also for Language Arts (oral/written report).

West Virginia IGOs:

• Language Arts:  4.16, 4.17, 4.19, 5.15, 6.27, 7.16
• Fine Arts:  (Visual Art) 6.14, 6.20
• Social Studies:  4.4, 4.40

• Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.

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Overview of Lesson

Lesson 1 Introduction to the Lewis & Clark Expedition!

Lesson 2 Bringing Biographies to Life!  (Paper People)

Lesson 3 Creating a Journal and picking supplies for the trip!

Lesson 4 Taking a virtual Expedition with the Corps of Discovery!

Lesson 5 Animals and Plants and Birds... Oh, my!

 Created by:
Jan Madden
Nicki Melissinos
Tammy Taylor
Marshall County Schools - Sherrard Elementary School and Union Junior High School