All projects are due no later than
Thursday, February 19th.
Don’t be late!
A biography tells the true story of a person’s life. A biography includes the following
characteristics:
1. Tells a person’s entire life story and how he or she felt and acted in his/her life
2. Includes basics such as dates of birth and death, family members, and key points of his/her life
3. Includes various aspects of the person’s life such as childhood, education, military service,
career, and important accomplishments
4. Describes the person's environment, where he/she grew up and lived
5. Provides anecdotes, stories, and details to show the person in action
6. Shows how the person affects other people
Choose a biography that has 100 or more pages and is at your reading level. Bring it to
Mrs. Timpke to be approved. Read it carefully and with enough time to complete your
project. If you have not had a book approved by January 9th, a book will be assigned. Do
one of the projects outlined. Include the information listed above when writing about the
person whose biography you read.
You may choose to do one of the following projects:
Picture Book Biography
Procedure:
1. Read your biography and take notes.
2. You may want to center on a specific achievement or event in your person’s life, or you may want to
focus on your person’s life up until the major event.
3. Get as much information as you can about this particular event.
4. Remember that you are writing for a younger audience when writing a picture book. Your words should
be appropriate. Your book should have at least 8 pages with no more than 3-4 sentences per page. Write
a rough draft of your picture book.
5. Edit your rough draft.
6. Using white computer paper, type or write out your story as you would want the pages to be read.
Remember that there will be a picture on each page. The words on that page should be able to have a
picture drawn about them.
7. Draw your pictures. Be sure to do it neatly and colorfully. Illustrations are a big part of a picture book.
8. Make a cover page for your book. Be sure to include the title and your name. This should also be done
neatly and colorfully.
9. Add a timeline at the end of the book. Remember, a timeline has evenly spaced intervals. There should
be at least 8 items on your timeline, beginning at birth and ending at death, or the present time.
10. Write a short summary of your person’s life to include on the back cover. Include a picture of your
person there as well.
Power Point Biography
Procedure:
1. Read your biography and take notes.
2. Decide what things are important to put in your power point. Your power point will be a kind of
timeline, taking us from birth to the present, or birth to death. You may want to add family and
important people in your person’s life.
3. Write a rough draft of the things you want to share in your power point. Write in complete sentences and
paragraphs.
4. Edit your rough draft.
5. Plan out your slides. You should have a minimum of 20 slides in your presentation. Be sure to include
an introductory slide. Don’t forget to include pictures and words on each slide.
6. Include a picture of your person somewhere in your presentation.
7. Using a computer, put together your power point presentation. If you do it in Office 365, you may share
it with me. Otherwise, save it to a flash drive or email to me.
Pizza Box Biography
Procedure:
1. Read your biography and gather important information.
2. Write a rough draft of your paragraphs. (8 in all!!) Be sure to cover a different topic in each paragraph.
Edit your rough draft.
3. Make a timeline of your person’s life from birth until death, or the present. Remember that timelines
have evenly spaced intervals. You should highlight at least 8 major events. This should go somewhere
on your pizza box.
4. Trace and cut a large tan circle for your crust. Divide the circle into 8 even triangular pieces. Copy your
edited paragraphs into the slices.
5. Trace and cut another, smaller, circle from red construction paper. Cut out one slice and attach to the
pizza with a brad. This way the paragraphs can be read by spinning the toppings around the outside of
the dough.
6. On the crust of each section, label the topic of the paragraph, such as “Education,” “Early Years,” or
“Accomplishments.”
7. Decorate the red construction paper to look like toppings have been added to the pizza. Be creative with
your toppings. Make sure it looks like a pizza that should be named after your person.
8. Decorate the outside of your pizza box to use as the cover of your biography. Include a picture of your
person.
Your project should be of good quality. Write neatly, use correct spelling and conventions, color
carefully. Take pride in your work! Be eager to share your excellent work with your class! I look forward
to seeing what you can do!
Name _____________________________
Reading Level (lexile) _______________
Title of Book _______________________
Book lexile level ___________________
This book has been pre-approved by Mrs. Timpke ________________ on ________________