Miss Wahl’s 3rd Grade
Multigenre Biography Project
November 20, 2007
You’re Invited!
You are officially invited to Miss Wahl’s 3rd grade multigenre biography project! Get ready to
roll up your sleeves, put on your thinking caps and dive deep into the lives of famous people!
By the end of this project, you will be an expert on the person of your choice and will know
this person inside and out!
What is a biography?
A biography is a nonfiction genre that teaches the reader about a person’s life. This genre
includes true facts about the person from the beginning, middle, and end of his or her life.
Biographies are not always written about famous people. However, you will select a famous
person who you would like to learn more about.
What is a multigenre project?
A multigenre project is a research activity when you learn a lot of information about one
person, place, event, or thing. Instead of doing the same old boring book report, you will be
able to create different genres of writing to show what you learned about your topic. For
example, you might explain the events of a person’s life by creating a timeline, writing a
biography, describing pictures of the person’s life through captions, or creating a newspaper
article about that person.
What is a genre?
A genre of writing is a fancy word for a type of writing. Each genre has a specific purpose.
For example, the genre of a nonfiction book about sharks might be written to teach the
reader about the danger of sharks. Or the fiction fantasy genre of a Magic Tree House book
might be written to entertain the reader with an exciting adventure story to Africa. Genres
can come in several forms such as narratives, newspaper articles, memoirs, poems, songs,
diary entries, letters, recipes, and many others.
Your Assignment
 Select one famous person to research.
 Presidents
 Inventors
 Actors/Actresses
 Athletes
 Artists
 Singers
 Find three sources of information on the person of your choice. You may use books,
magazines, websites, or encyclopedias.
 Select three different writing genres that will help explain what you learned about your
person. Here are some examples of genres that you may use.
 ABC book
 Biography
 Newspaper article
 Photos with captions
 Letters
 Magazine article
 Report cards
 Poems
 Eulogy
 Marriage certificate
 Death certificate
 Timeline
 Diary entry
 Invitation
 Memoir
 Write one paragraph for each genre explaining why you selected that specific genre. For
example, if you created an ABC book, explain the reasons why you chose to make it.
 Think of a creative way to present your information. You may choose to create a poster,
a PowerPoint presentation, a scrapbook or notebook, or any other way to share your
information with others.
 Make sure that your multigenre project is presented neatly. You should check for spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, and neatness.
 Enjoy! I look forward to hearing all about your research!
Student Rubric
Multigenre Project Requirements
Possible Points
 Three sources of information used for _____/10
your research
_____/40
 Three writing genres that explain
what you learned about your topic
_____/20
 Completed graphic organizers were
used to sort your information
 One paragraph explanation per genre _____/20
about why you chose each genre (3
paragraphs in all)
_____/10
 Neatness, correct spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, and
creativity of presentation
Total Possible Points
_____/100