Amazing Autobiographies

Grades: K-4
Curriculum Connections: English language arts/writing
Standards Connections: National Council for the Teaching of English/International
Reading Association Standards for the English Language Arts:

Standard 2: Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in

many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g.,
philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.

Standard 6: Students apply knowledge of language structure, language

conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative
language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

Standard 7: Students conduct research on issues and interests by

generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather,
evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and
nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that
suit their purpose and audience.

Required Software: Microsoft PowerPoint version 2002, the Office XP

presentation solution; Microsoft Excel version 2002; Microsoft Internet Explorer
5.0/5.5
What's in this Lesson:

Teacher Guide (including How to Begin)

Resources
Student Activity, Step-by-Step:
o Step A: Remember and Research
o Step B: Create Your Timeline
o Step C: Write Your Life Story
o Step D: Share and Compare

Teacher Guide
Summary: They say writers should always start with what they know--and for
children in the early grades, what they know best is themselves. With this
autobiography project, students build on that foundation to explore the basic
elements of narrative writing.
Objectives:

To select, explore, and order key events from one's life.

To write a basic autobiography based on selected life events.

To use technology tools to research, write, and share one's autobiography.

Prerequisite Skills:

Beginning research skills: formulating questions, gathering information

Basic writing skills: sentences and paragraphs
Introduction to Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel (teacher-assisted)

Time Allotted:

One to three class periods

How to Begin:
1. Use Internet Explorer to preview the Web sites listed under Resources, and
select those you would like your class to use. You can save copies of your
selected sites onto your computer hard disk by clicking Save As on the File
menu and selecting either Web Page Complete or Web Archive as your file
type. Or you can bookmark the sites for live Internet access by selecting Add
to Favorites from the Favorites menu.
2. If possible, gather and preview the recommended print material as well, and
make them available in your classroom library.
3. Under Resources, you will also see two Microsoft Office XP files--a Timeline
file in Microsoft Excel and a Milestones file in Microsoft PowerPoint.
a. Download each of these files to a location that is easily accessible to
your students, such as the shared drive of your classroom network or
a floppy disk that students can pass around.
b. Print out the Milestones file for your students to use in hard copy as
they research the dates and details of their life events.
c. The Milestones file will also serve as the basis for your students'
autobiography writing in Step C. Each student will be able to modify
the slide design and add or change various elements to personalize
the presentation. Younger students may need your help in making
these modifications for Step C.
4. Launch the project with a brief class discussion about autobiographies. Write
the word fragments "auto," "bio," and "graph" on the board. Lead your
students to an understanding of each:
a. If "auto" means "done by oneself",
b. and "bio" means "life",
c. and "graph" means "write",
d. then "autobiography" means writing one's own life story.
5. Show students some of the examples you've gathered of online and print
autobiographies. Read a few passages aloud.
6. Depending on your students' ages, you might also discuss the differences
between autobiography and biography, from a reader's point of view. What

kinds of things might you learn from reading a person's autobiography that
might not come through in a biography ... and vice versa?
7. Now tell students that they will be creating their own autobiographies on your
classroom computers, following a simple step-by-step process.
8. If you have access to a scanner, digital camera, or both, you can help
students add art to their autobiographies. Line up these resources if at all
possible, and let students know the process you want to follow for scanning
photos from their past or snapping pictures of their faces today.
9. Distribute copies of the Student Activity pages, and let the life-story-writing
begin!
RESOURCES
Famous Autobiographies Online
The old-fashioned language in these may make them challenging for younger
students, but how fascinating to hear from these historical figures in their own words!
Benjamin Franklin
http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/
Thomas Jefferson
http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/Jefferson/Autobiography.html
Abraham Lincoln
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/autobiog.htm
Booker T. Washington
http://docsouth.unc.edu/washstory/menu.html

Autobiographies in Print
Students love reading about their favorite authors, athletes, and others. The
selections here are diverse examples of the autobiographical form.
Louisa May Alcott, Louisa May Alcott: Her Girlhood Diary, Bridgewater Books,
1993
Eve Bunting, Once Upon A Time, Richard C. Owen Publishing, 1995
Eric Carle, Flora and Tiger: 19 Very Short Stories from My Life, Philomel
Books, 1997
Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Bantam Classic (reissue), 1991
Cal Ripken, Jr., Cal Ripken, Jr.: Play Ball! written with Mike Bryan, Dial Books
for Young Readers, 1999

Jackie Robinson, Breakthrough to the Big League: The Story of Jackie

Robinson, American Cavalcade (out of print, check your library)
Research Resources for World Events
Use these to help students find out what else happened in the world on one of their
milestone dates.
dMarie Time Capsule
http://dmarie.com/timecap/

Microsoft Office XP Tools to Download for This Project

Timeline, Microsoft Excel Version 2002 (27KB)

Milestones, Microsoft PowerPoint Version 2002 (134KB)

Student Activity
Description: What story could be more fun to write--and more interesting to read-than the story of your own life? Follow these simple steps and youll end up with your
own amazing autobiography!
Step A
Remember and Research
Software: Microsoft PowerPoint version 2002, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0/5.5
What to do: Begin by pulling together key dates and facts.
1. For this autobiography project, you will need to gather the date and details
(plus pictures, if possible--ask your teacher about that) for some important
events:
a. Your birth: You know the date, but you may need to check with your
family about the exact time and the place.
b. Your first steps OR your first word: Your parents--or whoever was
closest by at the time-- can give you the date and details on this.

c. Your first day of school: Whether it was preschool, kindergarten, or

first grade, you'll want to pin down the when and where.
d. A very happy event you remember from your life so far: If you're lucky,
you have quite a few to choose from! Maybe you got a puppy, learned
to ride a bike, got a good grade on a hard project--any happy event
will do. Pick one, and check with your family, friends, or teacher to
figure out the date and place.
e. A sad event from your life: Here's hoping you don't have too many of
these. Moving, getting in an argument with a friend, or having a death
in your family are all guaranteed to make you sad. Choose your event
and track down the key data.
f.

Two more important events from your life: You pick! These can be
things you remember, or things that happened when you were very
small ... or one of each.

g. For one of the above, an event that happened in the world around the
same time. Use Internet Explorer and the links your teacher has set
up to find just the right event. If you have trouble finding one, your
teacher can help you broaden your search.
2. Use the Milestones PowerPoint printout your teacher gives you to write down
the dates and details you find. Each event should have its own Milestones
sheet.
3. When all your Milestones sheets are completed, put them in order by date,
proofread them carefully, and show them to your teacher. You'll be using
them for your next step!

Step B
Create Your Timeline
Software: Microsoft Excel version 2002
What to do: Now youll turn your life events into a timeline.
1. On your classroom computer, open the Microsoft Excel Timeline workbook
that your teacher has placed there for you.
2. Save a copy of the timeline under your own name by clicking File, then Save
As, and then typing your first name before the word Timeline in the File name
box.
3. On the timeline itself, your first job is to put your name in the title at the top.
Click on cell B1, and you will see the title text in the formula bar at the top of
your screen. Select the text that says [Your Name]. In capital letters, type
your name to replace it.
4. Next, refer to the Milestones sheets you created in Step A as you make your
first timeline entry.
a. Click on the first Date cell, and type the date of your first Milestone.
The cell is set up to automatically show the date in number format to
fit the space; for example, if you type "December 2, 1996," it will
appear as 12/2/96.
b. In the Event cell connected to this date, type a short sentence
describing the milestone. Keep it brief! You'll have a chance to include
all the details in Step C. If you really need more room just for the
basics, your teacher can help you expand the cell or adjust the font
size.
c. Save your work.
5. Repeat this entry process for each of your own life events (you should have
seven of these, not counting the "world event" you pinpointed).
6. Next, fill in a brief description of the world event in the special cell provided.
Then select that cell, click Cut on the Edit menu, click a cell below the life
event that this world event corresponds to, and click Paste on the Edit menu.
Save your work.

7. Proofread your timeline and check all your dates. Then print the timeline and
turn it in to your teacher before proceeding to the next step.

Step C
Write Your Life Story
Software: Microsoft PowerPoint version 2002
What to do: Its time to dig into your autobiography.
1. On your classroom computer, open the PowerPoint Milestones presentation
that your teacher has saved for you. You will notice that this is the same set
of sheets you filled in by hand in Step A--but now you are going to change the
design and layout of these sheets to create your very own autobiography
presentation.
2. Save a copy of this PowerPoint file under your own name by clicking File,
then Save As, and then typing your first name in the File name box.
3. Next, choose a new design. With the file open, click Format, then Slide
Design. The Slide Design pane appears on the right of your screen, with little
previews of all the available designs. Click one, and youll see what your
presentation would look like with that design. Try a few others until you find
one you like best. Then save your work.
4. Now add a title slide. Go back to the beginning of the presentation (in either
Normal or Slide Sorter view), and click New Slide on the Insert menu. A slide
layout pane will appear at the right of the screen; if the new slide is not in Title
Slide layout form, you can change it by choosing the right layout from this
pane. Then:
a. Give your autobiography a name. Type it in the main title area.
b. Add your full name and today's date in the smaller title area.

c. If you have a picture or graphic you want to add, click Insert, then
Picture, then From file, and select the picture. You can then size it
and move it around on your title page until it fits just right.
d. Proofread and save your work.
5. Now start filling in your life story on the slides that follow. Here are some tips:
a. For each milestone slide, think about changing the layout to give you
more room to write. Click Slide Layout on the Format menu, and the
layout pane will appear on the right. Choose a new layout by clicking
the small version. (You may need to delete text boxes on some slides
to get them out of the way.)

b. Type in the dates and details you have written by hand for each
milestone--that way, you'll have all the basic facts in front of you.
c. Now, write at least three sentences about each milestone.
d. If you have a picture to go with the milestone, or if you want to add clip
art, click Insert, then Picture, choose your pictures, and then size them
to fit.
e. Have more to say about your life between these milestones? Go
ahead and insert a new slide wherever you need one. To do this, click
Insert, and then click New Slide.
f.

Proofread carefully, and save often.

6. Now you will add two very important slides: an overview and a conclusion.
First do the overview, using the timeline you created in Step B.
a. Scroll back to your title slide, and click Insert, then New Slide to add
a new slide 2. Click Format, then Slide Layout, and choose a Blank
slide.
b. Now open your Timeline file. Select all the cells that make up your
filled-in timeline, and go to click Copy on the Edit menu.
c. Go back to the blank slide in your PowerPoint file, select Paste
Special on the Edit menu, and choose Picture as the format youd
like to paste in.

d. You will need to resize this picture of the timeline to fit your slide. Just
click and hold the corner of the picture and drag to shrink it. Position it
in the middle of the slide so it's easy to read. Ta-da! You've just
created an overview. Save your work.
e. Next, go to the very end of your presentation, insert a new slide, and
write a few summing-up sentences about your life so far. Include at
least one sentence telling your hopes for the future.
7. If you want to get fancy, you can now add transitions between your slides,
such as Fade In or Dissolve. Scroll back to the beginning of your
presentation, and click Slide Show, then Slide Transition. Using the preview
pane on the right, experiment with different effects for moving from one slide
to the next. Just remember: a little bit goes a long way, so keep it simple.
8. Preview your autobiography by clicking View Show on the Slide Show
menu. Then proofread, edit, and show your work to your teacher.
Step D
Share and Compare
Software: Microsoft PowerPoint version 2002
What to do: Get ready to present your autobiography--and see your classmates'.
1. Your teacher will arrange a time for everyone in class to present his or her
PowerPoint autobiography. Before it's your turn, be sure to:
a. Practice moving through the slides by using the arrow keys or the
mouse.
b. Even more important, practice speaking from your slides. You should
not read every word-your audience can read for themselves by looking
at the slides. Instead, add details that aren't on the slides, or say more
about why you chose each event.
2. When it's your turn to present, have fun! Remember, this is one story that
nobody knows better than you do.
3. As you listen to your classmates' autobiographies, take notes about the things
your life stories have in common, and how they differ.
4. After everyone has presented, have a discussion about the similarities and
differences you noticed.
5. Finally, print out your autobiography or save it on a disk, and give it to your
family as a special "thank you" for their part in your life story.