Based on Alex Haley's moving essay "My Furthest Back Person: The African," these 11 questions support comprehension and prepare readers for discussion of the text. Use this tool, and the essay, as a nonfiction addition to units on...

Start kids thinking about point of view and autobiographies by telling them a short story about your morning (first person), and then asking a volunteer to re-tell the story to you (second person). There are tips to help you tie this...

Are you working on an autobiographical or narrative writing unit? Bring this instructional activity to your class, as it takes young writers through the process of drafting and sequencing an autobiography. After observing and...

An extensive portfolio project encourages your kids to reflect on their personalities with multiple writing assignments. From activities on extended metaphors to writing about an important day in their lives, kids explore the way they...

Youngsters write and construct their own autobiographies based on The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis. They engage in pre-writing steps, narrative writing, and peer editing. This is the second part of a two-part project lesson.

What is the author's purpose for sharing an autobiography? Start this lesson with the short story provided about getting pulled over by a police officer. Then, discuss the acronym PIES and how it stands for the four main reasons an...

For this online interactive literature learning exercise, students respond to 7 short answer and essay questions about The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Students may check some of their answers online.

Reinforce punctuation skills as well as printing skills with a kindergarten autobiography worksheet. Youngsters write their information, including their name, address, and age, and draw a picture of themselves and the place where they...

Give young scholars a chance to practice making inferences after reading the book Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges. They confirm whether or not their conclusions are true, have a class discussion, and then independently complete an...

Sixth graders examine implicit and explicit opinions in a text about Rosa Parks. In this explicit and implicit opinions lesson, 6th graders participate in direct teaching, guided practice, and independent practice while reading an...

Students complete autobiographical writing assignments throughout the school year that they save and rewrite to put into a published book during the last month of class. They include photographs, drawings and mementos of their lives in...

Readers are asked to evaluate Helen Keller's claim, and the evidence she uses to support her argument, that it is more difficult for hearing impaired children to learn to talk with others.

Students create an autobiography. In this writing lesson, students use a life map as a graphic organizer to develop their autobiography.

Read Booker T. Washington's inspiring story about arriving at his name with a short reading passage from his autobiography, Up From Slavery. After class members read the excerpt, they answer two reading comprehension...

After reading a very brief excerpt from Frederick Douglass' autobiography, learners cite textual evidence to support a main idea of the primary source about Douglass' humiliating experience with slavery. This is a brief exercise that...

Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa man who made history when he reached the summit of Mount Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary, is the focus of an informative article. Class members read about Norgay's perspective on the way up the mountain, the...

How did Union General Ulysses S. Grant view the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in 1865, which effectively ended the United States Civil War? After reading an excerpt from Grant's autobiography, your young historians will...

Improve your youngsters' descriptive writing. They study an object and write about what they see as a warm-up, then they read an excerpt from Paul Guest's memoir, One More Theory about Happiness. The next part of the...

Considering using James McBride's autobiography/memoir The Color of Water with your class? Check out this seven-page informational packet that includes background information on McBride, the organization pattern of the book, and...

Sixth graders interpret Franklin's style, his ease of writing and content, using this to inspire, motivate and guide them to do more writing. They list Franklin's civic accomplishments and political accomplishments. They name 4...

Students research their family's heritage. They follow a guide, document their family's history and put it together in report form.

Students identify personal traits. In this autobiographical art lesson, students read the book Whoever You Are and use art supplies to create a body cut-out of themselves. Students include physical characteristics on their cut out.

Foster community in your classroom and encourage learners to get up and get to know each other. Individuals each receive the classmate inventory handout included and use it to fill in information about their fellow scholars. Once they...