Matthew C. Winner

June 10, 2006

Web Dropin 5

 

In the Life of a Famous American

 

 

          As practice before starting the 4th grade biographies, I thought it would be beneficial to gather information about famous Americans. Specifically, this activity is designed to help you know what information would be considered important when making a timeline of someone’s life. 

 

          You will visit America’s Story From America’s Library. This website is maintained by the Library of Congress and has biographical information on numerous famous Americans. While gathering information, think about what kind of information goes best when constructing a timeline.

 

Directions:

 

  1. Visit America’s Story From America’s Library (http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi) and click on “Meet Amazing Americans”.
  2. Choose a category from the purple box on the left-hand side of the screen.
  3. Click on the name of the person you would like to research.
  4. Read through the 3-4 page biography (proceed to the text by clicking “Next”.
  5. On a separate sheet of lined paper, keep track of at least 5 important events and the date on which each event happened in the person’s life.
  6. Organize the information onto a timeline. Include at least 5 important dates and event descriptions, a title, and illustrations to boost the overall appearance of the timeline.

 

Hints When Making Your Timeline:

 

  1. Use a ruler to make lines straight and keep your information neat.
  2. Begin with the year the person was born and end when he or she dies. If your historic figure is still alive, end your timeline at the current year.
  3. Include the specific date (day, month, year if possible) in the description of the event.
  4. Fill in the dates and events before adding any illustrations. Make sure the writing is neat and easy to read.
  5. Make the timeline your own! Be creative and have fun with it!

 

 

Example:

 

 

 

Where this timeline spans a great deal of history and shows where one famous American’s accomplishments fit in US history, your timeline will showcase the life of an amazing American and five accomplishments of his or her life.

 

You may wish to display facts in a text box and draw a line connecting the box to where (on the timeline) the event occurred.