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Narrative Nonfiction/Biography Unit

Day 1 – What is a Biography?

O: Students will recognize the traits of a biography.


TW: Remind students of text features and structures in nonfiction books. Explain that there are different
types of nonfiction texts. Read a biography, pausing to model thinking about traits of a biography.
SW: T&T about traits of a biography. T/P/S about the text structure of biographies. Record traits in NB.
A: Notebooking, Conference notes

Day 2 – Why write a Biography about him? (Intro)

O: Students will recognize the traits of a biography.


TW: Remind students what biographies are. Discuss how biographies are about important people who
have made a difference. Read the introduction to Who Was Franklin Roosevelt?. Display notetaking for
book. Assign biographies based on student levels and interest.
SW: Write sticky notes based on most important facts from introduction. Add one important fact to
sticky notes. Read introduction in assigned book and complete sticky notes.
A: Notebooking, Conference notes

Day 3 – Taking Notes on a Biography (Ch. 1)

O: Students will take notes on a biography.


TW: Talk about how we decided the purpose of a biography was to share about an important person.
Each chapter will tell us more about why he is important. Explain how your jots should reflect why your
person is important. Model reading and writing important facts.
SW: Add one important fact to add to sticky notes. Practice in books.
A: Notebooking, Conference notes

Day 4 – Filling in the Picture of a Man (Ch. 1)

O: Students will build a relationship with the person they are reading about.
TW: Discuss how nonfiction books give facts and not emotions. Explain how build a relationship with the
person they are reading about. Read a small portion of the text. Use this knowledge to fill in the sticky
notes.
SW: Practice in books.
A: Notebooking, Conference notes

Day 5 - Author's purpose - Why talk about Eleanor? What can you infer about Franklin? (Ch. 2)

O: Students will infer traits of an individual through their interactions with other.
TW: Read the chapter title for Ch. 2. Model noticing that it is about someone else and reason as to why
the author would write about someone else. Read Chapter 2 of biography. Model inferring about FDR.
SW: Practice inferring about FDR based on what we learn about Eleanor. Practice inferring assigned book
A: Notebooking, Conference notes
Day 6 – Main Idea (Ch. 3)

O: Students will be able to use the main idea to find the most important facts about a person.
TW: Have students bring their books and sticky notes to carpet. Remind students of strategies to figure
out the most important facts. Suggest finding the main idea as a strategy. Preview the text while thinking
of main idea. Read CH. 3 about FDR. Model finding main idea.
SW: Jot tips for figuring out the main idea. Find the main idea for a chapter from their books.
A: Observations, Notebooking

Day 7 – Facing Problems (Ch. 4)

O: Students will be able to infer traits through how a person faces a problem.
TW: Discuss how problems build character. Ex. Roosevelt helped his mother when his father died. How
we solve problems shows who we are. Read ch. 4. Model inferring traits about FDR.
SW: Infer another trait about FDR in his crisis (T&T).
A: Observations, notebooking

Day 8 – Connecting to Other Sources of Information (Ch. 4 – textbox)

O: Students will be able to use textboxes to help understand the text.


TW: Have students bring biographies and stickies to the carpet. Connect our learning about text features
to biographies. Reread the textbox. Model thinking about what you learn from the textbox and how that
helps you figure out important facts about FDR.
SW: Find a textbox or other text feature in their biography. Jot about what it tells them.
A: Observations, Notebooking

Day 9 – Text Feature Purpose – Why is the title “Struggling to Walk”? (Ch. 5)

O: Students will use headings and title to direct their thinking about biographies.
TW: Have students bring books and sticky notes to carpet. Remind students that text features always
have a purpose. Read Ch. 5. Highlight the title, headings, and thinking about them as you read. Model
using thinking to jot notes.
SW: Practice thinking about headings using their books. Jot notes.
A: Observations, Notebooking

Day 10 - Author's evidence and support - claims FDR is a strong leader in the introduction, what proof do
we have? (Ch. 6)

O: Students will find evidence to support a claim.


TW: Ask students if they think authors of biographies have opinions. Point out a claim from earlier in the
book. Remind students that you always have to support a claim. Read Ch. 6 and look for support. Model
thinking about supports for claims.
SW: T&T and jot about the author’s supports. Practice in books independently.
A: Observations, Notebooking
Day 11 - What text features are in the text? How do they help you understand the life of FDR? (Ch. 7)

O: Students will use text features.


TW: Preview the text features in the chapter. Read the chapter and think about the text features. Model
thinking about how one text feature helps you.
SW: T&T about text features found in their texts and how they help.
A: Observations, Notebooking

Day 12 – Cause & Effect (Ch. 8)

O: Students will outline cause and effects within a biography.


TW: Important people affect others. Read Ch. 8, encouraging students to look for cause and effects.
Model thinking about cause and effect.
SW: Create a t-chart for causes and effects in ch. 8.
A: Observations, conferencing, notebooking

Day 13 – Cause & Effect (Ch. 9)

O: Students will outline cause and effects within a biography.


TW: Important people affect others. Read Ch. 9, encouraging students to look for cause and effects.
Model thinking about cause and effect.
SW: Create a t-chart for causes and effects in ch. 9.
A: Observations, conferencing, notebooking

Day 14 – Using a Timeline

O: Students will use a timeline to answer questions about a biography.


TW: Model answer questions about FDR timeline. Model thinking through answer choices.
SW: Practice answering questions about timeline. Write a timeline question from their book.
A: Questions, observations

Day 15 – Comparing Texts

O: Students will use multiple texts to gain information about a person.


TW: (Venn diagram to compare two texts lead to author's purpose) Read 2nd book about FDR. Model
comparing what we learned in one book to the other.
SW: Make comparisons about FDR books.
A: Venn Diagrams, observations.

Day 16 – Comparing Texts

O: Students will use multiple texts to gain information about a person.


TW:(author's purpose, synthesize info from 2 sources) Model comparing what we learned in one book to
the other.
SW: Read text about their book and compare information.
A: Venn Diagrams, observations.
Day 17 – 1st & 2nd Hand Accounts, Legacy

O: Students will use quotes to infer more about a real person.


TW: (1st and 2nd hand account) Discuss how a person's actions teach us about them. Give examples.
Model thinking about an FDR quote.
SW: Pick a quote and write about what it means to them.
A: Paragraph

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