Famous Individual Project: A Great 5th Grade Research Project With Tons of Activities and Rubrics

Recently, our students in 5th grade completed their first oral project presentation of the year, presenting their individual state posters, the project they did in the 50 states unit,

in front of other students. We asked students to dress for the occasion, and graded them on everything from their posture, the volume of their voice, and the way they dressed. This ended up being a great experience, and we've decided to build on that during the school year.

Next up, we will be doing a Famous Individual project. In this project, students will be completing research on a famous individual of great character. They will be analyzing their individual according to the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, a program that my school began following this year. Below you will be shown the requirements for this project, including links to all necessary forms. To download everything in one packet, click here:

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE FAMOUS INDIVIDUAL PROJECT IN PDF FORMAT HERE

This project will ask students to:

• Choose a famous individual, either living or dead, who is not fictional. Once they have chosen their famous individual, they must complete the Justification Page to explain why they believe their individual showed good character and lived a life that benefited others. 
• Once the students has successfully justified why they have chosen an appropriate person for this project, they will begin research. Students will be taught how to properly cite sources and create a bibliography (this is a big step for 5th graders, but they can do it). First students will learn how to take notes and keep track of sources. I came across a great packet online to help with Note Taking that I will be utilizing. They will use the blank bibliography cards to cite sources, and then will be given the biography outline packet, which will guide their research. Students research papers will be scored based upon the 5th grade research paper rubric.
• Next, students will be creating a computer based presentation that will supplement the speech they will be giving. We will be doing these presentations in the computer lab with the assistance of our schools computer lab instructor. They will be scored on their computer presentation based on the computer presentation scoring rubric.
• Finally, in the final step of this project, students will create a short speech to go with their computer presentation, and they will be presenting these projects before other students, parents, and community members. The speeches will focus on the character of their person, their major accomplishments, and how they fit the 7 Habits. The speech will be scored based on the oral presentation scoring rubric. 

I am very excited to see our students continue to step up. They did a great job on the 50 state projects (as you can see HERE), and I expect great results on this project. 

I have all of these forms available in Microsoft Word format, if you would like any of them, please let me know and I'll get them to you. As always, this is available freely, I believe that teachers should share our resources with one another free of cost if at all possible, and will continue to share everything I make without cost to anyone.

Getting Started With Labeling Your Classroom and Making A Student Generated Alphabet

As I've previously discussed, my school district recently adopted the Gómez and Gómez model of dual language instruction. Although many of the strategies they utilize make more sense in the dual language environment, they've decided to have the English only classrooms implement some of the model as well. Right now, I'm still focused on set up, which includes the student generated alphabet (a one time project in which students create a grade level appropriate list of each letter with a picture (and a sentence in the upper grades), and the labeling of the classroom environment.

The model asks for English words to be labeled in blue, and Spanish in red.

Of course, what I'm about to link to here can be used in any classroom that does labeling or student alphabets, not just within the Gómez and Gómez model (they hardly invented these things after all, they just repackaged it all).

First up, let's begin by looking at a few resources for labeling the classroom environment, and what I mean by this is actually labeling things like doors, clocks, book shelves, etc, as to immerse students in the language vocabulary.

As with most things that are out there in elementary schools, the materials are made for primary grades. As an intermediate grade teacher, I don't even flinch anymore when I see this. In almost every single adoption that has occurred in my career, the materials that are handed down are meant for primary classrooms, and the older age classes are expected to "adapt" them. This is a fancy way of saying "we didn't take the time to do this right, so you do it."

Because, after all, I don't want the same labels that are in a first grade classroom in my fifth grade classroom. Hopefully my students know what a door, clock, and board are. What we're looking for is some higher level thinking. So think of using "analog clock" in place of clock, "fluorescent lights" instead of lights, and "door hinges" instead of door, just to name a few.

• This first link, to a list of classroom labels at slatersoftware, is obviously primary grade focused. I included it to show how this works.
• This next link is just a list of some suggested words that might work in a 4th or 5th grade classroom.

Finally, I'll end with a few templates that I've come up with on my own:

• This template is printable classroom label blanks. This is a very simple pdf with black rectangles for printing. 
• Finally, here is my student generated alphabet blank template. The box on the top is for the upper and lowercase print version of a letter, and the bottom box is for the cursive upper and lower case letter. The lines next to the print box are for a sentence about the word chosen to represent this letter, and the lines at the bottom are for the same sentence in cursive. The big box in the middle is where the drawing of the chosen word goes, as well as the word written out. 

Me Bags: A Great Ice Breaker / Getting To Know You Activity to Start the Year

Two days ago I posted some advice for the beginning of the school year.

It's obvious that we're almost there, tomorrow is my final day of vacation. One of my favorite "getting to know you" activities is called "Me Bags." This is a simple show and tell formatted activity where each student has the opportunity to share 5 items of personal significance.

The actual way I do this is, I share my "Me Bag" on the first day of school, then I hand out the homework assignment to them, and they have to present theirs the next day. I like doing this for a number of reasons. It's a good way for the students to get to know me right there on the first day. It's also a great opportunity for me to see who puts the effort into returning with their homework the following day, following all directions. The sooner I can find out who my apathetic homework students are, the better.

I set aside large chunks of time the second day of school so that each student can present their bags to the class.

I have written up the sheet that I will send home the first day. You can access it below.

"ME BAGS" HANDOUT (pdf format)

Animal Identification Card Game: A Good Science Inquiry Activity

This animal identification game is very simple, and very effective to have 5th graders play. The concept is very simple. Each student will be given a card, that they will paper clip (or tape, or whatever works best) on their back.

They must then ask other students questions about the animal on their back, questions that must be answered yes/no. It can be a 20 questions game, or just an "ask until you figure it out" game. The goal is for students to get enough information on their animal to be able to guess what it is.

I searched online for free animal information cards, and didn't come up with much. The easiest way to do this, for free, is to download the templates that I list below and use them. I prefer to give students the blanks, and have them find the information for the cards on their own using encyclopedias or the internet.

I utilize this activity at the beginning of the school year in a series of science inquiry games that we play to get in to "the science way of thinking." There are various activities that we do, and this one gets students using the right vocabulary, and gives me a quick picture of what they can already do in terms of questioning and inquiry. The vocabulary I want students to use during this activity includes: predator, prey, carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, camouflage, nocturnal, toxic, and hibernation.

ANIMAL BASEBALL SIZED CARDS: This first pdf is a link to some animal cards, and the last page is blanks. I use this page and have students list the information on each animal on the back of the card. The information they must find is:

• Animal name
• Region of the world it lives in
• Diet
• Life expectancy
• Classification (basic level of classification)
• Their place on the food cycle (predator, prey, etc.)

LONG ANIMAL CARDS: These cards already have the information listed. 

LONG ANIMAL CARDS BLANK: These are the same cards as listed above, with the information removed. 

World at War (World War I and World War II) Classroom Project

When I teach my 5th grade unit on the World Wars, we discuss World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. As with each unit I teach in Social Studies, I always end with a project. In this case, it is a two part project. Students first complete a 3 dimensional display with research paper about an event from either World War I or the Great Depression, and then the entire class makes a hallway display World War II timeline. Each student is responsible for one event to place on that timeline.

I have completed and placed in my Google Drive the student information sheet for this entire project, with scoring rubrics.

Access the World at War project information sheet:

• docx format
• pdf format

Make A Voki

The website Voki offers students the chance to make a talking card of sorts. I have students use this website numerous times during the school year to analyze literary characters, major historical figures, etc. Making a Voki is simple, just head on over to the website, and click the "create" button, and you're on your way.

Once the creation page comes up, click the buttons to change your character, customize the background, voice, even the dimensions of their features. Watch your spelling when typing in the text they'll read aloud.

Just remember, you need to embed the code into your blog, website, or even a document to ensure it's saved before you close the web browser when you're finished, or you'll lose your work! If you have a user account, your Vokis will save there. Check out my Voki. It took me about two minutes to make this. 

Kobe Bryant Teaches Data Collection and Analysis

I like to teach my students in as many different ways as possible while still getting through the message and the learning that needs to get through. In 5th grade here in the state of New Mexico, we teach data analysis and probability (this is also true of those of you in the upper elementary grades who are already on the Common Core or will be going to them soon). This activity is very simple, yet very effective, and will be especially fun for the sports fans in your class (and you have some).

When we start getting into discussions about data, it's important for students to know when to use the appropriate graphs (See How Do I Choose Which Type of Graph To Use?), and move on to data collection and finally to analysis of the collected data. Some of the mainstay data collection activities include measuring height of everyone in the classroom, asking everyone what their favorite color, food, animal, etc. is, and on and on and on. There are an infinite amount of possibilities.

So along those lines, when discussing growth over time, discrete events, comparing quantitative or qualitative data, it's important for students to know why they're choosing the graph they're choosing, and what they're graphing.

I have students watch the following video, which shows Kobe Bryant scoring 81 points on January 22, 2006. This video has been edited down to show only Kobe's scoring plays. I have students make a chart for the recording of raw data that divides their paper into minutes (starting at 12 and going down to 0), and they do this four times, once for each quarter. What they do is put a tally mark for each point scored, and at what point in the quarter that point was scored. Needless to say I have to do some pausing to make sure that everyone stays with the action.

When they're done, I ask students to analyze this data, and make a graph showing Kobe's point progression over the course of the game. This is a great opportunity for students to create line graphs, and build that graph up to the eventual 81 points. Many students want to start their graph back from zero at the end of each quarter, which is why I also ask students to analyze the data in at least one other way. I've had students come up with points per quarter, some say that he scored x amount of points before a certain time each quarter, and on and on. This simple activity gives students a chance to do some data analysis and collection of their own, and only takes about 25 minutes to complete.

So here's the video. I also have a simple data collection sheet you are free to use or modify. You can download that HERE:

Presenting 9/11 to 5th Graders

I believe that by 5th grade, students are old enough to understand the gravity of the events of September 11, 2001, and discuss it with all of the emotion and historical significance intact. However, with that being said, we're still talking about young children, and with that in mind, I've developed some activities (with a heavy emphasis on borrowing ideas from other great teachers out there) that go well with teaching about 9/11.

I normally teach United States history chronologically, but I do teach about 9/11/01 on the anniversary or near it if it falls on a weekend. I invite parents to join us for a discussion and remembrance time, and this is how the afternoon goes:

I start with a video that gives a run down of the events of that morning, and play it in its entirety. I usually mix this up quite a bit, and there are hundreds of these videos out there, so I've just chosen the clip that I showed this past year:

After the video, I like to open it up to parents to share their stories of where they were that day. It's interesting to note that with this upcoming group of 5th graders, it will be the last group of students I teach that will themselves have been alive (most of them) on 9/11/01. This is a good chance for parents to connect the events to us here, and usually their stories are pretty routine, including where they were when they heard, what they did for the rest of the day (watched TV), etc. 

This past year, ESPN Outside the Lines showed a small 13 minute piece titled The Man in the Red Bandanna, the story of Welles Crowther, a heroic man who died in the World Trade Center collapse. This story gives a human face to this tragedy. When you tell kids that 2,996 people died that day, they have a difficult time imagining it and the emotions that are tied to that. But this fantastic documentary has been extremely well received. I even had a student opt to do their social studies Individual in American History research project on Welles Crowther.

Once students have watched the video, I invite them to take a copy of a blank bandana, color it red, and write a one paragraph statement about what it means to be a hero. The bandana I use (a large 3 megabyte JPEG file) can be accessed HERE. 

I end with two tribute videos, to further attach the emotion of that day to our discussion. It's not my goal to evoke tears from my students, but it is a common reaction. I might actually play the tributes before the Welles Crowther video this year. This first one is one of the most emotionally moving things I've ever seen, and will definitely evoke a strong response.

This second video is one I show every year and kids remember and enjoy. 

My goal is to give them a reason to care, and to attach meaning to this singular event that has had a huge impact on the world ever since, the most important day in American history over the past 30+ years, and definitely the defining moment of this century.

Student questions that follow can be quite deep, and some are just curious. I get a lot of questions about people jumping out of the buildings, about the terrorists, and about if it will happen again. This is why it's great to have parents in the room while the discussion takes place. I've done this talk each year for the past 7 years, and have always had a great response from both students and parents. It's a goal of mine for children to understand and remember 9/11, and I look forward to doing it again this year. 

If you're a teacher, and you work with students who are old enough to comprehend and discuss the events, I hope you too will teach your students, and take the time to sit and talk with them, and possibly their parents. 

American Revolution Video Project

Each year, my students are asked to create a small video based on one of the major events of the American Revolution. I have included a quick overview in this document. These topics include, but aren't limited to:




- Boston Massacre
- Boston Tea Party
- Signing of the Declaration of Independence
- Battle of Bunker Hill
- Battles of Lexington and Concord
- Shot Heard Around the World
- The Stamp Act
- First Continental Congress
- Signing on the Treaty of Paris


I have the class begin by splitting up into groups of no more than four (this could change depending upon class size). I like to have at least five of the above topics included in the final product. After each group conducts research and films their video, all of the videos are edited together, relevant clips from Youtube videos that give an overview of each topic are added, as well as music and titles, and we have a great classroom project.


Let's begin by looking at some places to get some great, kid appropriate research:


TimeRime timeline of the American Revolution (a great interactive timeline about 10 major events of the Revolutionary War)


The Chronicle of Revolution (PBS.org) (a site that includes tons of information on topics relating to the American Revolution)


Teaching American History (interactive lessons divided into chronological sections; 1775-1778, 1778-1781, and the Treaty of Paris in 1783)


National Archives pictures of the Revolutionary War (the best source I've found for images about the Revolution)


Revolutionary War Animated (animated battle maps from the Revolutionary War)


Now that we have some resources, we can move on to the content itself. Here are a few videos that really get the kids going and thinking about this great topic in American history:

Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration - This video is a spoof of the One Republic song "Too Late to Apologize," and is the single favorite thing that I present to my students each year, they LOVE this video.

A Schoolhouse Rock song about the Shot Heard Around the World

John Adams (HBO special) Boston Massacre scene: It's a little bloody, but very to the point in presenting the brutality of this event.

Obviously there are thousands of videos on Youtube and elsewhere on the internet that you can use, these are just a few that I have found kids to really enjoy and understand easily.

I hope this is enough to get any teachers interested started, or at least hopefully there are a few resources here that you can use.

Create Your Own Logo

If we're going to be using personal blogs in this classroom, everyone needs the opportunity to personalize their blog. This post gives you a very simple task. Follow the link to go to Logotype Maker, where you can make your very own free logo for your blog. Remember, only use the options marked "free," and you'll have your great logo in no time. Check out mine!

Timelines Online

Teaching involving the concept of time can be a tricky thing. Many kids don't understand the concept of time. We will start out by taking a look at the timeline of quite literally everything by using ChronoZoom. This site really drives home the point that we're very small, and our time in the universe is very short. Of course, I don't want my students to make a timeline of the entirety of the universe, but more along the lines of one major era in history.

Now, in 5th grade, we study United States history, but early in the school year, we talk about the history of the America's from the time before Christopher Columbus' expedition, an era we call "pre-columbian" history. This is a good place for us to start, and in my class, we always start by studying some of the cultures that had a major influence on the area, including (but not limited to) the Maya, Inca, Aztec and Navajo. I will make some more specific posts about this unit. I wanted to start off with this concept of time, however, and specifically the use of a timeline. So before we get into what has become known as "The Maya, Inca, Aztec Project," we will be making timelines using TimeRime.com. 
Using the website, each group will create a timeline of Pre-Columbian American history leading up to Columbus' expedition. Remember, Columbus didn't discover the America's, they were here, and millions of people lived here. All of the things you find must be from the time before 1492.

An Introduction To the Human Brain

I always like to start out the school year by teaching my students a little bit about the human brain. It's good to know what's going on in your own head, in a way, it might even make you a better learner. Over the course of the school year, we will talk about cells, the brain, and how the human body works. We will also discuss learning styles, and how each particular brain is different.

• First, we will start off by learning a little bit about the human brain. So CLICK HERE to read about the Control Centers of the brain. 
• Next up, it's time to make a model of the human brain using a fun potato flake mixture. (for you teachers out there wondering what this looks like, here's the recipe:

1.5 cups instant potato flakes
2.5 cups hot water
2 cups clean sand (can be found at home building stores or landscaping stores)
1 gallon Ziploc bag
Place all the ingredients into the Ziploc bag and combine thoroughly. You can squish the mixture around with your hands or you can use a spoon to stir it. After mixing completely, the bag should weigh about three pounds and have the consistency of a real brain.

• Here are a few videos (a TED Talk video that maps the brain, and a video with cool facts about the brain):

A Map of the Brain:

 10 Amazing Facts About the Brain:

Now, we're ready to take a closer look at how our own brains work.

Take the Edutopia Learning Style Quiz to find out how you learn best.

Here's my results, we'll take the time to discuss in class what this means: