Night of the Notables

Introduction: You have been commissioned by the Historical Society to prepare an evening event that takes us back in time. Your class will portray notable figures in history. Parents and guests at your event, to be called "The Night of the Notables", will be able to question the famous people and learn about their obstacles and accomplishments.

Task: Prepare for The Night of the Notables by studying biographies. Create displays for the evening event and choose one person to portray. Dress up like the notable person. Guests will be required to figure out who you are portraying. They will be allowed to question you about your persons obstacles and accomplishments. Through the answers to those questions and your costume, they should be able to discern your identity. In addition, you will create a video including facts about each of the famous people your classmates portray and this video will be used by third grade students to review for their Standards of Learning tests.

Process:

1. With your class, read several biographies of famous Americans.
2. Discuss the characteristics of a biography.
3. Pick someone in your class and collect biographical information about your buddy using the buddy bio worksheet. Write a buddy biography.
4. Choose a person to research from the list the teacher recommends.
5. Using the biography worksheet, Kings Park biography page or Yahooligans, collect appropriate information about your famous person.
6. Following the homework sheet, fill in the data retrieval chart, write your biographical report.
7. Create a biography poster to include:
   1. Picture of your famous person. You can use one from the Internet or draw it yourself.
   2. Timeline of their life created in Kidspiration. Use the timeline worksheet to gather your information before using Kidspiration.
   3. Bio poem. Use the format suggested on the bio poem worksheet.
   4. Award for your famous person honoring their accomplishments (i.e.. "Most Inventive" award for Ben Franklin to honor his inventions such as the first public library, the Franklin Stove, etc.) Use the award template.
8. Make sure you have all of the answers to the interview questions by filling out the questionnaire. Practice answering the questions with a buddy.
9. Learn several songs about famous Americans to be sung at the evening event.
10. Create a 3D portrait of your notable person in art.
11. Design your costume. Keep it simple. Bring it to school.
12. Plan what you will say to introduce yourself on the biography videotape and at the evening event. Use the introduction worksheet.
13. Plan a treat to be eaten by guests at The Night of the Notables. Your treat should be related to your famous notable. i.e.. Jackie Robinson might bring peanuts and popcorn. Christopher Columbus might bring beef jerky. Each treat should be accompanied by an index card stating what the treat is, who it represents and why (i.e.. This treat is peanuts and popcorn for Jackie Robinson because he was a famous baseball player.)
14. Decorate gym or cafeteria with biography posters and 3D portraits. Set up TV and VCR to play the video the class has created.
15. Have a dress rehearsal of the evening event.
16.  

Evening Event

1. Students report to their classroom. Each student should be in costume with a different number attached somewhere on the costume.
2. As guests arrive, they are given the a "Guess Who" sheet, list of interview questions and a pencil. They take a seat in the gym or cafeteria.
3. Students file in and take a position in the gym or cafeteria.
4. Master of Ceremonies starts off by explaining how the evening will proceed. He/she reads from a script.
5. Guests are invited to come up with their list of questions and try to figure out who each student is portraying. If they think they know the answer, they write it down on the Guess Who sheet.
6. After approximately 25 minutes of interviewing, the Master of Ceremonies warns guests that they will have 5 more minutes to complete their interviews. At that time, they are asked to return to their seat.
7. In numerical order, each student introduces themselves and states who they were portraying and why that person was famous. Guests check off their answer sheets.
8. The Master of Ceremonies then asks guests to tally their correct answers and searches for the person who has the most correct answers. That person and several runners up are given prizes.
9. The students then sing several songs about famous Americans.
10. Then the Master of Ceremonies invites guests and students to partake of the treats and to watch the class video.
11. Students return to classrooms to change back out of their costumes.
12. Parents are given a list of students and who they portrayed on the way out.

(Opportunity to Share):

The Kings Park students also participated in several other sharing activities:

1. The video was used by other third grade classrooms for biography review.
2. Students visited kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms and discussed accomplishments and obstacles of the biographical figures that these grade levels study. Teachers posted a sign up sheet on the staff bulletin board.
3. A dress rehearsal was held and reading buddies were invited to attend.

Assessment:

Teachers used various forms of assessment. Anecdotal records were kept at all times. There was a checklist used to assess the written reports and poems. Writing checklists can be found in the FCPS Primary Purposes. Biography questions on the Standards of Learning will assess how much students remember about the actual historical figures.

For pictures and examples of the work, click on the quill pen.
Click to see the unit design.

Back to Time 4 Teachers Main Page

Return to Kings Park Webpage

This unit was created by Merrell Dade and Karen Summerhill
with assistance from Brooks Widmaier, School-Based Technology Specialists and many other specialists at Kings Park School
The idea came from Char Hansen, teacher at the Singapore American School in 1993.
April 20, 2002