Miss Wahl’s 3rd Grade

Multigenre Biography Project

November 20, 2007

You’re Invited!

You are officially invited to Miss Wahl’s 3rd grade multigenre biography project! Get ready to roll up your sleeves, put on your thinking caps and dive deep into the lives of famous people! By the end of this project, you will be an expert on the person of your choice and will know this person inside and out!

What is a biography?

A biography is a nonfiction genre that teaches the reader about a person’s life. This genre includes true facts about the person from the beginning, middle, and end of his or her life. Biographies are not always written about famous people. However, you will select a famous person who you would like to learn more about.

What is a multigenre project?

A multigenre project is a research activity when you learn a lot of information about one person, place, event, or thing. Instead of doing the same old boring book report, you will be able to create different genres of writing to show what you learned about your topic. For example, you might explain the events of a person’s life by creating a timeline, writing a biography, describing pictures of the person’s life through captions, or creating a newspaper article about that person.

What is a genre?

A genre of writing is a fancy word for a type of writing. Each genre has a specific purpose. For example, the genre of a nonfiction book about sharks might be written to teach the reader about the danger of sharks. Or the fiction fantasy genre of a Magic Tree House book might be written to entertain the reader with an exciting adventure story to Africa. Genres can come in several forms such as narratives, newspaper articles, memoirs, poems, songs, diary entries, letters, recipes, and many others.

Your Assignment

·  Select one famous person to research.

·  Presidents / ·  Inventors / ·  Artists
·  Actors/Actresses / ·  Athletes / ·  Singers

·  Find three sources of information on the person of your choice. You may use books, magazines, websites, or encyclopedias.

·  Select three different writing genres that will help explain what you learned about your person. Here are some examples of genres that you may use.

·  ABC book / ·  Biography / ·  Newspaper article
·  Photos with captions / ·  Letters / ·  Magazine article
·  Report cards / ·  Poems / ·  Eulogy
·  Marriage certificate / ·  Death certificate / ·  Timeline
·  Diary entry / ·  Invitation / ·  Memoir

·  Write one paragraph for each genre explaining why you selected that specific genre. For example, if you created an ABC book, explain the reasons why you chose to make it.

·  Think of a creative way to present your information. You may choose to create a poster, a PowerPoint presentation, a scrapbook or notebook, or any other way to share your information with others.

·  Make sure that your multigenre project is presented neatly. You should check for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and neatness.

·  Enjoy! I look forward to hearing all about your research!


Student Rubric

Multigenre Project Requirements / Possible Points
·  Three sources of information used for your research / _____/10
·  Three writing genres that explain what you learned about your topic / _____/40
·  Completed graphic organizers were used to sort your information / _____/20
·  One paragraph explanation per genre about why you chose each genre (3 paragraphs in all) / _____/20
·  Neatness, correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and creativity of presentation / _____/10
Total Possible Points / _____/100