Biography Hash!


Our 3rd - 5th grade students had a wonderful time learning about the "ingredients" that go into writing a biography!
The week before we read the biography of Mr. Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley. As we made the "hash" students answered questions from the book to earn the privilege of coming up and adding the next ingredient. 

      hash1a.jpg (33144 bytes)      hash3.jpg (34530 bytes)     hash4.jpg (34207 bytes)     hash5.jpg (37279 bytes)
hash6.jpg (32339 bytes) hash7.jpg (37544 bytes) hash8.jpg (34162 bytes) hash9.jpg (35124 bytes) hash10.jpg (33763 bytes)
We are not allowed to put recognizable student faces on the web page, but I will let you know that there were VERY interested and excited children working together to cook up this project!
  • Birth date and place - Yellow raisins (We come into the world wrinkled, and see brightness around us!  I know.... it's a stretch... but it works! :)
  • Family members - Peanuts, unsalted (Some family members can be a bit.... nutty!
  • School Life - Goldfish crackers: fish swim in schools.
  • Childhood -  Alphabits cereal: The alphabet is something everyone learns in childhood.
  • Hobbies, Interests, and Activities - Bugles (sometimes we like to = 'blow our own horns'.)
  • Anecdotes and interesting life story - Pretzels (lives have interesting stories, with = twists and turns, ups and downs, just like a pretzel)
  • Career - Chocolate chips (When a person makes lots of money = good fortune, we say he or she is "in the chips")
  • Reason for Fame - Cheerios (We 'cheer' a famous person's successes.)
  • Later life/Old age - M & M's (This stands for 'More Mature' and we talked about Mr. Bentley's mature time of life.)
  • Death - Black raisins (We become shriveled and the lights go out.)
  • Photos and Likenesses - Reese's Puffs cereal = It is multi-colored and biographies are about = people of all races, religions, gender, etc.

Special thanks to LM_NET, media specialist Patty Melville, and author/lecturer Judy Freeman for this "recipe" for a successful biography lesson!

Forest Lake Elementary School