Biographies and iPads

We have been busy learning about nonfiction texts and today we started to talk about biographies. Biographies are a special kind of nonfiction book that chronicles the life of someone important.  We made a chart and talked about why people might have biographies written about their lives.  Some ideas that we had were that they could be the first to do something like Amelia Earhart or George Washington.  Leaders often have biographies written about them like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.  Many people make new discoveries like Louise Braille and Thomas Edison.  Special talents are also recognized like Mozart, Elvis, and children's author Mo Willems.  Today we read a biography on Betsy Ross and the students used an iPad app called Educreations to illustrate why they thought she was important and how she helped America.  As the kids worked on iPads, it was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop!! Everyone agreed that Betsy Ross is believed to have sewn the first American flag, but there were a few different ideas about why she has a biography about her.  Some students felt that Betsy Ross had a special talent which was sewing and some students felt that she was the first to make the first American flag.  We had a great dixcussion and the students can't wait to use the iPads again!  Here are some photos from our hnads-on learning!