Fifth Grade Felines

This weekly homework assignment will be added to your Triple Play composition book due every week.  You will be choosing and researching three items that begin with each letter of the alphabet…a “person, place and thing” each week.

Along with weekly responsibility and following directions, you will be learning research skills, not-taking and summarizing information.  We’ll be sharing your work in class and you’ll learn not only about the “people, places and things” you and your classmates choose, but also how other students organize and present their work, including use of color, neatness and attention to detail.  You’ll be planning meeting deadlines, assessing your own growth and setting goals for future entries.  We will occasionally add specific requirements, such as bibliographies, scientific illustrations during the year as we learn them.

Note:  although library, encyclopedia and internet research are intended and encouraged, this work can be done using class resources.  Please contact your teacher if you need help with reference materials.  Keep you mind open to finding the perfect Specialty Project.

General Directions

Each week use a pair of facing pages in your Triple Play composition book.  You will have to plan carefully in order to neatly fit all of this work on the pages.  Each top edge will have the letter written in D’Nealian script in upper and lower case.  When you are finised with your research and entries, you are required to illustrate a one inch border around the sides and bottom of the page with drawn objects, words and definitions, or other ideas that begin with the weekly letter. 

There are three items to research each week;

1.     Person:  Biography     

Write three important facts in sentence form about your person.

2.     Place:  Geography (Country only!)  List three facts about a country.  Be sure to tell where your chosen country is located.

3.     Thing:  Miscellaneous    

Anything school appropriate.  List three facts and draw. 

Biography

Famous Person

Each week, choose your own famous person.  For example, the first week for “A,” you could pick John Adams, Neil Armstrong, Crispus Attucks, or Louisa May Alcott.  Remember that the letter should match the person’s last name, but theat ther are exceptions like Aesop, Alexander the Great, Anastasia, Aristotle and Archimedes.

Generally, we discourage current celebrity (movie, sports, music) entries, but there will be exceptions like David Attenborough, Fred Astaire, Alvin Ailey, so get your teacher’s permission by Friday if you would like to use a celebrity.  Plan ahead!

Find out three important things about this person, for example, where and whey they lived and why they are famous.  Write a summary about your famous person in your own words* in at least three complete sentences. 

*Important Note!  Do not copy information word for word…this is called plagiarism, it is cheating and illegal.  Use your own words.

Geography

 A Country

Choose any country which you would like to learn more about beginning with the week’s letter.  Describe where this country is in the world, and list at least three interesting facts about it.

Some country examples are Argentina, Afghanistan, Aruba, Angola, or Australia.  You can also include optional illustrations and drawn maps.

Miscellaneous

Other Interesting Things

Choose anything that interests you for this part!  Your first entry might be Atomic Power, Aardvark, Amber, Appendix, Airplane,  Arctic Fox…anything that stars with the weekly letter and is school appropriate (check with your teacher if you have any questions on this one).  Again, research and list at least three important facts about your entry.  Then, draw a picture of your item.  Later this year, we’ll learn about scientific illustrations, which will be included here.

Borders

The top border of your page will be the weekly letter in your best handwritten script.  The one inch border along the sides and bottom of the page will be filled with a variety of objects starting with the weekly letter.  These can be anything you choose, for example…

v  Small drawrings:   anchor or ant

v  Fun words:  antidisestablishmentarianism

v  Interesting words with definitions:  “amiable, adj. kind, pleasant, sweet tempered”

v  Big Ideas:  “abolition”

v  Important events and dates:  “armistice Day is the anniversary of the end of World War I on November 11, 1918”.

Where to Start

Remember that one of the oals of this project is to learn how to research!  Use encyclopedias, dictionaries, library books and references.  When researching on computer, always ask an adult in your home for help, ideas, and supervision.  Remember, never give any personal information like your name, address or phone number on line!  Some ideas to start:

www.safekids.com

http://www.biography.com/bio4kids

Have fun researching!