We are currently in the process of working on our biography reports leading up to our biography museum at the end of May. Students have chosen a famous person from history. They’ve finished reading all about them and are now in the process of working through their notes to find the most important information about that historical figure. At our museum, we’ll find ourselves standing face to face with presidents such as John F. Kennedy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We’ll be sharing the spotlight with the likes of Shirley Temple, Amelia Earhart, and Michelangelo. We will be among some of the truly great figures of history. It should be quite the experience!
Last year, we were fortunate enough to have met many famous characters. Watch through the video below to see who showed up!
Mrs. Yollis, an amazing teacher in California, is also teaching her class about biographies. You may be interested in checking out her post, Biographical Bonanza. She had the brilliant idea of having students write comments as their character. We’ll be doing the same!
Please leave a comment as your biography character. Make sure you include facts that you have learned about that person. It’s important to use your own words though. We don’t want to copy straight from the book! Family and friends, we encourage you to choose your own character and comment as well. Maybe we’ll even be able to get some conversations going between different historical figures!
We look forward to hearing from some of our famous friends!
Dear Mr. Avery and class,
You are doing biography reports? Oh what excitment! Sometimes they may take a lot of hard work and time but it could also be really fun! Oh,Iv’e heard that some wrote about Amelia EarHart? She is the one I’d write about! She’s the first woman to travel halfway around the world! Until her plane had an incedent and somehow crashed. We have no idea what happened but it is worth a great guess! Well,I bet the other reports will be very nice too. Wish you luck!
Your Blogger,
Emma V. 🙂
Dear Mr. Avery,
My report is 5 pages and I think 6 paragraphs.
I do have my artifacts but it’s a surprise. The costume I have is very random. She’s suppose to be easy but she’s so hard to find for.
From,
♥ Ariel♥
Dear Mr. Avery,
I am so nervous for the biography museum. I hope I do a great job. I am confident. I know that everyone is going to do a great job. I hope you get us ready. I know all my stuff. I am ready!
From,
Jenna
Dear Mr. Avery,
The biography is very cool. I’m very excited for the actual museum. It will be fun. I don’t even have five artifacts. I think I have one found. I just have to do about one more paragraph on my report. It’s going to be about three pages and five paragraphs.
From,
Ariel
Hi Mr Avery’s Class,
I really enjoyed your post about ‘Bringing History To Life!’ The video is very interesting and I must say, your class had very good costumes! It looks like you have had a lot of fun working on your biographies!
Keep Posting,
Caroline W
Wow. Great video. I loved it so much!
History is a great subject to learn. Sometimes the stories of history like war and Ann Frank can be a really sad story. But some parts of history are great like inventions. I have a relative who made Puffing Billy which is one of the first trains.
Do you have any relatives that are famous?
Sincerely,
Mikaela
Dear Mr. Avery and class,
I am so glad to visit a blog in the 2000’s. In my time there were no things called COM-pute-rs,or b-l-o-gs. Well, I know I love it! 😀
I am thrilled that I heard Ashley in Mr. Avery’s class is doing a report about me! To help her out, I have some useful information. I was born October 31 in 1860. As I grew up from a young happy girl into an adult, I got married to William Mackay Low and I created girl scouts.
I heard you have some girl scouts at your school so I wrote in to check on all of them. I heard my litte Ashley is a junior. If you are a girl scout please write back and tell me all about it!
Your famous friend,
Juliette Gordon Low
(Ashley)
Dear Mr. Avery and class,
My name is Florence Nightingale. I was born on May 12, 1820 . In all my 181 years since I was born, this is the most fascinating thing I have ever seen. I ‘m so happy to be visiting this wonderful blog! In my time we did not have computers. I ‘m very fascinated how much things have changed since when I was born.
My friend Queen Victoria’s birthday is coming up soon. It’s on May 24 1919. Queen Victoria helped the soldiers have a fair pay. It took a lot of work but we managed.
I’m famous for helping the wounded and sick. I traveled all over the world to help. I helped out soldiers. I helped out people who did not have good care. It made me feel good to help others.
I hope that Mr. Avery’s wonderful students keep up with the blogging.
From,
Florence Nightingale
(Ariel)
P.S. These computers are very hard to work. It took me about two hours to type this comment out. I couldn’t find all the buttons on the keyboard! 🙂
Dear Mr. Avery’s class,
I am Marie Curie. I saw that you had a biography museum so I decided to tell you about my life. I was born on November 7, 1867. On May 7, 1878, sadly, my mother died. It made me want to do something to help out others. I decided to do some work in science. It worked out well! In 1906, I got the Nobel Prize for my discoveries in science.
I heard that Rebecca A. is going to do a report about me. I hope she does well!
I have never heard of classroom blogs before. I am glad that Mr. Avery introduced me to them!
Your Friend,
Marie Curie (Rebecca A.) 🙂
Dear Mr. Avery’s class,
I am Marie Curie. I saw that you had a biography museum so I decided to tell you about my life. I was born on November 7, 1867. On May 7, 1878, sadly, my mother died. It made me want to do something to help out others. I decided to do some work in science. It worked out well! In 1906, I got the Nobel Prize for my discoveries in science.
I heard that Rebecca A. is going to do a report about me. I hope she does well!
I have never heard of classroom blogs before. I am glad that Mr. Avery introduced me to them!
Your Friend,
Marie Curie (Rebecca A.) 🙂
Dear Mr. Avery and class,
Hello. My name is Betsy Ross. My real name is Elizabeth but you can call me Betsy. I made the flag for the U.S. I made the thirteen star flag. It represents the thirteen colonies. There are thirteen stripes; seven red stripes and six white stripes. I sewed the flag in front of George Ross, George Washington, and Robert Morris. I had some help sewing the flag from some friends but really, I designed it and sewed most of it. I never have used a computer before. I like it. I will write in again soon.
From,
Betsy Ross
Dear Mr. Avery’s class,
I am Michelangelo di Lodovico di Lionardo di Buonarroti Simoni. I love sculpture, painting, and architecture. I was born on March 6,1475. It seems that many centuries have passed since that time. I have carved the Rome Pieta and the David. I also have painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the side wall of the Sistine Chapel. If you ever need any painting done, just let me know!
From,
Michelangelo
Dear Mr. Avery,
My name is Annie. Annie Oakley that is! Some say that I was one of the best sharpshooters of all time! May I just say you have an amazing blog:) My husband Frank Butler thinks so too. There are so many interesting people on this blog. Anyhow, I saw that little motion picture you put together and some one is impersonating me! I hope to have that stopped quickly. I have great aim you know!:)
From,
Annie Oakley:)
Dear Annie,
My oh my, what a shot you have! I heard you’re one of the best shooters in the west and you prove that at all the different places you travel too! I would never want to get on your bad side!
I’m going to have to look into who that is impersonating you. I’ll get to the bottom of it. If only we had a detective at the biography museum. I think we might have to add that to the list for next year!
Have a wonderful week Mrs. Oakley.
Your best pal,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery and students, 😎
Wow what a great post you have.
Bringing history to life is a great 💡
I can’t wait to read all the comments.
Your blogging pal
Millie ♥
Dear Millie,
Thanks for writing in. It’s been a while since I’ve heard from you! How is life over in 2KM? Don’t tell anyone yet but I sent a package to Mrs. DeVries’ class and there’s something in there for your class too! 🙂
History is definitely an important part of what we study. It’s great to learn about all the amazing things that have happened in the past. I’m sure there are many things that have happened in the history of Australia that we haven’t learned about here. What have you learned about the history of your country?
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Your friend,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery and students,
I was thrilled when I heard about your fine blog. I’ve enjoyed reading all the comments, and I noticed I am not the only former president to visit! It saddens me so that I was not alive to witness this great river of information you call the Internet. During my life, we gathered information from books! Reading brought me great pleasure throughout my life.
You may not know that I started out my adult life as a lawyer! I traveled on horseback all over Virginia helping citizens solve their problems. Architecture was something else that caught my interest. In fact, I build my own home in Virginia called Monticello which means little mountain in Italian. Maybe you’ve seen it on the back of a nickel.
I spent most of my life as a statesman. Taxes became an issue in the 13 colonies and there was a lot of talk about independence from Great Britain. At the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, we decided to put an army together! Even though I was the youngest delegate at the meeting, I was the one they asked to write the Declaration of Independence. It took me more than two weeks to write it! Ben Franklin and John Adams helped me a bit, but that was a tough writing assignment! I sure could have used a program like Word for the Declaration. I had to do all the writing by hand!
On July 4, 1776, the delegates accepted the Declaration of Independence. Some patriots in New York melted a statue of King George III and made bullets! It was war!
Although I haven’t mentioned my presidency or the Louisiana Purchase I bought from France, I must retire for the evening at this point. Dinner is ready and I have some homemade ice cream that I’ve prepared for dessert.
Feel free to ask me some questions. Learning should always be a top priority.
Sincerely,
Thomas Jefferson
(Mrs. Y♥llis)
Dear Mr. Avery and students,
Your videos always amaze me. When I was a student in 4th grade, we couldn’t make videos like this in school. The only movies we saw were reel to reel movies. Our teachers were always nervous about showing them because the film often got stuck or flickered and didn’t work.
When I was your age I didn’t really like school that much. My family moved a lot and my 3 sisters used to drive me crazy. Imagine being the only boy with 3 sisters! I did like to to play with my family’s movie camera. When we went on camping trips, I would make movies our get-a-ways in the woods.
When I was 12 I filmed my first real movie with a script and actors. I guess you could say that was the beginning of my career. If you like making movies with Mr. Avery, maybe you will follow in my footsteps!
Who am I? I made Jaws, Close Encounter of the Third Kind, ET, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and a few other movies through the years.
Action!
Steven Spielberg
Dear Mr. Avery and class,
My name is Jane Goodall. I was born in London, England in 1934; that makes me 77 years old. I am a pioneer scientist, and I’m not monkeying around about that. When I was only one year old, I was given a stuffed chimpanzee and I named it after the first chimpanzee born in the London, England Zoo. Its name was Jubilee. It started a life long love of chimpanzees. In 1942, I promised that when I grew up I’d go to Africa and study chimpanzees. I learned that chimpanzees are not vicious and they are just like us. They have feelings and emotions and they are really smart. I hope to always be remembered as a person who was the first to understand chimpanzees and make the world understand that chimpanzees are just like us and we should respect them.
Bananas to you,
Jane Goodall
Dear Jane,
You really don’t monkey around when it comes to writing. You’re amazing!
It sounds like you’ve had a pretty incredible life. It was very brave of you to wander in to work with chimpanzees. They can be very tough animals to work with. Thanks to your incredible work, you’ve helped others to learn more about this species. We know how to care for and protect them.
I really like the name Jubilee for your stuffed chimpanzee. It’s incredible how something like that at such an early age can get you started for your career.
Thanks for all you’ve done!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery and class,
My name is Franklin. I was born on January 30, 1882. In 1888, I became a sailor of my dad’s yacht, The Half Moon. When I went to school I was president of the school’s Newspaper The Crimson. This helped me prepare for the future because eventually I became president of the United States! Even though I was a president for a long time, it wasn’t always easy. I had to deal with the Great Depression and World War II. Unfortunately for me, I became very ill and passed away while still president. Many say that my work as president helped to bring the country through a difficult time and I hope to always hope to be remembered for that.
Your pal,
Franklin D. Roosevelt 😉
Mr. Roosevelt,
It’s such a pleasure to chat with the longest tenured president in the history of the United States! I can’t believe how long you were able to last with everything you had to deal with. There was the Great Depression, which many people struggled to get through. You also were president through part of Word War II. Somehow, with all of that, you managed to get your country back on its feet. You were pretty amazing! 🙂
I can see why you were president of your school’s newspaper. You definitely are quite a wonderful writer. We’d love to have you write in to our blog again soon!
Your friend,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery and class,
I am Neil Armstrong. You may know me from being the first man on the moon and my famous words “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. I think your blog is amazing. I see that one of your students did a biography on me last year. They got a wonderful space suit you know. Are you doing the biography museum again? If you are is anyone doing one on me?
Sincerely,
Neil Armstrong
Mr. Armstrong,
I do believe that you came up with one of the most famous quotes of all time! Your first step on the moon was definitely one for the ages and was such a large part of space exploration. I can only imagine what an amazing feel that would have been.
We actually do have someone portraying you in the museum. His name is Marshall and I know he’s going to do an amazing job of being you. He already knows so much information about you!
We have a bulletin board in our classroom that says “Reach for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll be among the stars.” Then, it has pictures of all the students dressed as astronauts. It sounds to me like you reached for the moon but you definitely didn’t miss! You accomplished your goal which is amazing!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery’s class,
I am Ben Franklin. How are you? This blog post is very interesting. When I was alive they did not have blogs. Well, they didn’t even have computers. That would have made writing the Declaration of Independence much easier for my friend Thomas Jefferson!
Do you have lightning rods on your school? I still remember standing outside in a thunderstorm trying to find the nature of lightning. Do you guys happen to use Leyden Jars anymore or they might be known as batteries? If you do I happened to invent them.
Your very old friend,
Ben Franklin
Mr. Franklin,
It’s quite an honor sir. You’ve done so much for our country. It’s great to have an opportunity to talk to you.
You seem to be quite the brave man! Not too many people would be willing to stand out in a thunderstorm to try to learn more about lightning! I know I certainly wouldn’t. I also heard a story once about you trying to find out how to cook using electricity and you ended up shocking yourself. Sometimes I guess you have to learn about things the hard way.
We do have a lightning rod at our school. We also definitely use batteries. Thanks for all of your wonderful inventions. We’d be missing out on a lot if it wasn’t for you!
Your fan,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery’s class,
This blog looks like something I could use! I couldn’t go on blogs when I was a kid. I was sick too much. I was born on May 29, 1917, on Beals Street in Brooklyn, Massachusetts. I had a serious back problem and I was forced to quit football while I was at Harvard.
Some people might know me as the president or J.F.K. While in office, I thought of having a man on the moon. After my first term, I was running for president again and on November 22, 1963, I was in Dallas, Texas and waving and Lee Harvey Oswald shot me!
The former president,
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Mr Kennedy,
It’s such an honor sir. I can’t believe I actually have a president writing on the blog!
I’m sorry to hear about your back. That must’ve been tough to have to stop playing something you love. I think it worked out really well for you though since you ended up going into politics.
I have to say that I think the idea of putting a man on the moon was out of this world! When you meet Mr. Neil Armstrong at the biography museum, I’m sure he’ll be thanking you!
Thank you for taking the time to write in!
From the land of the free and the home of the brave,
Mr. Avery
Dear students,
I must say, this blog post is quite the bright idea! Reading your blog always brings light to my day. You always teach me something new. You always enlighten me.
They didn’t have class blogs when I was alive. I was born all the way back in 1847 in Milan, Ohio. One of my favorite things to do growing up was to read. I tried to read every science book in the library! What a difference it made! I learned so much and it helped me with many of my inventions. You may be familiar with a few of them. I invented the phonograph, which is like a record player. That was way before iTunes and mp3s! I also invented the motion picture camera. I believe you now call them video cameras. I helped pave the way for some of the first movies! My most famous invention though is the light bulb. I partnered with a couple other people to create the Edison Electric Light Company. Today you may know my company a little bit better by the title General Electric!
Again, I must say, you’re all such a bright group of students. Reading made such a huge difference for me and I know it will for all of you too!
Your pal,
Thomas Alva Edison