Lesson Overview

The purpose of this lesson is to learn about several authors associated with children's literature.  Good reading skills are required for almost every aspect of life. It is important to learn the different styles of writing, and learn what motivates authors to write certain stories.
 

Student Characteristics

This lesson is intended for students in 3rd grade. (Although the teacher may adapt it to any grade level. At this grade level, the students should have been exposed to the writing styles of popular authors. They should be reading at their grade level.
 

Learning Objectives

The learner will:
 

• be able to recognize the writing styles of various authors
• be able to recognize books by certain authors
• learn about certain children's literature authors

Time

• 1.5 - 2 hours

Resources and Materials
 

• computer with Kid Pix software and access to the internet
• library books by he author of the students choice

Activities and Procedures

1. The class will divide into group of two.
2. Each group will pick out an author from the list below.
3. The pair will check out a book in the library by that author.
4. The students will do research on their author using the author's web site, yahooligans, and the resources located in the library.
5. The students will create a 4-5 page slide show using their finding in the Kid Pix software program. The slideshow will consist of at least 2 pages on life of author and at least 2 pages on a book written by the author.
6. The students will present the slide show to the class.
 

• Laura Numeroff
• Patricia Polacco
• Mercer Mayer
• Eric Carle
• Dr. Seuss
• Leo Lionni
• Marice Sendak
• Beatrix Potter
• Judith Viorst
• Shel Silverstein
• Yahooligans

Variations
 

• Have each student do a Hyperstudio presentation of their favorite book by that author
• Have the students compare and contrast the writing styles of 2 authors.

Assessment
 
 
 

	Outstanding	Satisfactory	Needs Improvement
Research	Author information was accurate and up-to-date.  A lot of time was spent in organizing the information	Included a lot of information on the author. However, information needs to be updated.	Not much effort in researching information. Lacks much information.
Hyperstudio Presentation	Each card in the stack was uniform. Included all requirements. Was presented in a neat and organized fashion.	Either too much or not enough information on cards.  Included all or many aspect of requirements	Needs organization. Spelling and grammar errors was numerous.
Presentation	Students were well informed about the author.  The presentation was organized and conducted in a timely fashion.	All students participated in the presentation. Information needs more organization.	All students did not participate in the presentation.  The students did not meet many of the requirements.

Sample Student Product
 
 
 

Credits & References

Thanks to the author's web site that were listed in the Activities and Procedures section of this page. 

Also, special thanks to Free-clipart.com for supplying the graphics seen on this page.