I have found the use of technology very helpful when I'm trying to do some sort of research with these young children. This activity is done as a whole group research project.

Materials:

Macintosh Computer,LTV Pro,digital camera, ClarisWorks/AppleWorks,Scanner,Grolliers CD,literature

Procedures:

We start by reading a book about the famous person. eg. Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, or George Washington. We then search the encyclopedia on a CD Rom for some information. You often find movie clips in these research items that the children can follow. You could even go out on the Internet to look for some information about the person you are studying.

After we have gathered some details we begin to create a report together about the person. I follow the same procedures as if we were writing a language experience story. After we are done writing, I print out copies for the children to take home.

For homework, I ask them to find some other facts that we didn't include in our report. They usually find many ideas to include, as well as some pictures which we are able to scan into our report.

The next day we reread the report from the previous day. Once we have read it, I ask the children if they have more information about this person, and where it would fit into our report. The children are amazing. They will say that they have something about his childhood. They know it should go in the beginning.

This is a marvelous exercise in sequencing. After all the changes are made, we reread the report and make some final changes. A final report is printed for each child to keep.