Women's History Month: On Being Connected with Women You Have Something in Common With

My students love learning from Capstone's PebbleGo Encyclopedia. We use it in first grade for rotting log critter research, biography research, and ocean animals research. In second grade they use it for endangered animal research along with smaller projects. We have our own units mapped out along with the data gathering sheets created for these units.

Yet, sometimes a great new opportunity to get students exploring and learning arises. I was looking through ideas in the Capstone Community for Women's History Month. (If you are not a member of the Capstone Community, check it out here: My Capstone.) 

Turns out they had just what I needed! A quiz that my second graders could take and then get paired with the biography of a woman from history. Answer the following four questions and viola!

I got Bessie Coleman!

Who were my students connected with?

At the start of the second week of our project, the students shared who they were connected with and why they thought they were lead to that biography. Here are their responses:

We had a snow day, so I was not able to ask these two classes the same question, but look at the differences in all four of these classes. Wilma Rudolph hold strong among all four classes, but class three must see themselves as more athletic. Class four has some future teachers and scientists. Classes one and two above have some serious science interests as well.

Class three:
Wilma Rudolph - 12
Marie Curie - 8
Jane Goodall - 1
Bessie Coleman - 1
Frida Kahlo -1

Class four:
Wilma Rudolph -6
Mary McLeod Bethune - 5
Marie Curie - 4
Frida Kahlo - 3
Bessie Coleman - 1
Jane Goodall - 1

There are printable data collection sheets from Capstone, 

but I had another idea and in mind and made one of my own. I wanted for them to choose a woman to read about on their own and to see how having a connection to a person makes it more interesting. Having them state why they chose the person they did helped get them thinking about this connection.

I reminded the students how to use the breadcrumb trail across the top to navigate back to read more articles about women.

Who did my students choose to read about?

Due to the snow day, I was only able to get to this part of the lesson with two of the classes. It was really interesting to see how the students chose their second biography. In one class, a child who had been matched by the quiz with Amelia Earhart talked all about her, which led two students to seek her out when they had a chance.