Biographies for all 4 years of Grammar Stage

[UKLondon-Dad]

Hi,

I am looking for suggestions for biographies for the list of great men and women to cover in the grammar stage. Also, any suggestions on additional people worth covering?

 

Many thanks

 

Gary

[Amy M]

Not sure if this is answering your question, but a series of biographies that we find interesting and on a 2nd-5th grade ish level is the Who Was __? series. We just read Who Was Queen Elizabeth in conjunction with our SOTW Middle Ages studies, but they have bios for up through modern times, like Who Was Ronald Reagan, or Who Were the Beatles, etc.

[SamanthaCarter]

To which list are you referring?

[Lizzie in Ma]

Huge fan of the Landmark series.  Good chronological list here, probably from a boardie. ;)

http://the-classical-homeschool.blogspot.com/2012/04/landmark-books-in-chronological-order.html

[SEGway]

Look for all the biographies by Diane Stanley. They were a hit here. (There aren't enough to cover all of grammar stage, but the ones she did are well done and worth adding to the list. :) )

[duckens]

1)  A Picture Book of __[insert person's name]__ by David Adler.   Several are displayed on the right side of the page.

 

Level: They can be read aloud to K-1 kids, read with 2nd graders, and probably read independently by 3rd-4th graders.

 

Advantages: Easy to read and well-paced.  Your library probably has several of these, and Amazon has even more!
 

Disadvantages: Most of them are Americans, so most wouldn't apply until 3rd or 4th grade if you want to correspond with your history program. 

Duckens review: This is my "go-to" series when we want to explore someone beyond what our curriculum introduces.

 

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2) Getting to Know the Worlds Greatest _[artists/composers/presidents/scientists & inventors]__ by Mike Venezia

 

Level: They can be read aloud to K-1 kids, read with 2nd graders, and probably read independently by 3rd-4th graders.

 

Advantages: Dd7 loves these for the intermittent cartoons created by Venezia that add to traditional text and pictures.  Your library probably has several of these, and Amazon has even more!  Rainbow Resource also carries these, and they can be purchased as a set.  However, I just throw an extra one on each of my Rainbow orders to gradually grow our collection.

 

Disadvantages: Limited to the 4 content areas listed above (artists,composers, presidents, and scientists & composers).

 

Duckens review: Every 10th day of piano, we do "music enrichment" by reading about composers and listen to their music on youtube.  This is easily dd7's favorite series to read. 

 

We also have read several of the the artist's series as "art enrichment" whenever we put up a new art card (from Usborne's art cards).  I was STUNNED when dd7 spontaneously identified several artists' works that appeared in a cartoon movie she was watching.

 

Because these books are so specialized, I have difficulty in connecting them to world events for dd7.  She knows of these people, but I doubt she could associate them with the appropriate century, decade, or country.

 

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3) Lives of the _______________________ by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt

 

Level: Fewer pictures, so read aloud to or with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. 

 

Advantages: Several important figures in each book.  Your library most likely has a few of these.

 

Disadvantages; for older children.  A struggle for my K-1 to sit through.

 

Duckens review: We have only used the Art and Music books for Art and Music enrichment.  They go deeper than the Venezia series.  I would like to purchase the others in the series for my household.

 

Author Kathleen Krull is also involved with the "Who Was "  series that has also been mentioned.   We tried reading one last year (first grade) but it was a little old for the interest level we had last year.  (The subject was also a baseball player, so it may have not been a good fit for a 6yo girl). 

 

[desertflower]

Not sure if this is answering your question, but a series of biographies that we find interesting and on a 2nd-5th grade ish level is the Who Was __? series. We just read Who Was Queen Elizabeth in conjunction with our SOTW Middle Ages studies, but they have bios for up through modern times, like Who Was Ronald Reagan, or Who Were the Beatles, etc.

We started this as well. A bunch of pictures, short, and concise. We like it.

[FloridaLisa]

We also really like the Landmark series. 

 

Lisa