Introducing genre of a biography

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gen · re (ZHON-ruh), n. a classification of literature or writing bygd subject or theme in which members of a genre share common characteristics.

It’s never too soonto introduce writing genres to children. Even as their writing skills are just beginning to bloom during their early school years, you can help them identify different types of literature through the books they’re reading.

I’ve always been a reader. Even as a child, I remember enjoying books from many different genres. I adored nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and poems. Among my earliest memories are books about nature and science and stories of children from around the world.

In third grade, I must have checked out every children’s biography in our school library. And in fourth grade, you could be sure to find my friend Adele a

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Biography Genre

1. Biography

2. Characteristics of a Biography    A story about a real person Shows that the author knows a lot about the person The author must do extensive research on the subject by conducting interviews, reading books, scripts, etc.

3. Characteristics of a Biography   Describes the person’s environment where, when and how they lived. Provides details that show the individ in action like their accomplishments, goals and behavior.

4. Characteristics of a Biography  Shows how the person affects other people. Things like new discoveries in science and medicine or changes in laws.

5. Characteristics of a Biography    States or implies how the writer feels about the person Different authors will have a different view point of the person he/she is writing about The author’s point of view could be positive or negative

6. Finding a Biography    The call number of a biography fryst vatten 921 Under the 921 are the first three letters of the person’s

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Genre Introduction Simplified

We all know that introducing kids to different genres is important.  But do we really, truly know why?  And the immediate next question:  do we really, truly know the best way to go about it?  

I’m going to get into all of that today–but because I like to keep things as easy yet meaningful as possible, my take on genre introduction will be simplified.  Who doesn’t love simple?

Ok, first things first.  Why is genre introduction so important?  

Yes, we would all love for our students to read a wide variety of genres so that they can learn who they are as readers.  It’s why implementing reading challenges (which I share important considerations for here) are such a ubiquitous teacher practice.  

But it’s much more than that.

Really understanding genre, and how they each tend to go, is the building block for understanding main ideas and summarizing.  Whenever I see kids give me random