5 kids with technology on grassy lawn
First Grade

Reading Make It Epic!

Knowledge Constructor
Kids reading

Overview​

Need an engaging reading assignment for students? Use Epic to guide students to learn what a biography is, and have them find information about a specific person.

Epic is a digital library with over 25,000 books, learning videos, quizzes and more for kids 12 and under. Epic is free to educators! 

Students will:

  • Understand what a biography is. 
  • Be able to explore several different types of biographies on Epic! both in book and educational video form.

Vocabulary Words:

  1. Biography: A biography is an account of someone’s life, written by someone else.

To prepare for this lesson: 

  • Create an educator account on Epic!

  • Create individual student profiles.

  • Load Epic! on student devices and/or tablets.

  • Create a note-taking graphic organizer for students to collect information about their chosen person based on your learning goals (i.e. where was the person born and when?). 

    • Make a copy of the graphic organizer and then share it with your students. 

  • Watch this video for help getting started with Epic!

  • The teacher may want to preview what biographies are available and make a list of famous people from which the students can choose from. 

See Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4students.net site in the Teacher Resources. 

Directions for this activity:

  1. The teacher explains to students that they will be searching for books and educational videos about a person’s real life and achievements.

  2. The teacher asks them to take notes on facts about the person as they read or watch on Epic!

  3. The teacher encourages them to look for more than one book or educational video about the person to learn more facts.

  4. The teacher asks students to fill out biography report sheet.

  5. Allow students to present their research to the class!

Different options for assessing the students:

  • Observations
  • Check for understanding
  • Create a rubric that assesses the information the students were able to get from the biography, based on the note-taking sheet and their presentation.

MITECS: Michigan adopted the "ISTE Standards for Students" called MITECS (Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students) in 2018.

Knowledge Constructor
3d. Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.

 

Device: iPad 

Browser: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, ALL

App, Extension, or Add-on:
Epic! Android App

Epic! iOS

Websites:
Epic!

Epic Biography Notes Graphic Organizer

Epic! Tutorial

 

CONTENT AREA RESOURCES

Use Epic! for the "Listening" portion of Daily 5 using Read-to-Me and Audiobooks.

  • Art: Create book commercials using multimedia tools such as iMovie, Telestory or ChatterPix

  • PE: Read about a game played in another school and attempt to teach that game to the class.

  • Music: Find books with songs and share with class.

Find books that represent math problems and.or counting.

Perform experiments using ideas in Epic!'s STEM books.

Expose students to different expressions and intonations using Read-to-Me books and talk about how the interactions between characters impact relationships.

Report a bad link, inappropriate content or out-of-date content. 

CREDITS
This task card was created by Lacey Khon, Kalamazoo RESA, February 2018. Updated Nov. 2021. 


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