LMN Tree: Celebrating Black History Month with Free Resources, Poems, Biographies, and Free Activities

February is so full of celebrations so I'm happy that we celebrate and honor African Americans all month long. Using biographies and poems is a great way to teach students about many wonderful African Americans who have contributed so much to our country. Many of them whose bravery and courage paved the way for others even against great odds. I found some wonderful resources to access free biographies and information that I'd like to share with you.

If you are looking for some great websites with biographies you can check out the ones below. The first one is called Bio.Tru Stories. You can search any name and it will not only give you a biography but also a video to go with it. I found this very informative. Just click on the picture of Ruby Bridges below to check it out.

Another great website is called Time for Kids. Here you can find not only biographies but lots of other information to help you celebrate the month. Just click on the image below to check it out.

At Fact Monster you can find 500 biographies of past and present African Americans. Just click on the image below to check out this site.

I also found lots of lessons and activities at NEA for all grade levels that you can access by clicking on the image below.

Finally Scholastic has a wealth of resources to access depending on your grade level. You can check it out by clicking on the picture below.

I finally revised and updated my Black History Month Packet that includes 2 Biographies, Bio and Subject poems as well as a variety of reading and writing activities designed to help your students learn about several famous African Americans. Students will read 2 different biographies that are differentiated at the 2nd and 3rd grade levels, engage in reading and writing 3 kinds of Subject Poem, Bio Poem, and 5W poem using the poetry form templates:

They will also write a biography, match picture/fact cards, write opinion pieces, and other activities. If you would like to check out all the activities and materials in this packet and read the complete description just click on the image below. Download the Preview file to see sample pages of all the reading and writing activities.

Here is one I wrote about Ruby Bridges. A 5W poem answers the basic questions who, what, where,when and why. You will find other 5W poems in my packet as well.

Here is the basic form of a 5W poem: