1. Overview. �My Best Friend� is a project designed to help you learn how to do research. This is an important skill that will help you succeed in high school, college, and in life. You will be assigned a number of small projects to do with your Best Friend. Each of these projects will be graded. For each project, you will have to obtain information from different sources, and document that information.
2. Selecting your character. Each student will choose a character from US History as their Best Friend. The list of characters is on the back side of this sheet. You cannot choose the same character as someone else. Before I approve your character, you must show me a book (preferably a biography) at least 100 pages long about your character. That book will be required reading this quarter. I have talked with Mrs. Layman and you may also use this book as one of your Language Arts assignments. You must have your character approved by 18 August.
3. Projects. I will give you separate instructions for each of the projects. Each of these projects will be graded and stored temporarily in the Historical Section of your Notebook. Among the projects you will likely be asked to accomplish are a �
- bio-poem - business card
- postcard - timeline
- scrapbook - caricature
- letter to Santa Claus - classroom interview
- honorarium - poster
- primary source analysis - birth announcement
4. Birth Announcement. We can�t do anything with your Best Friend until he/she is born.
For that, we need a birth announcement. This will be your first project with your Best Friend.
a. You may use any source you wish (your book, the internet) but you will have to document your source using note cards and a bibliography in what we call MLA format. Samples of the correct format are on the attached sheet. Keep the MLA sheet in the Reference
section of your Notebook, after your Timelines.
b. You will need your Best Friend�s full name, their sex, date of birth, place of birth,
and mother�s and father�s name.
c. Prepare your birth announcement on an unlined 8�� x 11� sheet of paper. The Announcement will be on the front side. The Announcement will consist of a baby picture
and the birth �statistics�.
d. Get a close-up image of your Best Friend�s face. Cut out the face and attach it to a generic baby picture. For best results, photocopy, scan or use photo editing software to
�smooth� the face to the body.
e. Put your name, period, and the bibliography on the back of the sheet.
f. The Birth Announcement is due 23 August.
For a list of possible Best Friends, click here