Do you know these famous persons born in April?

Here is a list of people who have contributed to our world in ways that still benefit us today. Most elementary students will probably not know who these people are and what they did because they are not entertainers and athletes. But students should be able to learn about these influential figures and be able to share the information with each other.

• William Harvey (April 1)
  
  
• Abraham Maslow (April 1)
  
  
• Hans Christian Anderson (April 2)
  
  
• Jane Goodall (April 3)
  
  
• Maya Angelou (April 4)
  
  
• Booker T. Washington (April 5)
  
  
• Colin Powell (April 5)
  
  
• Kofi Annan (April 8)
  
  
• Paul Robeson (April 9)
  
  
• Joseph Pulitzer (April 10)
  
  
• Commodore Matthew Perry (April 10)
  
  
• Leonardo da Vinci (April 15)
  
  
• Wilbur Wright (April 16)
  
  
• Pope Benedict XVI (April 16)
  
  
• Charlie Chaplin (April 16)
  
  
• Nikita Khrushchev (April 17)
  
  
• Clarence Darrow (April 18)
  
  
• John Paul Stevens (April 20)
  
  
• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (April 22)
  
  
• Sergei Prokofiev (April 23)
  
  
• Meadowlark Lemon (April 25)
  
  
• John James Audubon (April 26)
  
  
• Coretta Scott King (April 27)
  
  
• Ulysses S. Grant (April 27)
  
  
• Samuel B. Morse (April 27)
  
  
• Oscar Schindler (April 28)
  
  
• Zubin Mehta (April 29)

Elementary curricula and standards require student inquiry-based learning activities that include the biographies of notable persons. These activities are very popular with students. Teachers should assign a different person from the list of April birthdays to each student, or form teams.

Students should present an oral or PowerPoint report of about two minutes that includes a picture of the person and anything else that represents or symbolizes the person's work. The report should include answers to at least four of the following essential questions for critical thinking:

• When and where was this person born, and in what field did this person do their best work?
  
  
• What was this person's life like before becoming famous?
  
  
• What is this person most recognized accomplishment and why?
  
  
• What obstacles did this person overcome to be able to achieve fame?
  
  
• How does this person's work inspire you and why?

Click the Biographies link on the right side of the Search page, click the alphabetic index, then browse for this person.

If the person in not in the Biographies section, then use a key word search on the Search page instead.

Don't miss our written report model or PowerPoint presentation aides (model 1 or 2.)