Url biography books

Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

Biographies are an excellent tool for expanding vocabulary and enhancing reading comprehension.

Leveled readers like these from Harcourt, Macmillan McGraw-Hill, and Scott Foresman,include grade-specific vocabulary and comprehension activities within each biography. 

For example, this fifth-grade reader on Buffalo Bill Codyhas highlighted vocabulary words, and includes comprehension questions and writing activities.

This sixth-grade reader on Jesse Owens includes a glossary, comprehension check, and writing activities.

You can access more of these types of biographies here.

Another biography for students series that includes comprehension questions is DK Life Stories. The books describe the struggles and triumphs of famous individuals, while providing an overview of the historical context in which they lived. The books also include glossaries of key words that can be used for vocabulary exercises. Check out the list of biographies in the sidebar you can read for free.

Even if you’re using a biography series that does not include vocabulary or comprehension questions, like the Who Was series, you can use graphic organizers such as the following to help pull out important details and information from any biography.

One-Page Biography Graphic Organizer

Scientist Biography Questionnaire

Biography Book Report Chart

You can also create your own activities using free AI tools. If you have a PDF of a biography, upload it to Claude.ai. If you have the URL of the biography, paste it into Microsoft’s Copilot AI. In either case, you can tell the AI to pull out a list of vocabulary words from the book, and generate vocabulary exercises, comprehension questions, and other activities based on the book.

Writing Activities

Create writing prompts and different types of writing exercises based on the biography you’re reading. For example, after reading “Who Was Albert Einstein?” write a newspaper article reporting on one of Einstein’s groundbreaking discoveries. Consider the historical context, the reactions of the scientific community, and the potential impact of the discoveries on society.

Free newspaper templates can be found at Canva. Here are some others:

Biography Newspaper Template

Simple Newspaper Printable

Read these biographies online for free or download as PDFs:

DK Life Stories

“Who Was” Series

Graphic Biography Series

These books present the stories of influential figures from history, science, and the arts in a comic book style format, generally considered to be more accessible for struggling readers. They are aligned with educational standards and can be used to help students with comprehension, inference, 
and critical thinking skills.

Martin Luther King
Easy Reader