Introduction:

To commemorate the accomplishments of famous people (or anyone for that matter) we tend to include an epitaph on their gravestone. Most epitaphs are written by a loved one, but in Thomas Jefferson’s case, he actually wrote his own. Here’s what he wrote: 

Here was buried Thomas Jefferson,

Author of the Declaration of Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom,

 and the Father of the University of Virginia.

 
Click the gravestone to see a website with a lot of neat custom made headstones!

Task:

In the computer class, you will create an epitaph of a famous American that you have (or will) cover this year. A list has been provided for 5^th grade students. In the library, you will use the plan sheet to get you started.

How to Write the Epitaph

Procedure:

In The Library

1. Fill out the plan sheet (click to download)

2. Write the name of your character at the top of the page.

3. Choose one of the details from your plan sheet that you feel strongly about, and write a sentence about it.  You might choose some feeling about someone with whom you had a relationship. Or you might write a sentence about how they died.  You could also choose an event that was important them. It really doesn't matter. 

5. Once you have begun, continue letting the thoughts and strong emotions of the character come out.  Remember in this type of epitaph you are telling of thoughts and feelings that you have researched about this person.

6. Once you believe you are done, read your epitaph aloud. Make changes where necessary.

7. Make decisions about the physical arrangement of the words in lines.  Do you want each sentence to be on one line?  Do you want some words to be on a line by themselves for emphasis?  As long as you are making conscience choices about where line breaks occur you should be fine.

9. Create a final copy following the format requested by your teacher.

5th Grade List of Famous People

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