Grand Prairie Students Research Historical Figures

Conducting research may seem like an activity for older children, but the teachers and administration at Grand Prairie Elementary School understand how important it is for young students to develop critical thinking skills, learn how to organize information, and communicate through writing.

Students in Mrs. Malone’s second grade classroom spent the last month working on a variety of different biography research projects using PebbleGo. PebbleGo is a content hub curated for Kindergarten through 3rd grade students, complete with age-appropriate videos, relevant games to reinforce learning, easy-to-read articles, and literary supports. If a student is unsure of a word they’ve come across while researching, they simply click on the word and PebbleGo brings up a kid-friendly definition, as well as links to learn more about the topic.

The content featured on PebbleGo encompasses five different subject areas: animals, health, science, social studies, and biographies. Throughout the month, second graders learned all about biographies and autobiographies.

As a part of the celebration of Black History Month, students picked between four historical figures: Ruby Bridges, Jesse Owns, Harriet Tubman, or Rosa Parks. Using PebbleGo as their main resource, each student listed important facts about their chosen figure, such as date of birth, where they lived, what they were famous for, and why they are important.

After students completed their research project about a prominent figure in Black history, they were able to research a historical figure of their choosing. Jackie Robinson, Mo Willems, and Michael Jordan are just a few of the famous people the second graders chose to research. Second grader Diya picked Taylor Swift because “she inspires you to do new things.” Dominic chose Michael Jordon for his historical figure, saying “My Dad likes Michael Jordan, so I’m making this for him.” Classmates Ella and Lila both chose to learn more about the singer and actress Zendaya. “PebbleGo says she was very inspiring to other children,” Lila said. The students were excited to chose which famous person to research from PebbleGo's list of over 250 figures.

One thing is for sure, PebbleGo has become an invaluable resource that helps foster Grand Prairie students’ love of learning, reading, and exploring.