autobiography and biography ks2

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Biographies and autobiographies

What is a biography.

A biography is a non-fiction text about a person’s life. It is written in the third person and in chronological order.

Here you'll find English teaching resources to help key stage 1 and key stage 2 children understand the features of a biography and those of autobiographical accounts. They include templates, example biographies and worksheets alongside reading comprehensions based on biographical texts about famous people.

Download our model texts, worksheets and PowerPoints to develop children’s biography writing skills and support them in researching the lives of famous individuals. 

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Autobiography (Years 5-6)

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Encourage children to develop their knowledge of non-fiction writing with this fun PowerPoint. They will learn about the key features of an autobiography, including its purpose, writing style and layout. Children are then challenged to write their own autobiography that covers two of the topics given. Can they remember to include all the key features?

• Key Stage: Key Stage 2
• Subject: English
• Topic: Non-fiction
• Topic Group: Types of Text
• Year(s): Years 5-6
• Media Type: PowerPoint
• Resource Type: PowerPoint
• Last Updated: 23/09/2022
• Resource Code: E2PAT101
• Curriculum Point(s): Maintain positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read by identifying and discussing themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing.

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What are biography and autobiography?

A biography is a text written about someone else's life (usually someone famous). An autobiography is a text written about one's own life .

Children in Year 6 may be taught the unit: 'Biography and Autobiography' as suggested in the Primary Literacy Framework.

Features of biographical and autobiographical texts

If a teacher chooses to concentrate solely on biographies, children will start by reading a range of biographies, either about various different people or just about one person.

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They will look at the features of a biography, which include:  

• Written in formal language
• Use of compound and complex sentences , containing connectives
• Written in the past tense and usually written in chronological order (in time order)
• Text split up into paragraphs (usually each paragraph will detail the events of each part of the person's life, for example: one paragraph to explain their childhood, one to explain their early adulthood etc.)
• Dates included so that the reader knows what happened and when
• Phrases such as: 'It is believed', 'It was thought', 'Many people claimed', 'There was a rumour that' etc. to show that history is based on stories that have been passed on over many years and some things cannot be stated as facts
• Pictures and captions

How do primary children study biographies?

Usually, children will be given photocopied texts to read and then they may be asked to text-mark the above features to show that they understand how a biography is set out and what is included.

Children may then be asked to choose their own famous person that they are interested in. They will be asked to find as much information about this person and make notes on them. Often teachers give children labelled spider diagrams to help children organise their information, but more able children may be asked to organise the information in their own way. An example of a spider diagram is below:

Children will then be asked to start drafting their biography , using the notes they have collected. Once they have done this, they will go through a process of editing their writing . Usually, a teacher will mark the first draft and write comments and suggestions on it to help them with this. Another method, is for pairs of children to swap their writing and then discuss with their partner how the writing could be improved.

Finally, children will write up their biographies in neat. They may plan how their finished piece is going to look, including title, pictures and captions. Children then produce their finished piece of writing, either on the computer or in their own handwriting.

Interviewing a family member of friend to write a short biography is a great writing activity for KS2 children.

There are also hundreds of wonderful biographies written especailly for kids to read – look through our pick of the best biographies and autobiographies for children .

Biography and autobiography are non-fiction texts . For more details how how non-fiction texts are taught in KS1 and KS2 see our parents' guide,  What is non-fiction?

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More like this

Identifying the features of a biography

I can identify the purpose and features of biographical writing.

Lesson details

Key learning points.

• A biography is a non-fiction text written about someone's life.
• Linguistic features of a biography include fronted adverbials, facts, relative complex sentences and parenthesis.
• Structural features include a title, subheadings and relevant information grouped by theme.
• The purpose of a biography is to inform the reader about a particular individual.
• In biographies, extra, factual information can be added to clauses using brackets or commas.

Common misconception

Pupils may find identifying linguistic features of the text type challenging.

Explicit explanations are given for key linguistic features and modelled in the example biography.

Biography - a non-fiction text written about someone’s life

Purpose - the aim of a text

Linguistic feature - a structure of language that uses words

Civil rights activist - a person who is dedicated to securing equal opportunity for members of minority groups

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited ( 2024 ), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Starter quiz

6 questions.

biography -  

a non-fiction text written about someone’s life

purpose -  

the aim of a text

linguistic feature -  

a structure of language that uses words

civil rights activist -  

a person dedicated to securing equal opportunity for minority groups

Additional material

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Home > Resources > KS2 RESOURCE PACK: Writing Extraordinary Biographies

Resource Pack: Writing Extraordinary Biographies

Key stage and subjects, what’s the story.

Have you discovered Puffin’s brilliant biographies for kids aged seven and up?

The Extraordinary Lives series includes: Malala, Michelle Obama, Stephen Hawking, Anne Frank , Katherine Johnson and Neil Armstrong. These beautifully illustrated books include timelines, fascinating facts and inspirational quotes from their stars. The series celebrates how ordinary people can lead extraordinary lives because of their own choices, actions, beliefs and passions and will inspire your class that they too can be extraordinary.

This resource pack includes:

You’ll get material for four or more Literacy, Citizenship and PSHE lessons, adaptable for pupils in KS2 and KS3.

Once pupils understand the different features of biography writing  they’ll be able to create the biography of an extraordinary person of their choice using the template in the pack

Get the Resource Pack: Writing Extraordinary Biographies

Related books, the extraordinary life of anne frank, the extraordinary life of katherine johnson, the extraordinary life of malala yousafzai, the extraordinary life of michelle obama, the extraordinary life of neil armstrong, the extraordinary life of stephen hawking, who makes puffin schools, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> puffin schools has been created by the children’s publisher puffin to help bring together all the inspiring content we create for schools into one place. fa-angle-down--> what ages are the books on puffin schools for, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> the books on this website will range from those for eyfs through to primary and up to lower secondary school. you can discover our full range of books at puffin.co.uk fa-angle-down--> what is puffin, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> puffin is an imprint of penguin random house, the world’s number-one publisher representing a vibrant community of publishing houses marked by unparalleled success. through our world of stories, puffin aims to open up the world to every child. our mission is to inspire children to feel they can be and do anything, and to create readers for life. puffin started out as a non-fiction publisher, with its first title appearing in 1940. as the most iconic and well-known children’s book brand in the uk today, we are always on the lookout for innovative ways to tell the world’s favourite stories and for brilliant new debut talent and brands that connect with today’s young readers, from newborn up to twelve years old. we publish a diverse and wide range of fiction, non-fiction, picture books and children’s classics. our list includes some of the world’s favourite authors, illustrators and licensed brands, such as eric carle, helen oxenbury, nadia shireen, the snowman, doctor who, roald dahl, tom fletcher, jeff kinney, rick riordan, robin stevens, and jacqueline wilson to name but a few. fa-angle-down--> what’s the connection between ladybird, puffin and penguin, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> ladybird, puffin and penguin are imprints of penguin random house uk. across their extensive list, we believe there is a story for every child, everywhere. you can find information about books for all ages at penguin.co.uk fa-angle-down--> where can i buy puffin books from, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> all the books featured on this website can be purchased in the usual way: as well as being available on the high street and online, you can find lots of brilliant offers via school-specific suppliers and wholesale retailers. fa-angle-down--> how do i get in contact with a member of the puffin schools team, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> whether you’ve got a brilliant idea for a lesson, a photograph of something incredible you’ve done at your school or just have a question, please email  [email protected] and a member of the team will get back to you as soon as possible . fa-angle-down--> what’s happened to puffin virtually live, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> the story-makers show  was known as puffin virtually live  up until march 2019. the content and ambition of the show remains the same: to give every pupil the opportunity to engage with authors and illustrators in their own classroom using the power of the internet. we’ve re-named puffin virtually live  so that it’s easier for new teachers to discover it as part of puffin schools and to acknowledge that the show now premieres on show day, rather than being streamed live. fa-angle-down--> what’s happened to my puffin virtually live account, tag on the top needs the closed class if you start as expanded, leave data-collapsed="false" attribute, its used in the css --> your account for puffin virtually live has been deactivated as it is no longer a feature of the puffin schools website. if you were registered for the newsletter, you will now receive the puffin schools newsletter, which is filled with all the latest information about accompanying resources and upcoming shows. if you do not wish to receive it any longer then please unsubscribe. fa-angle-down--> which video platform is the story-makers show hosted on.

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Biography and Autobiography

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

16 November 2014

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Simple and easy to understand. Thanks!

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nhenry690071

Fabulous ! Thank you !

minasheikh001

Thank you. Really nice and clear.

ivelisaorama1

Thank you. Details are clear and simple for second language learners.

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