Categories for Biographies

Today in Reading Workshop we learned about what makes someone famous enough to have a biography written about them.  There are four categories: First at something, new discovery, special talent and leader.  We sorted every biography in our classroom bin into at least one of these categories.  We talked about how Harry Houdini was a great magician therefore he had a special talent.  Martin Luther King changed people's thinking about giving everyone the same freedoms, he was a leader.  Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, he had a biography written about him because he was the first at something.  Lastly, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he had a biography written about him because he invented something very important (can you imagine the world without light?)