PBS
Family History: On Your Honor
What is your history? Scholars work with their own families to create a unique story of the courage and bravery of their ancestors. The third and final part of the series culminates in a creation of not just a family history, but a...
BW Walch
Unexpected Family History
The history of the northern states' involvement in the slave trade is not widely known. This resource uses the PBS documentary, Traces of the Trade, and the nonfiction book, Children of the New England Slave Trade, to examine this aspect...
Curated OER
Where Were Your Ancestors in 1871?
Here is a nicely designed instructional activity on ancestry and family history. In it, learners read an article entitled, "Where Were Your Ancestors in 1871?" Then, they make up a series of questions to profile their family and their...
Park City Historical Society & Museum
Oral History Interview Questions Worksheet
What is an oral history interview? What goes into the planning and what should be said? Why is it important that we know and learn from oral history? This is an excellent worksheet to support your young historians as they conduct...
Curated OER
"Me and My Family Tree"
Students explore genealogy by reading a family history book in class. In this family tree lesson, students read the story Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney and discuss their own family history. Students identify what the term...
University of North Carolina
Oral History
There's no better way to learn something than to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. A handout on oral history, part of a larger series on specific writing assignments, explains how to conduct interviews and use the information...
Curated OER
The Family Tree
Students make a family tree. In this family lesson, students brainstorm what the word family means, interview their family members and grandparents, create a family tree, list their family's favorite foods and write an essay describing...
PBS
African American History: Climbing the Wall
Imagine the challenge of trying to trace your family genealogy if no records were kept of births and deaths. Where would you look for information? What types of documents could provide you with the information you seek? History...
Curated OER
How to Make Homework Meaningful
Enrich classroom experiences and engage young learners by assigning purposeful, student-centered homework activities.
Curated OER
Discovering Why I Am Who I Am
Students analyze their family history and traditions. For this family history lesson, students identify family members to research and interview their family about the people. Students write their family histories and traditions....
Curated OER
Creating Identity Posters
Students discover the identities of their classmates. In this tolerance lesson, students create individual posters showcasing their identity, history, and family background. Students examine the posters to get a better understanding of...
Curated OER
You Mean I Am Part of History?
Fourth graders open the lines of communication between family members and to gain a historical understanding about family history. They research and interview their grandparents and parents and create a research paper.
Curated OER
Record Your Own Family Folklore
Fifth graders interview family members in order to record family history in the form of a pioneer story, and also interview a member of the faculty in class. They practice note-taking during an interview, re-reading and editing an...
Smithsonian Institution
Art to Zoo: Life in the Promised Land: African-American Migrants in Northern Cities, 1916-1940
This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...
Curated OER
What is Your Story?
Learners listen to Picnic In October and Memory Coat to explore the concept of memoirs. They interview a family member and write a personal memoir that reflects their own family history.
Curated OER
Family Structures
Students organize information about their family into a family record. In this research instructional activity, students collect information about their families and organize it chronologically.
Curated OER
Travel Through Time with a Family Member
Students interview a family member. For this interviewing lesson, students choose a family member to interview and write about. Students create a PowerPoint about the person including a timeline, photographs, and a narrative about their...
Curated OER
Why Celebrate Black History Month
Second graders study about the culture, heritage, family, church, and politics of the African-American and why we honor their accomplishments. Then they make class presentations. This is a very meaningful lesson plan on an important part...
Curated OER
Culture Collage
Learners investigate their cultural heritage and make observations on how much influence their past has on their current values and lifestyle. They brainstorm a list of things that represent a certain country or cultural heritage and...
Curated OER
Culture Box
Sixth graders are asked what is culture? They find out their family history and all the nationalities represented in their family. Students discuss their culture with the class. They create culture boxes with a design that integrates...
Curated OER
Journey
Students complete a variety of enrichment activities that focus on the book, Journey, by Patricia MacLachlan. They create a photo album that shows their own family history.
Curated OER
Living History- An Intergenerational Philanthropy
Students gather information from a senior friend to write a biography. In this living history books lesson, students organize information to complete a book about their senior friend. Detailed teacher instructions for completing the book...
Curated OER
Personal Experience Narratives
Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...
Curated OER
Family Traditions and Special Times
Second graders recognize that families have a history through discussions with their own family members, identify traditions and how they vary in different families, and create entries in class book about traditions in their families.