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
Activity Suggestions for When Everybody Wore a Hat
Students complete a number of activities as part of a study of When Everybody Wore a Hat. In this book study of When Everybody Wore a Hat, students interview relatives, make a hat and paper bag puppets, and create a family tree.
Berenstain Bears
Family and Community
Here is a beautiful set of lessons on family and community. These charming, engaging, and meaningful lessons would be of benefit for any Pre-K through 2nd grade learners. The lessons are jam-packed with terrific in-class, and at-home...
Curated OER
Four Foot Feat
Students examine cultural customs and practices in family histories. For this family history lesson, students read the poetry in 'All the Colors of the Race' to analyze the family history. Students complete guided reading activities....
Curated OER
Coming to America: Immigration Today
Students research their own family histories and current U.S. immigration issues, rules, and regulations. They participate in a class discussion, watch a video about a Mexican immigrant's experience, and complete a WebQuest and a worksheet.
PBS
Free, but Not Free: Life of Free Blacks Before the Civil War
Using the family stories of a famous comedian and singer-songwriter, learners consider what life was like for African Americans who were enslaved and free before the Civil War. To complete a concluding activity, they write about the...
Facing History and Ourselves
Connecting to the Past
Young historians research the connections between their personal histories and the histories of our country to gain a deeper understanding of who they are. To begin, class members write about an object that they consider significant to...
Curated OER
Quilting Our Diverse Classroom
Students explore diversity and race by creating art. In this ethnic background lesson, students discuss their family history, where their relatives lived and how it affects their life today. Students create pieces of a quilt representing...
Curated OER
Arkansas Photographs as Research Tools
Middle and high schoolers look at historical photos and written materials, and they develop questions which they use to interview an elder in their community. Learners are divided into groups and given sets of historical family photos...
Curated OER
All in the Family
Students develop family genealogy charts in search of noticeable genetic relationships between relatives. They research their family and write a reflection on the genetic relationships between individuals on the chart.
Curated OER
My Family Tree
Students create a family tree. In this ancestry lesson, students research a country that one of their ancestors is from. Students interview a grandparent and map out a family tree.
Curated OER
Our Diverse Heritage Family Tree
Students discuss family trees and create their own family trees. They research their cultural backgrounds and make oral presentations to the rest of the class during a multicultural lunch.
Curated OER
The Family: Louisiana Family Folklore
Every family has a different story to share. Your learning community examines the checklist that applies to the lesson, share some of the teacher's family photos, and look for clues in their own family photos in order to complete a...
Curated OER
Keepers
What are some things you think are special enough to keep? Discussing special things launches young learners into reading Keepers. They investigate related vocabulary and practice before, during, and after reading comprehension...
Curated OER
Crayon Box-Family Diversity
Young scholars explore diversity in families. In this social studies lesson, students read the book The Crayon Box That Talked and brainstorm traditions they have with their family. Young scholars create crayon templates with a sentence...
Curated OER
Family Life in the 1830s
Students compare and contrast family life today with family life in the 1830s. They conduct research on Old Sturbridge Village, read primary source documents, and develop a list of generalizations comparing/contrasting families of the...
Anti-Defamation League
We Were Strangers Too: Learning About Refugees Through Art
Did you know that "in the largest refugee crisis since World War II, more the 64 million people have been forced from their homes"? The Anti-Defamation League presents an activity that asks class members to examine a series of artworks...
Curated OER
Quilting
First graders investigate the color spectrum by painting their own pictures. In this artistic expression lesson, 1st graders discuss their own families and create ways to express their culture and family history on a picture quilt....
Curated OER
Paint's Family Tree
Students sort and classify the genetic traits of horses. In this heredity and genetics lesson, students read dialogue in a skit in which specific physical traits of several horses are described and a horse family tree is created....
Curated OER
What is History? Timelines and Oral Histories
Students consider how we learn about the past and discuss how the framing of history is always done by the person who is telling it. They construct a personal and class timelines, compare two or more accounts of the same event and record...
Curated OER
Family History
Fourth graders identify primary source items in the study of their families. They relate the importance of primary source materials in understanding history and events of the past.
Curated OER
Creating Identity Posters
Students discover the identities of their classmates. For this tolerance lesson, students create individual posters showcasing their identity, history, and family background. Students examine the posters to get a better understanding...
Crafting Freedom
The Self-Empowerment of Harriet Jacobs
In a hands-on learning activity, pupils read about and recreate the experience of Harriet Jacobs, author of one of the most famous slave narratives of all time in which she describes her years of hiding from her master in a confined...
Curated OER
Aboriginal Hand Prints
A part of a study of Australian Aboriginal culture, class members listen to a Dreamtime story about a father who stenciled his handprint on a rock wall. Class members then make their own hand print art representative of themselves...