Museum of Tolerance
Family Tree Activity
Discover the family histories that make the classroom with a family tree activity. Scholars locate information about their family, construct a family tree, and work together to tally where family members are born.
Museum of Tolerance
Oral History Activity
Oral history has brought a multitude of lessons, stories, and factoids to our current knowledge of the past. Let us continue to use oral history traditions through a lesson that encourages pupils to discover and appreciate where they...
Nebraska Department of Education
Career Family Tree
What do you want to be when you grow up? How does your family influence your choices of occupations? These are the questions middle schoolers consider as they interview family members and create a career Family Tree.
Curated OER
Learning to Interview
An authentic and engaging way to practice literacy skills, this lesson calls for young language arts pupils to conduct interviews with classmates and family members. First, pupils watch as the teacher models the interview process with a...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Narrating a Family Tradition
After examining a piece of art, scholars discuss what they see, paying close attention to details and space. A read-aloud introduces the topic of family traditions. Pupils interview their family members about a tradition in preparation...
Curated OER
Determining the Existence of Gender Bias in Daily Tasks
Help your kids explore gender bias. Learners design and conduct a survey examining role responsibilities within families. They determine the percentage of responsibilities for males vs. females and graph the results. Then they analyze...
Curated OER
It's All in the Family with Mother's & Father's Day
Students interview family members to make a family tree for a Mother's or Father's Day card. In this family tree lesson, students read Love You Forever and discuss love within families. Students view Genealogy Resources on the Internet...
NPR
Teaching Podcasting: Interview Practice
Step aside, Barbara Walters! Using an interesting resource, pupils practice interviewing one another about something they are most proud of. As individuals listen, they record their partners' responses and then upload them onto a computer.
Curated OER
Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition: Corridos
Students create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition lesson, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In addition, students...
PBS
Family History: Those with Lofty Ideals
Would you stand up for your beliefs, no matter the cost? Scholars investigate their own families to uncover examples of how and when someone stood up for their ideals. Using video clips, interviews, and eulogies, they come to understand...
Learning for Justice
Change Agents in Our Own Lives
Everyone has the power to change their own lives. Young historians learn how they can become agents for change in their own lives and the community. The lesson focuses on positive role models and what motivates individuals to promote...
Novelinks
The Color of Water: Family History Assignment
To conclude their study of James McBride's The Color of Water, class members create their own memoir, focusing on a family member who help shape their life.
Curated OER
Traveling Through Literature
Integrate geography with literature in this interdisciplinary lesson. Begin by reading a poem such as The Time We Climbed Snake Mountain by Leslie Marmon Silko. On a large map, place push pins in the cities or states mentioned. An...
Curated OER
Discovering Me
Read selections from recommended autobiographies, poetry and short stories. Interview family members to collect material useful for constructing a family tree or other types of family history.
Advocates for Youth
What Are My Relationships with Others Like?
Relationships are often the highest priority for teenagers, but they don't always have the maturity to navigate a healthy connection with peers or family members. A series of group activities prompt class members to interview their...
Curated OER
Like Water for Chocolate: Family Tradition
Engage young writers in family tradition with this writing assignment for Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel. Using sensory details, learners write a narrative about a family tradition involving food. Scholars also talk with...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Shaking the Family Tree
Create family trees while reading "Little House in the Big Woods." After examining Laura Ingalls Wilder's family tree, compare it to a real tree's roots and branches. Conclude with interviewing family members and decorating family...
Curated OER
Looking at Me-In the Future
Students interview family members for important details and funny stories about themselves when they were younger. Once interviews are complete, they list interesting facts about their life today then predict what their life will be like...
Curated OER
The Family Tree
Middle schoolers 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...
Curated OER
What's the Context Worksheet
What is context? The class researches a family treasure carefully for its hidden significance as well as its obvious story. They interview family members to gain more insight and context clues to determine point of view and meaning...
Curated OER
A Family Celebration
In this family history activity, students interview a family member about places where they lived and then write 4 short answer questions based on the responses.
Museum of Tolerance
Where Do Our Families Come From?
After a grand conversation about immigration to the United States, scholars interview a family member to learn about their journey to America. They then take their new-found knowledge and apply their findings to tracking their family...
Curated OER
Conducting Interviews in the Community
Students conduct individual interviews to find out how people in their own communities provide services to others. In this interview instructional activity, students broaden their perspectives on the meaning of the common good by...
Museum of Tolerance
Artifact Research Activity
Artifacts give us the privilege of learning about the past, may it be family, culture, or traditions. Here, class members learn about their family's past with the help of an artifact, or family heirloom. Once an artifact is discovered,...