Curated OER
Celebrate Family Story Month
Creative lesson and activity ideas that record family stories and memories.
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...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Personalities Lesson Plan
Caring, trustworthiness, and responsibility—these are only a few character traits in focus of a lesson based on stories from the Civil War era. Class members explore several influential lives while reading biographies that highlight...
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
Family's Tree House
Learners research their family history and graph it in a family tree format. They appreciate similarities and differences in various cultures and customs by comparing and contrasting their family trees. They then create an original...
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.
Curated OER
Quilting Our Diverse Classroom
Students explore diversity and race by creating art. In this ethnic background instructional activity, students discuss their family history, where their relatives lived and how it affects their life today. Students create pieces of a...
Curated OER
Wheeling and The Big City Lesson 1
Eighth graders consider how immigration impacted the East. In this West Virginia history lesson, 8th graders research the effects of immigration on Wheeling, West Virginia. Students also gather information about immigration on a field...
Channel Islands Film
Dark Water: Lesson Plan 3 - Grades 6-12
After watching the documentary Dark Water about a traditional Chumash ceremony and reading a Chumash origin story, viewers are asked to create a coat of arms and to craft an essay that details a family tradition or their own origin story.
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,...
Curated OER
Human Genetics Lesson
Youngsters are assigned the task of interviewing a family member or a neighbor and asking them about any genetic disorders that are present in their family history. They pretend that they are about to have a baby that is carrying a...
Annenberg Foundation
America's History in the Making: Classroom Applications One
Someone finds a time capsule 100 years from now, and it includes your family photo album. What would the photos tell that person about you and your place in history? Scholars investigate how artifacts tell stories. Using photos, maps,...
K20 LEARN
Allotment in Indian Territory: Land Openings in Indian Territory
To understand how the allotment policy embedded in the Dawes Act, passed by the U.S. government in 1887, affected the tribal sovereignty of Native Americans, young historians examine various maps and documents and Supreme Court cases...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Exploring Oral Histories of Angel Island Immigrants
Empowered by the previous lesson where they interviewed a family or community member, young historians examine Angel Island immigrants' oral histories. They use a matrix to record their interpretation of the feelings of the immigrant....
Curated OER
Depicting Motherhood in Family Stories
Students explore triptychs. For this art history lesson, students define the terms "photograph" and "triptych". Students discuss changes that occur between mothers and daughters and create an original triptych using family photographs.
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
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
Discovering Why I Am Who I Am
Students analyze their family history and traditions. In this family history lesson, students identify family members to research and interview their family about the people. Students write their family histories and traditions. Students...
Curated OER
Origins and Identity
Students examine how to research their family backgrounds. They conduct interviews with various family members, create a family tree, and present their family tree to the class.
Curated OER
What is History? Timelines and Oral Histories
Students determine that their lifetime shows just a small piece of history. They determine how two or more accounts of the same event can be different. They write an account of the same event from two perspectives.
Curated OER
Family Trees
Students trace their family history back to their great-grandparents and examine where their family is from and what types of jobs their ancestors had. They also define different terms used to describe family relations such as...
Curated OER
Grandparents' Day: Family History
Pupils explore Grandparents' Day. They interview their grandparents and select an activity to highlight their interview. They select a project including writing an essay, composing a song, creating a poem or scrapbook, or writing a...
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
Lesson: All in the Family
Who was the Radcliffe family? Young learners find out about the life and times of a family from long ago. They analyze the family portrait, write a story about the family, and then use their story to create thought or word bubbles which...