Family History Projects

1
Family History Projects

• Making the Past Real to Kids

2
Your Presenters

• Tim DeFrange, Library-Media Specialist Rationale
  for the projects. Resources, procedures, ODE
  guidelines in technology and library-media that
  the project satisfies.
• Laurie Simms, Middle School Social Studies
  Teacher Reaction of the students in her
  classroom to project. Teacher vantage point of
  the project and culminating activities
• Lauren Whitehouse, Middle School Student
  Showing the work she did in publishing her book.
  Showcasing her Word Document and Powerpoint
  slides of her work like she did at the Family
  History Tea and singing the song the girls sang
  at the tea.
• Tammy Whitehouse, Parent of Middle School
  Student Parental participation in the project.
  Effect on her family.

3
Family History is Cool

• The number of people doing tasks on the internet
  related to genealogy grows exponentially each
  year.
• Just two decades ago, one had to drive to
  genealogical libraries and government offices to
  research ancestors.
• The internet has made it possible for younger
  students to accurately research their ancestry
  and authentically publish their results without a
  college degree, a credit card or a drivers
  license.

4
A living legacy Encouraging kids to climb your
family's tree? writes Gina Roberts-Grey

• Who was your Grandma's Grandma?" "Where were
  you born?" "Where did our last name come from?" A
  child's fascination about his heritage and
  lineage usually begins to awaken around the age
  of five or six.The natural curiosity of many
  children leads to a barrage of questions about
  where they were born, where you were born, and
  who their great, great, great grandfather was.
  Satiating a child's desire to have accurate and
  interesting information often rekindles a
  parent's fascination with researching a family's
  history.

5
With Ohios SS standards and Technology
Guidelines requiring implementation

• Doing Family History Projects in the fifth grade
  makes perfect sense
• Teacher/librarian collaboration works really
  well.
• Do it big or do it small but do it

6
Assign in the Fall

• Families gather from across the land on
  Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• Prepare your fifth graders in advance with the
  tools for successful information gathering

7
Their Tools

• Hunger to explore and discover their familys
  past
• Appreciation for old stuff
• Interview skills
• Ancestry chart know-how
• Federal census and Ellis Island website
  acquaintances

8
Hunger to explore and discover their familys past

• Tell them your Amaterial discovery stories.
  Show them visually what you discovered. Let your
  excitement speak that this isnt an ordinary
  assignment. This is a fun thing to do, even if it
  werent for a grade.

9
Appreciation for Old Stuff

• Wow them with old pictures
• Amaze them with primary documents
• Astonish them with family heirlooms

10
Interview skills

• Give them cool questions to ask that make them
  hungry for answers
• Prepare them for the challenges
• Give them adult tips to reinforce the adult
  nature of this assignment.

11
Ancestry Chart Know-how

• Theyre kids and theyre going to fill it out any
  old way.
• Collect them and teach them correct entry
  procedures
• Give them a chance to perfect their chart
• Require they always make a copy for you.

12
Give them a template to make them want to publish

• Download a template that looks fun to complete
• Show them how to write their familys history in
  pieces/chapters
• Show them the scanner and how to add
  illustrations to their book.

13
Acquaint Them with Ancestry.com

• Tantalize them research strategy

14
Show them how to create their free account at
EllisIsland.org

• Teach them search strategies.

15
Assist them with screen capture software
16
Get Some Inexpensive Flash Drives. Bar code them
and circulate them.
17
Ask your tech guy for a shared directory
18
Announce the Family History Event

• Collect their scanned images in a PowerPoint
• Teach them the melody or have one of them solo it
  
• Encourage volunteers to speak/share
• Make up a program
• Make the occasion as classy as you can