Lessons you can use!

By Mary Ann Hetrick

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Younger Kids Lesson plans| Projects for Teens|Links to other Lesson plans

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1. For younger kids
   1. Have the children create pedigrees using pictures.
      1. Make a class assignment for the children to get Polaroid pictures of family members(or at least pictures that are ok to use for this project.).
      2. Have the children bring to class pictures they have taken of family members.
      3. Provide them with a poster board to glue them to.
      4. Place the child's picture at the bottom center of the page.
      5. Place any brothers or sister's pictures above the child's picture
      6. Place the picture of the child's father to the left of the child's picture, about half-way between the child's picture and the edge of the page.
      7. Place the picture of the child's mother to the right of the child's picture about half-way between the child's picture and the edge of the page.
      8. Place the picture of the child's paternal grandfather on the left and half-way between the picture of the father and the edge of the page.
      9. Place the picture of the child's paternal grandmother on the left even with the picture of the grandfather but to the right of the father's. About half-way between the father's and child's pictures.
      10. Place the picture of the child's maternal grandfather on the right and half-way between the mother's picture and the edge of the page.
      11. Place the picture of the child's maternal grandmother on the right and even with the maternal grandfather's picture. About half-way between the mother's and child's pictures.
      12. Then allow the children to use crayons to draw lines from their picture to each parent. Then from each patent to their grand parents.
   
   This is a Three generation pedigree for younger children.

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2. Projects for Teen's
   1. Have the class each pick a Migration Trail that one of their ancestors might have used, and have them research it.
      1. Then have them write a paper on why the Trail was started, and what the motives of the people who were using it might have had for moving.
      2. Finally have them make a map of the trail.
   2. Have the class pick one of the towns of a County one of their ancestors lived in.
      1. Have them research historical people of the town.
      2. Have them write a Biography of the person they researched
   3. Print out copies of a family group sheet and have the class fill them out using the questions found on the Beginning Genealogy section of this page.
   4. Have the class fill out a time line.
      1. Have them pick a famous person or grandparent.
      2. Have write down the persons birth date, and place of birth.
      3. Have them then write down the next major event in that person's life.
      4. Do this for each event until you get to their death date.
   5. Have each student fill out a 4 generation pedigree chart or a 6 person pedigree chart.  English / Spanish

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Links for Teachers

• Ancestors Teachers guide
• Charts & Records
• Links to the Past: Learning Subjects
  By the National Park Service
• The American Experience | Technology Time line
  A great page!

United States of America History links

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PBS Historical Series with Teachers Guides

• • The American Experience | A Midwife's Tail
    Life in the late 1700 to early 1800's as recorded by Martha Ballard in her diary
  • The American Experience | Riding the Rails
  • The American Experience | The Dust Bowl
  • The American Experience | The Orphan Trains
  • The American Experience | The Donner Party
  • The American Experience | The Iron Road
  • The American Experience | The Presidents
  • The American Experience | America 1900

If you have any other ideas that you think are related to genealogy, and history please email me and I will add them to the page. Hopefully I will have a lot more to add soon. If you would like to contribute to this page please email me

Additional activities you may want to consider:

Journalism - Have students videotape interviews.

Geography - Map ancestors' travels. Plot on a map the various towns and countries their ancestors were born in, and have them write a sentence or two about each location and why it was important.

Physical Features - A good collection of family photos makes this activity very entertaining. See if your students can determine which family members passed along the physical traits that make each student unique! Which relatives had the same shape nose or mouth? Which characteristic is repeated most often? Which characteristic will future children most likely inherit?

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Please let me know If you find any problems with the links on this site or if you have an idea for this page. You can email

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