The question of getting kids involved in genealogy has dogged me for the pas few years. So much so, that every once in a while I work on a genealogy curriculum for schools. I made my own family group sheets, individual cards, pedigree charts and for schools I made an individual worksheet with a few questions for the students to work on. My intent was as the children go through school they build on their genealogies and learn how to research for future science projects, English papers, and social studies projects. Now let the brainstorming begin!
Getting kids into genealogy is hard and going to take time, so you might want to start the process before they are even born! If you have old family photos or pictures, especially those that have grandparents, great-great parents and beyond, I would have a family photo wall in your house! My cousin Keith has a wall like this, with copies of old family photos and people ask about it and he tells them that the people in the photos are grandparents, aunts, and uncles and the like. Having this wall gets the kids familiar with their ancestors from the time their babies. When, kids are really little, do not get too hung up on explaining your genealogy going back to Adam and Eve. Start small. Start with yourself, your siblings, and your grandparents. If your child does something that reminds of you of a story tell your child the story. If you have family time, use that time to share stories about the family or share stories at bedtime. A second suggestion with photos is on a computer, you can take individual ancestors’ or relative’s pictures put them into paint or any photo program and type their names-print off. Get a poster board and draw a tree (similar to a pedigree chart) on it. Put Velcro on the individual pictures and the poster board. During story time, bring out the board and have the child put the photo on the poster and talk about the individual, tell stories or memories about that particular person. You can also take your children places where their ancestors lived and worked. Sometimes, you might be able to show the kids inside the house where their grandpa grew up in, be sure to ask. You can also take them to the cemetery (be sure to teach them proper cemetery etiquette) and show them where their ancestors are buried. Be sure to bring paper and crayons, so they can make etchings of the headstones. My Idea for Incorporating Genealogy into School Curriculum Okay, every once in a while I work on getting some sort of genealogy packet together to bring into the schools. I was a history major in college and doing genealogy while working towards that goal made history even easier. I had stories of my ancestors and corresponded to events in history-Oscar Coen was shot down over France and was missing for several months. Uncle Charles Cutter was an engineer on Underground Railroad. There were only two Cutters from Pelham, New Hampshire who fought in the American Revolution. If you are descended from royalty, you might find yourself muttering “Grandpa” or “Grandma” under your breath, whenever the teacher mentions your blue blooded relations! When a child is in first grade, you get the basic questions, who are your grandparents, who are your parents, and where are your origins? You don’t go any further in family explorations. Well, I want to take it further and teach children research skills that they can take into college and have their own genealogies! Now this is a rough outline of what I had in mind, but I hope there are some good ideas in it. My intent is that when they start, students will have a folder that they will keep throughout their school career and that by the time they enter high school they will know how to research and an actual genealogy binder with all their information in a neat presentation. First and Second Grade: Getting a family tree established with self, siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, granduncles and grandaunts, and gathering initial photos of relations and short stories and getting country of origins for their families as well. Third and fourth grade: Basic research skills, getting dates and getting great grandparents and their siblings, perhaps a field trip to a local history room or a cemetery is in order. In third grade, they will start keeping a genealogy journal and this is the opportunity for students to interview grandparents and parents about their memories. They record what they interview in their journals. Fifth and Sixth Grade: More Research skills including basic citation. During this period we’re going beyond the four initial generations, I would put the number to at least seven generations, and we’re actually doing an initial set up for their genealogy book, staring with their parents doing an initial write up with photo. Part of their English and Writing classes, students will be required do to a biographical piece and a fictional piece about an ancestor of their choice. Seventh and Eight Grade: Finalize the genealogy books with photos, and stories. Teaching the students more citation-the different formats MLA, Chicago and APA and giving them research tips for the future if and when they want to go beyond their initial school project. If by any chance, need to know some family facts for any class in high school, they’ll have handy their project for that assignment. Actually this happened to my cousin and who do you think he called? That my fellow researchers, is how I would incorporate genealogy into a school curriculum. That concludes my blog on getting kids into genealogy. If there are any additional ideas, fell free to leave your comments below! I hope I had a few good ideas on how to get kids into genealogy. Welp, folks until next time! This blog was originally published on my now abandoned genealogy blog.
0 Comments
If you think you're going to get away from your science teacher in a history class, you're very wrong! You can apply the scientific method to a history class! You can see from shows like Secrets of the Castle, Edwardian Farm, Victorian Farm, and Tudor Monastery Farm that there is a science to what they're doing, even though they are living in a historic era. I would call it this type of history, Experimental History.
So the scientific method is this:
So how does that fit into a history class?
Check out this Episode of A Stitch in Time on YouTube and observe how the scientific method is applied to designing and creating a historic outfit. Even historic costumers apply the scientific method to their work when they create costumes for a TV show or play. If at the start of the year, there needs to be a sub in a science classroom and your class is learning about the scientific method, consider showing Secrets of the Castle for a lesson in the scientific method! You can put these questions on a worksheet and the students can answer the questions. Scientific Method - Experimental History Style Secrets of the Castle Questions:
The team works on the Cherry and potato harvest and plans a trip to the seaside. Alex and Peter look for ladders for the cherry harvest and Ruth makes plans with what she can make with the cherries. The team celebrates the cherry harvest with a festival and lots of cherry pies. Then they take a trip to the seaside. Ruth makes a new period swimsuit and tries it out. At the seaside they are entertained by period performers. They also take a dip in the sea in period swimsuits. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Questions:
Answers:
Episode 12 The series concludes with the Oat harvest and it's a challenge to predict the weather!
Alex and Peter look to predict the weather in order to determine when to bring the oat harvest. They have a weather vane made in the shape of one of their chickens. They also find a quick method to determine barometric pressure. Ruth works on the market gardens for one last time, putting seaweed fertilizer on them. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Questions:
Answers:
Tourists come to the Tamar Valley, and the team comes up with ways to keep them fed and make money off them. Ruth learns how to make clotted cream and Peter paints pictures of the valley for the tourists. The strawberries are ready for picking and Alex is worried about an invasion of snails and slugs. The government sent out dairying school to teach the women how to work with milk. Peter putting together the paints and pigments was pretty interesting and I never knew that they came separate. The dairy school concept was interesting too. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Episode 9 Questions:
Episode 9 Answers:
Episode 10 The Boys are away sheering sheep while Ruth takes care of the potatoes. The team also gets a visitor from an old friend.
The sheep are taken to Dartmoor and they sheer sheep. Ruth takes care of the farm while the boys are on the moors. A visitor from their time on the Victorian Farm stops by and the team go out on a picnic with their visitor. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Episode 10 Questions:
Episode 10 Answers:
Springtime has come to the Farm and life is renewed. A visitor comes for Mothering Sunday. Spring is in full swing on the farm, and one of the first harvests is brought in: daffodils. Eve, Ruth's daughter comes and visit the farm in time for Mothering Sunday, it is a similar holiday to Mother's Day. She makes Ruth a cake for the celebration. In the Edwardian period, many daughters worked in service and it was the onetime of year where they could get the day off to spend with their families. Alex tries to expand his chicken concern by buying an incubator. The sheep are also ready to give birth and the boys learn how to handle lambing. The boys also purchase a new pony for the farm and hire an expert to tame it. The episode concludes with the celebration of Easter, and Ruth makes eggs to celebrate. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Episode 7 Questions:
Episode 7 Answers:
Episode 8 The team looks to the sea for their harvest. The Tamar Valley is a place where the farmers had one foot on the land and one foot on the sea.
The boys take a trawler out for it's first time sailing since it's restoration. Ruth picks seaweed and shrimp. She uses the seaweed for bread and makes little dishes with the shrimps to sell. Alex makes a curricle for the small pond on the farm. Peter has to try it out first because the baby fish escaped from the hatchery. He promptly sinks it but then gets the hang of it. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Episode 8 Questions:
Episode 8 Answers:
The Boys and Ruth explore more ways to bring in an income on the farm. It is January on the farm. The boys try mining while Ruth tries lace making. The boys try copper mining without much success, however try another method to extract copper by putting metal in copper infused water. That method works and the team makes some money from copper. Then they are taken to another mine in Cornwall where they use technology to live the lives of miners for the day. Tin mining was where the money was at. Ruth learns the craft of lace making (without much success) as well as how to make a Cornish pasty. The boys take the pasties down the mine, but do not leave the crusts behind for the little people who dwell in the mine. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Episode 5 Questions:
Episode 5 Answers:
Episode 6 Ruth writes a letter home to her mum exploring the day in a life of an Edwardian Farmer.
Ruth's day kicks off by getting dressed and cleaning the floor...one stone at a time. The boys take care of the fields and look on the animals. By mid morning Ruth gets breakfast on the table after that bathes for the first time after doing her cleaning. It is a fascinating episode and I really enjoyed looking at at the day in the the life of an Edwardian Farmer. It was an excellent summary of what the team did during the course of the day. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Episode 6 Questions:
Episode 6 Answers:
Episode 3 work continues on the farm as Peter, Ruth and Alex explore more possibilities to make money on the Edwardian Farm. It is November on the Edwardian Farm. The team plants their potato crop and use the latest in Edwardian technology in order to plant it. They also use the tractor to do some chores around the farm such as making feed for the animals. We also learn how the Tamar Valley was home to a hatchery. Peter explores that part of that part of the history of the Tamar Valley. Ruth works on cleaning and prepping the privy. The discussion on the fish hatchery would be appropriate in the agricultural science department, especially if the school offered a class on animal science. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Questions:
Answers
Episode 4 Episode 4: Ruth, Peter and Alex continue in their efforts to make money for the farm. Peter and Alex focus their efforts on the sea while Ruth cleans a historic house.
Christmas is coming to the farm and the boys are trying their hand at fishing for crabs. However the weather and waves keep them away. In the mean time the boys have a cow butchered. Ruth in the mean time is looking for extra income for the farm and cleans a historic house using Edwardian techniques and technology. She gets a new bike to help her out with transportation. While Ruth is away, the boys will play. At the end of the episode, they participate in an Edwardian Christmas church service and celebrate Christmas Edwardian farm style. This would be a good episode to show around Christmas time in the classroom. A work sheet wouldn't need to be required, unless you have a sub in the room. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. This series is also available on Amazon Prime. Episode 4 Questions:
Episode 4 Answers:
Peter Ginn, Ruth Goodman, and Alex Langladas are working in the Tamar Valley on an Edwardian Farm. The first episode is about the historians setting up the farm. Ruth Goodman is a freelance historian who specializes in domestic history. Peter Ginn and Alex Langladas are archeologists. The series also features additional specialized historians and experts throughout the series. Ruth sets up the house while Alex and Peter set up the animals as well as the fields. They use Edwardian methods to clean the chimney as well as to make quicklime. They have to lime the fields in order for crops to grow. The boys go away to make the quicklime which turned out to be more challenging than they first thought. If they fail in making quicklime, their farm will fail for the year. In the mean time, Ruth continues to make the farmhouse a home as well cooking a gruesome dish for the boys in preparation of their return from making quicklime. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. The series is also available on Amazon Prime. Episode 1 Questions:
Episode 2 Answers:
Episode 2 Episode 2: More preparations on the farm are made for the future harvest and winter. Ruth works on prepping the market gardens using goats to clear the weeds. Then she and Alex prepare the gardens for strawberries. The boys bring in a bull to the farm.
Another important preparation for the harvest include making cider, although the farms orchards only produce a single apple. They bring in additional cider apples and prep them to make cider for the harvest. The art of barrel making is explored. Ruth works hard in the kitchen to preserve food for the winter, she pickles apples and preserves meat. Alex also brings back chickens to the farm, which provides an immediate income to the farm. If you need a filler in the classroom, this is an excellent series for that use. You aren't limited to history with this series either you can use this in a family and consumer education or a home economics class to learn a recipes or crafts. You really see history come to life in this series and Ruth, Alex, and Peter are excellent narrators. For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom. You can easily format these questions to your specifications. You can find the link for the YouTube video here. The series is also available on Amazon Prime. Episode 2 Questions:
Episode 2 Answers:
|
Author
The reviews I do are my opinion and my opinion only. My opinions should always be taken with a grain of salt. I just want to help teachers out selecting documentaries. Worksheets
My Teachers Pay Teachers Store! Worksheets available as a Word Document.
Lulu Store
I am also on Lulu! If you're interested in genealogy I have several books available!
Archives
November 2024
Categories
All
Privacy Policy
HistoryDocTube will not collect any personal information and will not sell any personal information to a third party. We will not request any personal information.
The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |