If your child comes home asking questions about his or her heritage or genealogy, don’t be shocked. We have begun our new unit, Embracing Our Heritage. We are focusing on the question: how does the role of immigration affect our heritage, defining us individually and as a nation?
Students were ask to think about one of their relatives, (parent, grandparent, great grandparent, etc.) who was not born in the United States. If they weren’t sure, they should go home and ask. As a matter of fact, even if they were sure, they should have a conversation about the relative at home. These are the three questions the students are to be thinking about: who are my immigrant ancestors?; where did they come from?; why did they come here? In addition to answering those questions, students will be creating they own inquiry questions utilizing research techniques such as web searches and interviews to find the answers.
This unit has gotten me to think about my own family. My grandmother arrived here to the United States from the West Indies. As the students are researching about their ancestor, I will be doing the same. Below is a link to a web page created by Mrs. Malatesta, our media specialist, containing information about genealogy and useful web tools. Today, Mrs. Malatesta presented an introductory lesson on this topic focusing on the information she obtained through research about her family’s roots. I look forward to keeping everyone updated on our progress as a class. It is going to be very interesting what new information is uncovered.
We are truly excited to find out about about and embrace our past.
