Long Ago & Maybe Far Away

Interview relatives about your family history. Write and illustrate the story of your family's past on a scroll you can save for future generations!

• 1.

  What do you know about the history of your family? Where did your ancestors live before family members came to your present place? How could you find out more about your family history?

• 2.

  <STRONG>Conduct interviews.</STRONG> Use Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils to write a list of questions you have about your family. Jot down names of family members you could interview in person, call, or e-mail. Find out whether anyone in your family has diaries, letters, photographs, or memoirs. With your family’s help, trace your history back through at least your grandparents. Take notes on cards.

• 3.

  <STRONG>Organize your information</STRONG>. Use Crayola Twistables to color-code the cards’ borders. Assign each color a meaning. For example, red could stand for information about your maternal grandmother or what happened from 1900 to 1950.

• 4.

  What is the best way to arrange your family history? You could present each branch of your family separately. Or you could show where each line of your family history was at the same point in time. For example, your maternal grandmother's family may have lived where you do now at the same time your paternal grandfather's family was in another country.

• 5.

  <STRONG>Create a family history scroll.</STRONG> Use Crayola Multicultural Crayons and Markers, Erasable Colored Pencils, and Twistables to illustrate and write about your ancestors' lives and locations, from long ago and maybe far away, all the way to th

• 6.

  With a classmate, roll up the paper starting at the short ends. Ask your friend to hold the rolls while you tie a bright ribbon around the scroll.

• 7.

  Present your scroll to family members on a special occasion such as a reunion.

Benefits

• Children plan interviews to capture and preserve their personal family histories.
• Children use words and illustrations to communicate information.
• Children create a scroll on which to record their family history and share it with their relatives.

Adaptations

• Find other ways to preserve your family history. Compose a song or sculpt several generations. Carve a portrait or symbols into a large piece of foam with a colored pencil. Fill the carved spaces with marker colors.
• Create a quiz about your family history to share with family members at your next gathering. Or give family members the answers and challenge them to come up with the questions!
• Create a timeline showing what members of your family were doing and what was happening in the world at the same time.
• Assessment: Look for complexity of information and accuracy of illustrations for the history described.