This activity will allow students to understand the importance of their name and to help them better understand the origin of their family.

1. Have the students tell the class their full name and explain the importance of a name (to identify people).  Ask students if they know what the word "ancestor" means and discuss that each one of them has ancestors and that some could possibly have similar ancestors.  Also, discuss that your ancestors last name maybe the same as theirs or different. Once everyone has understood the meaning of ancestor, give them a copy of a family tree (Appendix A) and see how much they can fill in..  Once everyone has completed as much as they can, have the student's take home their family tree's and have their parents help finish it.  Once this is complete have the student bring the family tree back to class and discuss the different names which are their ancestors.

This activity will allow students to observe changes in people and in the environment from past to present.

2. Have students bring pictures from the past, as far back as they can find, and the present. Discuss the differences in the photos.  Discuss things such as clothing, buildings, other structures, transportation, animals, etc.

• Appendix A (pdf)
• Appendix A (html)

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