Family History is for Everyone: Becky Villareal, Teacher and Children's Book Author When should a child start to learn about their family's history? Nicole and I believe it's never too early. We are passionate about sharing family history with children and love to meet other's who share our sentiments. We recently connected with retired elementary school teacher and author, Becky Villareal, who has written a series of children's books aimed at interesting them in learning about their families. I recently read Becky's charming first book, Gianna the Great. A former 4th grade teacher, I pictured students reading the story and being...
I created another worksheet to go along with the table that helps children gather data about inherited traits from their family members. I figured it would be fun to map out what they know on a family tree! This worksheet allows children to color their own eye color and hair color on the family tree, then check boxes that say if they have a hitchhikers thumb, long second toe, and attached earlobes. Then they can do the same for their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. It might take some interviewing and asking around to see if parents and grandparents know...
When he was 9 years old, my grandpa got shot in the cheek while playing cowboys and Indians. He told us this story over and over, showing us his gold tooth that replaced the one that got shot out. I made the story into an illustrated storybook for my children. I'm going to share how I did it today as part of our "Family History for Children" blog link up. This month's theme is about creating family history related gifts, since Christmas is coming up and if you're going to make a book for Christmas, you'll have to get it...
Family reunions, gatherings, and potlucks are here, with summertime in full swing. Here is a fun book and activity to do with your kids this summer as you get ready for those family reunions and gatherings. Hope and her family arrive at Aunt Poogee's farm, which is five hours from the city she lives in. She's there to spend the summer with all her aunts, uncles and cousins on her mother's side. When she arrives, she finds her aunts and uncles, catfish, corn pudding, a trumpet, cousins, homemade ice cream, special family recipes, crab cakes, and fun. They have a...
For family history storytime this week we read The Wall by Eve Bunting and did two crafts to remember relatives who fought for our country and gave the ultimate sacrifice. Poppies First, we made poppy flowers. I found a Canadian book telling about the poppy flower and how it has come to be a memorial to fallen soldiers. Poppies were first used to remember soldiers after WWI. They grow in fields that have recently been plowed or disturbed in some way, and were noticed to grow in the spring of 1915. John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, wrote about the poppies blowing amidst the...
For our Kid's Book club this month, we are reading The Wall by Eve Bunting. As a history teacher, I loved talking with my students about the origination and history behind the holidays we celebrate. Although for many of us, Memorial Day is just a day off and a time for vacationing, it can be a valuable tool for teaching children to honor and remember those who died in our country's service. I'm still planning exactly how we'll celebrate, but one of my favorite activities was participating in the Honor Roll project. Our family visited the war memorials in Tucson and transcribed the...
I've always wanted to volunteer at the Tucson Family History Center near where I live. After giving a presentation at their Family History Fair in February (Kid Genealogists, a presentation I also gave at RootsTech with Emily Schroeder and Melissa Finlay), I got to talking with one of the directors about possibly starting a children's family history group. I thought about it the whole way home and realized that I had plenty of lesson ideas already created from writing the kids book club posts here each month. We decided to do it weekly, like the library does for their story...
Last week I taught a cub scouts group (ages 8-9) about genealogy. I wanted to connect with their interests, so I decided to talk about science. I brought this book with me: The One and Only Me: A Book About Genes by Ariana Killoran, a 23andMe Book. Preschool - Grade 3 (ages 4-8). It's a fantastic introduction to inheritance and variation of traits for children. Poppy has red hair, freckles, blue eyes, and likes making pizza. She says that she has two siblings that look alike and asks, "why do I looks so different?" She learns all about cells, genes (not...
Kids Book Club - October “Always remember you are the son of two proud nations, whose roots are as sturdy and deep as this oak tree," a mother tells her son in Elan, Son of Two Peoples. In this captivating children's story, which is based on true events, reader's learn about a 13 year old boy coming of age through the traditions of two different cultures - the Jewish bar mitzvah and Acoma Pueblo manhood ceremony. This post contains affiliate links. If you click the link and make a purchase, we receive a small commission but it doesn't change the price of the item. Thanks for your support!...
This month for our kid's book club we are reading Homeplace, by Anne Shelby, with illustrations by Wendy Anderson Halperin. This out of print gem was published in 1995 and teaches about ancestors, generations, farm life, and the feeling of connectedness we receive by physically being in a place special to our family history. This post contains affiliate links. If you click the link and make a purchase, we receive a small commission but it doesn't change the price of the item. Thank you for your support! In Homeplace, the illustrations tell most of the story. The simple words spoken by an...
