Family History Classroom Resources
The East Tennessee Historical Society has a number of resources available for teachers to use in their classroom to introduce the concepts of family history (genealogy) research and oral history.
While extensive research into generations of the family tree is geared more for middle and high school students, elementary students can learn about their family and community through stories, photographs, objects and digging into the first few branches of their family tree.
Before using any of the following materials or resources, we would like to talk with you and share ideas about what has worked well in the classroom, and what a visit to the East Tennessee History Center can do for your students. ETHS staff would like to help you in your endeavors to introduce the wonderful tool of "making history personal" into your classroom.
Contact Lisa Oakley at 865-215-8828 or .
Resources for the classroom
For middle school and high school students, the two most important items for you to introduce to your students are a genealogy or pedigree chart (mapping 5 generations to begin), and family group sheets. These forms can be downloaded free from www.ancestry.com.
Visit these family history links for classroom research use or more information:
www.ancestry.com (especially for social security index on dates in the 20th century)
www.rootsweb.com
www.familysearch.com
www.tngenweb.org (look up your county and its local genealogical/historical society and available online records)
www.usgenweb.org (for other states)
www.east-tennessee-history.org (East Tennessee Historical Society)
www.kbyu.org/ancestors (especially for a great teacher's guide)
Check back with us for future lesson plan and activity ideas.
Are you ready to be a Community History Classroom?
If you are interested in developing a 6 - 8 week unit study on family or community history, please contact Lisa Oakley at 865-215-8828 or . We can talk about what customized services ETHS can offer your class. (Recommended for grades 6 - 12).
Project History
During the 2000 - 2001 school year, ETHS staff and volunteers worked directly with four East Tennessee middle school teachers on a new pilot project, the "Community and Family History Classroom."
Through a grant from the Benwood Foundation in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ETHS was able to assist teachers in the classroom and provide resources, which allowed the teachers to take their students on an exploration of their family and community history. The number of teachers served since 2000-2001 has increased greatly. As a result of the pilot project, ETHS can now share the experience with other teachers around the region.
While extensive research into generations of the family tree is geared more for middle and high school students, elementary students can learn about their family and community through stories, photographs, objects and digging into the first few branches of their family tree.
Before using any of the following materials or resources, we would like to talk with you and share ideas about what has worked well in the classroom, and what a visit to the East Tennessee History Center can do for your students. ETHS staff would like to help you in your endeavors to introduce the wonderful tool of "making history personal" into your classroom.
Contact Lisa Oakley at 865-215-8828 or .
Resources for the classroom
For middle school and high school students, the two most important items for you to introduce to your students are a genealogy or pedigree chart (mapping 5 generations to begin), and family group sheets. These forms can be downloaded free from www.ancestry.com.
Visit these family history links for classroom research use or more information:
www.ancestry.com (especially for social security index on dates in the 20th century)
www.rootsweb.com
www.familysearch.com
www.tngenweb.org (look up your county and its local genealogical/historical society and available online records)
www.usgenweb.org (for other states)
www.east-tennessee-history.org (East Tennessee Historical Society)
www.kbyu.org/ancestors (especially for a great teacher's guide)
Check back with us for future lesson plan and activity ideas.
Are you ready to be a Community History Classroom?
If you are interested in developing a 6 - 8 week unit study on family or community history, please contact Lisa Oakley at 865-215-8828 or . We can talk about what customized services ETHS can offer your class. (Recommended for grades 6 - 12).
Project History
During the 2000 - 2001 school year, ETHS staff and volunteers worked directly with four East Tennessee middle school teachers on a new pilot project, the "Community and Family History Classroom."
Through a grant from the Benwood Foundation in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ETHS was able to assist teachers in the classroom and provide resources, which allowed the teachers to take their students on an exploration of their family and community history. The number of teachers served since 2000-2001 has increased greatly. As a result of the pilot project, ETHS can now share the experience with other teachers around the region.