JAMESTOWN – Persell Middle School seventh and eighth graders recently learned more about their ancestors through a unique project with Library Media Specialist Becky Luhman.
The three-month project involves: a family tree of four generations (student, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents), two family interviews transcript written up, an audio recording and a choice element (cookbook, scrapbook/photo book, military research, family stories, ancestry/family game, time capsule, family artifacts or a timeline of events in ancestor’s life).
“I came up with the idea for the project as a way to get their family involved in their learning,” said Luhman. “This project requires kids to talk to their parents and grandparents about what they already know about their family history. It is important for students to have researching skills for this project because they are using a database that is a warehouse of family information based on what they know about their ancestors and where they lived. Students have to compare the information in their trees with the information contained in a record and determine if it is their ancestor. One student asked how do I know if this is my ancestor? and I told him, you compare the information in the possible record with the information you already know and is in your tree? If there is enough information that is similar such as where they lived, where they were born, birthdates etc., it is likely at a match for your ancestor.”
School officials said students discovered immigration records, World War I & II draft cards, census records that listed their ancestors and where they lived at a certain time.Census records also gave family information.
Also, students found user-submitted family trees and photos submitted by others doing the same family research, which helped them to grow their tree and have photos that they might not otherwise have for the project.
“My family started in Ireland, moved to Canada and then to Buffalo,” said Persell Middle School seventh grader McKenna Schneider. “My mom had an Ancestory.com account and signed me up too. I found information from photos that my aunt emailed me. My great-grandmother had 15 kids. I think a project like this helps you better understand research and it’s actually a hands-on project. I liked doing the interviews firsthand with my dad and grandma and compare to the historic information I found on-line.”
Luhman invited Prendergast Library Director, Tina Scott, to come in and speak to the students about Ancestry.com and the type of information that could be found and resources at the library.
She also shared the AncestryDNA and how it can open other avenues in their family research. Scott came back to see the final project/products.
“This project has been a lot of fun to work with the kids on,” said Scott. “We didn’t learn this when I was young and I think it’s great because it might create a spark in someone to keep researching their family. The projects the kids came up with are awesome. You can tell they put a lot of time and work into them. I am so impressed.”
Some examples of the projects the kids produced were: family tree as a poster/trifold or Google slides, scrapbook books, time capsules or photo books.
Leave a Reply