Instructions
- Become a Family Detective: Ask a grown-up (like a parent or grandparent) to help you answer the questions in Part 1. They can tell you stories about your family's history.
- Map the Journey: Use the information you gathered to mark the map in Part 2. This will show where your family has lived.
- Tell the Story: Use the map and your notes to write and draw your family's story in Part 3.
- Try the Challenge: If you want an extra challenge, answer the question at the end!
Part 1: Be a Family Detective
Ask a grown-up about your parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents. Where did they live before your family moved to your town? Write down what you learn in the table below.
My Family's Journey Table
| Who? (Example: Great-Grandma Maria) | Where did they live? (City, State, or Country) | What was one thing they did there? |
|---|---|---|
| Example: Great-Grandma Maria | Naples, Italy | She made the best spaghetti! |
Part 2: Map Your Family's Journey
Look at the places you wrote down in Part 1. Now, let's put them on the map!
- Find the country or state where you live now and draw a big star (★) on it.
- For each place your family lived before, find it on the map and put a dot (â—) on it.
- Draw lines with arrows (→) to connect the dots, showing the path your family took to get to where you live today. Start from the oldest place you know about.
(A simplified world map would be printed here. For this text-based worksheet, a labeled box represents the map area.)
- (Imagine a simple world map here)
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Part 3: Tell Your Family's Story
Now you are the storyteller! Use your notes and your map to tell the story of how your family came to live in your community. You can write it, draw it, or do both!
My family's story starts in
Then, some of my family moved to
Now, my family lives in
Draw a picture of your family or part of their journey in the box below.
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- (Space for Drawing) *
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Challenge Question!
Ask the grown-up you interviewed: Why did our family move? Was it for a new job, to be near other family members, or for another exciting reason? Write your answer below.
Answer Key
Note: Answers for this worksheet will be unique to each student's family history. The goal is to complete each section based on the stories and information you learned.
A completed example for Part 1 might look like this:
| Who? (Example: Great-Grandma Maria) | Where did they live? (City, State, or Country) | What was one thing they did there? |
|---|---|---|
| Example: Great-Grandma Maria | Naples, Italy | She made the best spaghetti! |
| Grandpa John | El Paso, Texas | He worked as a mechanic. |
| Mom | Chicago, Illinois | She went to school and loved the snow. |
For Part 2, the map should have a star on the student's current home and dots on the other locations, with lines connecting them in order.
For Part 3, the student should have written a simple narrative. For example: "My family's story starts in Italy. Then, some of my family moved to Texas and Illinois. Now, my family lives in California."