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Grandparents Day and Family History
In this unit, students will have the opportunity to learn more about their grandparents' lives and gain a greater appreciation of their family history as they celebrate their elders on Grandparents Day!
Grandparents Day was the inspiration of Marian McQuade, a housewife in West Virginia who wanted to promote the cause for lonely elderly people in nursing homes. She also hoped that this recognition would encourage grandchildren to cherish the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could give them.
In 1973, the Governor of West Virginia proclaimed the holiday statewide, and in 1979, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed National Grandparents Day a national holiday!
Following is the Proclamation from President Carter:
National Grandparents Day
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
As we seek to strengthen the enduring values of the family, it is appropriate that we honor our grandparents.
Grandparents are our continuing tie to the near past, to the events and beliefs and experiences that so strongly affect our lives and the world around us. Whether they are our own or surrogate grandparents who fill some of the gaps in our mobile society, our senior generation also provides our society a link to our national heritage and traditions.
We all know grandparents whose values transcend passing fads and pressures, and who possess the wisdom of distilled pain and joy. Because they are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations.
The Congress, by joint resolution (H.J. Res. 244) has authorized and requested the President to designate the first Sunday of September following Labor Day each year as National Grandparents Day.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIMMY CARTER, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Sunday, September 9, 1979 and the first Sunday following Labor Day in each succeeding year as "National Grandparents Day".
I urge officials of Government at the national, State, and local levels and of voluntary organizations to plan appropriate activities that recognize the importance and the worth of the 17 million grandparents in our nation. I urge all Americans to take the time to honor their own grandparents or those in their community.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of September in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fourth.
Signed, Jimmy Carter
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Learn More About Grandparents Day
- National Grandparents Day.com
Here you can find out more about projects and activities for Grandparents Day including a variety of contests for kids.
LESSON 1:
Interview your Grandparent!
Concepts:
You will learn about the life and culture of past generations.
Lesson:
In this lesson, students will use a list of questions to interview one or more of their grandparents. Set up a time in person for the grandparent and grandchild to have an interview. If the grandparent lives far away, set up a phone interview.
Have students develop their own list of questions to ask their grandparent before the interview takes place. Use Grandparents Day Questions or have your children create their own! Use the blank worksheets available to list questions.
Some tips for interviewing:
- Keep a time limit to the interview, and set up a second interview if necessary.
- Ask grandparents for their consent in advance of the interview-no surprises!
- Videotape or audiotape the interview if possible.
If students do not have any living grandparents or they are not available to interview, have them interview a favorite elderly friend, or accompany them to a nursing home to interview a resident.
Older students can develop more detailed, thematic family history projects. Use the resources below to get ideas! Students can have monthly interviews with their grandparents throughout the year, and create a wonderful family legacy to share with generations to come!
Additional Resources:
LESSON 2:
Create a Family Tree!
Concepts:
You will learn about your family ancestry and how to trace your genealogy.
Lesson:
This is a project that can be taken as far back in time as you and your family would like to go and it lets the whole family participate! It can also be a very simple project for younger children.
Have students use the Family Tree Worksheet and add it to their portfolio -- just fill in the names. This chart goes back to the student's great-grandparents. Sit down with students and give them the names of grandparents and great-grandparents, or have them ask their grandparents themselves. Include birthdays!
For students who would like to create a larger family tree, simply make your own chart, using large sheets of construction paper to fit the more far-reaching generations and cousins. You may even want to use a sturdy rolled paper such as butcher paper or brown packing paper. These kinds of paper open up the freedom for students to paint, draw and illustrate their family tree!
For ambitious and creative students, add photographs to your family tree. Simply make photocopies of these treasures and cut them out and paste them either above or beside the names in your family tree. Remember, you'll have to leave extra room when drawing it out. For more ideas about what to with family photos, see Lesson 3 below.
Older students can create their own family tree online at
To learn about how to find out about great, great, great grand relatives, visit some of the links below.
Additional Resources:
- Family History Package
This is a great resource from Family Education.com!!
- WorldGenWeb for Kids
If you are looking for your roots in other countries, this is the place to look. This page is designed for kids, but is part of the larger WorldGenWeb site for Mom and Dad.
- USGenWeb for Kidz
This is a great place to get started. This page is part of the larger USGenWeb and includes message boards where you can post questions about researching your family.
- Genealogy Instructions for Beginners, Kids, and Teenagers
A good set of articles, projects, and links for anyone interested in getting started doing research on their family's history.
- Genealogy.com Online University
A free set of online genealogy classes for the whole family.
- Family Explorer
This guide at Genealogy.com helps you discover your family history.
- Genealogy Merit Badge
The Boy Scouts of America offer a merit badge in genealogy. Find out what the requirements are.
- Hometown History
"Hometown History" is an exciting community program on the History Channel.com that links Girl Scouts of the USA with senior citizens and local historical organizations for fun, educational activities.
LESSON 3:
Make a Photo Scrapbook for Your Grandparent!
Concepts:
You will learn about preserving and labeling photos.
Lesson:
Do you know what grandparents really love? Pictures of their grandchildren!
Have students make their grandparents a special scrapbook of themselves and their family as a present for Grandparents Day!
Help students gather a set of photos for their album. If you cannot use the actual photographs for the album, help students get duplicates made, scan them into the computer, or photocopy them.
A good scrapbook can be a work of art. Here are some ideas for other treasures to include in a scrapbook:
- Student artwork - drawings and paintings.
- Handprints, footprints, and even paw prints of pets!
- Mementos from special moments-vacations, sporting events and school activities.
Construction paper cutouts can make great additions to a scrapbook. Students can use them to:
- Make little fun, descriptive cards to write captions for photos
- Create frames for the photos
- Decorate pages
Once photos, drawings, and mementos have been gathered, start to lay out an album. Have students make their own fabric-covered album with this step-by-step guide.
Next you need the pages! Have students make their own artistic pages with this step-by-step craft guide!
Have fun!
Additional Resources:
- Projects:June 2001
This page has tons of great pictures to help you see the process of making a fabric-covered album.
LESSON 4:
Visit an Elder in a Nursing Home
Concepts:
You will learn about the life of an elderly person.
Lesson:
Sixty percent of elderly patients in nursing homes never get visitors! So why not have your students visit an elder in a nursing home nearby in honor of Grandparents Day? Better yet, get your club, church, and/or homeschooling group to do this!
It will involve calling up the nursing home in advance to set up the visit. The National Grandparents Day Council recommends visiting once before Grandparents Day to get acquainted, and then again on Grandparents Day. This is a wonderful opportunity to make a new friend and learn about their life's accomplishments, griefs and joys.
Students do not need to bring gifts, but a nice drawing would be a welcome surprise for the person being visited!
If a relationship is established, students may want to consider interviewing their "adopted grandparents" and creating short biographies to honor them.
Additional Resources:
LESSON 5:
Grandparent Geography!
Concepts:
You will learn to recognize the names and locations of countries in the world that your Grandparents have lived in or visited.
Lesson:
For this lesson, students will interview their grandparents or elderly persons in their community and track where they have been in their lives!
Print out any or all of the following outline maps for your child:
Have students track, geographically, the lives of their grandparents or elderly friends.
- Where were they born?
- Where did they live throughout their lives?
- Where did they visit?
Find detailed state and country maps at National Geographic Xpeditions Atlas to help fill in the names and places on the maps, or to print out state maps. Add pictures of events and rivers or other geographic features to illustrate events that took place in various locations.
If they have traveled throughout the world, use the World Map worksheet or United States worksheet to trace their route! Have students use colored pencils for all map-coloring exercises-they are easy to read and can be used for color-coding keys!
LESSON 6:
Grandma's Recipes
Concepts:
You will learn about nutrition, measurement, and Grandma!
Lesson:
Grandmothers usually have a stash of favorite and special recipes-either their own or recipes passed down from their mothers or grandmothers. Have students ask their grandmother for her favorite recipes, then prepare them. Better yet-have them cook the recipes together!
If students are unable to ask their grandmothers, a mother's recipes will be just as wonderful! Or, try FreeRecipes.org for recipes "like grandma's grandma used to make"!
Students can also make and illustrate a cookbook with their grandmother's recipes that they can save and share with their own children someday!
Students benefit from the feeling of tradition that forms from the passing down of recipes and other family treasures.
LESSON 7:
Me & My Gran - Hand in Hand
Concepts:
You will learn about tracing, plaster casting, and/or embroidery.
Lesson:
Me & My Gran - Hand in Hand is a wonderful project page at the National Grandparents Day Web site. Children and grandparents draw, embroider, or cast their handprints in plaster for posterity.
Article by Laurie Furumoto, HLN Curriculum Development
Article © Homeschool Learning Network, All Rights Reserved.
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