Discussion Questions

1. Think back to the times when you sat down with your older relatives and they told you stories. What are your most favorite memories of these times? Share some of those stories with us. When others in the KidCom Who-Am-I? room share their stories don't hesitate to make comments or ask questions. Encourage each other and tell each other when you like what they share.
2. What character traits do you admire most in your ancestors? Is there a special relative who has influenced you to do good things? Tell us about this relative. Where did he or she live? What was his or her career? Is he or she still living today? Do they know how much you admire them?
3. Do you think that your ancestors thought about their future generations and how life would be for them? You are that future generation. Do you think that your ancestors handed down to you a world that is better than they had? Be ready to defend your answers.
4. What kind of a world do you hope to see your children and their children have when they are growing up? What things would you change in our world as it is today?
5. What career do you hope to have when you are older? Has anyone else in your family chosen the same career? Has anyone in your family inspired you to choose a certain career?
6. If you could look into the future for your children what do you think you would see? How would life be different? How are you preparing for your future? Is there anything you can do right now to prepare? How did your ancestors prepare for their future?
7. How can family members support each other as they grow into adulthood? Ask your parents if they think it was easier to be a kid when they were young or if they think it is easier for you in today's world.
8. What is your birth position in your family? Are you the oldest child, the middle child, the youngest child or an only child? How does this determine your role in your family? If you are the oldest do you think you have been given more responsibilities? Will this help you in your future career?
9. If you are the youngest child do you think you have been able to do things just because you are "the baby?"
10. What family traditions does your family have that you would like to see passed down to future generations? Explain them to us in the KidCom Who-Am-I? room. Have you started any new traditions in your family recently that will be passed down?
11. If you could make one contribution to the future of your children what would it be? What invention would make life better for future generations?
12. Do you think we have a responsibility to the take care of our earth today so that our future generations have a healthy and safe place to live? What are some things we can do to show that we accept this responsibility?

Classroom Activities

1. Make a Venn Diagram and compare life in school today and life in school when your grandparents were students. What things are similar? What things have changed?
2. Take a story that an older relative has told you, write it on special paper, illustrate it and design an appropriate cover. Display the stories in your class.
3. Make a collection of biographies of your favorite ancestors. Gather all the information you can about them from other relatives, diaries, letters, photos, bibles and any other materials you can gather. Include this collection in your Family Tree.
4. Survey your family members and graph the careers that have been chosen by members in your family. Is there one career that stands out the most? Why do you think this is so?
5. Take a survey of your classmates and graph the birth orders for everyone. In your class do you have more first born, more youngest children, more middle children, more only children?
6. Look at the personalities of the students in the different birth order categories. Can you make any conclusions based on what you see? Are middle children in a family more easy going or have they been elbowing their way through life since birth? What do you think? Do you think birth order matters at all in how our personalities develop?
7. Make a booklet showing the special family traditions celebrated by your family. Add it to the Family Tree you are creating.
8. In KidSpace, create an artifact that is a special part of your heritage. The description might include how it looks, what it was used for, what country it was/is from, what it means and what it means to your family or culture.
9. Imagine you have to design a new logo for your country (or for another country). You can include anything you think represents your country, but try not to include flags or other national symbols. Draw or paint your designs and have a discussion to decide which logo suits your country the best. Use Kidlink's Chat Network to see if you can design a logo with someone in another school or to talk about the symbols you have chosen.
10. Arrange all of the information, pictures and items you have been gathering for your Family Tree over the 8 weeks of this module into an organized collection representing your family. Present it to your class.

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