Elementary lesson plan in which students develop note taking skills by interviewing each family member and putting together a book.
Interviewing people is a good way for young elementary students to learn to listen, develop note taking skills, and use the information in a project. This lesson plan has students interviewing their family members and putting together a book, complete with illustrations, all about their families.
Some students will have large families and some small; allow children to interview those people very close to them. For example, in addtion to interviewing cousins and other more distant family members, consider allowing students to include well-loved caregivers. Make sure that the student understands that the caregiver has his or her own family tree.
Interview
Instruct the students that they will interview each of their family members. Give them a list of questions, such as the following:
- Name of family member and relationship to you.
- How old are you?
- What is your favorite color?
- What is your favorite food?
- Who is your favorite singer, or what type of music do you like?
- What is your favorite television show?
- What character do you like best on the show?
- What is your favorite thing to do?
- What are your chores or jobs?
- What do you like best about me?
- What do you like least about me?
The students may either write out the questions and answers that their family members give them, or better yet, write the answers out in paragraph form if they are able.
Illustrations
Just as self-portraits are a good exercise for very young children, lower elementary students can be challenged to draw a portrait of each family member.
In addition to the pictures of their family members, have students draw a family tree on a page of their family books. Discuss with the students that a family tree is a way of mapping out who is who in a family. For their books, the children draw trees and place their family members' names on the branches.
Book
All of the pages of this project are stapled together between construction or stock paper as a book. Allow students to decorate the front cover of their books. Families may enjoy treasuring this project for years to come.