Dear Parents,
I am not able to get a newsletter together today because I am working on a district project this afternoon and have not had a chance to type it yet. However, I am hopeful that this will suffice.
I talked to the kids today about many awesome things that we are going to do in these last 20 days. One of them is the family interview project you will find below. Another is a way to connect poetry to their world. I’m having the kids look for a favorite song this weekend. We will be using the lyrics to study the connection to them and poetry; maybe we’ll write our own songs too? Once an appropriate song is found, they can check the lyrics on many sites, but one is www.lyrics.com
Two other really exciting projects are a surprise math investigation I have planned and a chance to build some wooden birdhouses to place in Mann Park and in the school yard of Hubbard Woods School.
Of course there are many other things going on as well, but I just don’t have time to write about it right now. I will fill you in next week.
I hope that you have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Todd Burleson
Thursday, May 14 , 2009
Immigration Unit
Interview Project
As part of our study of immigration, we are going to interview a family member. My goal for this project is to get some great stories shared as well as foster some interview skills. I am going to ask for parental help as we begin to plan the interview. Please help your child either plan a phone call or, if possible, a chance to visit the relative.
We talked in class today, about how our families have great stories just waiting to be told and shared. We learned through our African American studies that many stories are passed on through generation by the oral tradition. Sometimes, the stores are written down and this makes it possible to share with an even wider audience.
In preparing for whom you might interview, think about what the best way to accomplish this. I recommend that you videotape or record the conversation using a tape player or MP3 recorder. If you use these tools, you won’t have to worry about writing anything down when you are asking the questions, you can just listen and think of other great questions. The attached questions are only a starting place. Feel free to add additional questions as you plan the interview, or even while the interview is taking place. You may want to send these questions to the person who is going to be interviewed so that they can think about them before hand.
After the interview, choose five questions to write down the answers the person you interviewed gave you. These will be helpful as we share these with each other and turn them into a family treasure.
We have a long weekend coming up, and many of you may be lucky enough to travel to visit your relatives. If the interview could take place then, that would be even better! I would like to wrap up these interviews so that we can move on to the next step by Friday May 22nd. That gives us a couple of weeks to work on them.
Thank you for all of your support! If you have any questions, please let me know. Feel free to call or send an e-mail at burlesot@winnetka36.org
Most sincerely,
Todd Burleson
Person Interviewed_____________________________________________________
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1. Do you know when your ancestors first came to America? What country did they come from? What city, village or town? Where did your ancestors land when they first came to America? Where did they settle?
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2. How did your ancestors earn a living in the ‘old’ country? Did they keep the same occupation when they came to America?
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3. Where did your name come from? Did it ever change? Why?
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4. When did you or your parents buy the first television? What were some of the programs on TV at that time? What was your favorite program?
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5. What was your favorite food when you were my age?
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6. Did you have to do chores around the house when you were my age? What were they?
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7. What was your favorite movie when you were young? Who were your favorite movie stars?
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8. When was the first time you ever rode in an airplane? or train? or car? or ship? What was it like?
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9. What did you want to be when you grew up?
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10. Where did you first go to school? What was it like? How many kids were in your class? Do you remember who your favorite teacher was?
What did you like to do after school?
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11. What music was popular when you were growing up? What was your favorite music? Do you have any recordings of that music?
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12. What were some of the slang words or everyday expressions you used when you were growing up? For example, what were the slang words for: leave me alone, do you understand, hello, let’s go, and good-bye?
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13. What was the first paying job you ever had? How much did you make per hour?
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14. Were you ever in the armed services? Where did you serve? How long did you serve?
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15. What were your favorite holidays when you were small? Were there any special family traditions that happened every year?
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16. Why are certain foods, furniture, or pictures (or anything else) important in our family?
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17. What is one of your happiest memories of childhood?
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18. Are there any special family stories that you remember?
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