Rooting Ourselves

Wow. When I was presented with this idea of involving everyone in uncovering some of their family's historical roots or traditions, I had no idea that the response you all would offer would be so very grounding and soul enriching.

When we learn about history, especially as 10 and 11 year olds, most of it is at a distance from our own lives. At CFI, teachers work to present history in our early grades as firmly rooted in our family experiences. However, sometimes for me as a fourth and fifth grade teacher, with the multiplicity of standards and specifics around US history, I forget to connect us back to our very own roots. Thank you all so much for supporting that effort this month. In just a few days of shares, we found immigration records of our ancestors that strengthened our ties to understanding our country's history as deeply connected to immigration. We found ancestors who fought for the US in World War II, demonstrating the strength of the human spirit in so many ways. We found artifacts from opposing sides in that war that allowed us to compare and contrast the technology of the day. We found ancestors who connected us to the English colonists and Native American lineages in the same family. We found relatives who are just a generation or two removed from us that fought and celebrated Civil Rights right alongside Dr. King at the same time that he was just coming on the scene. All of these are connections to standards, but more importantly, all of these are connections to US.

I simply wanted take this blog post to share some of the different things that students brought in this week so that we could get an idea of possibility. Please enjoy the photographs and continue sharing your findings at home. I hope this feels like as much of a celebration to you and your families as it does to us at school. I will share more of these with everyone over the next few weeks.

Enjoy!

Ryan's Helmets: Ryan brought in a US soldier's helmet and Nazi soldier's helmet for us to examine.

photo cred: Dr. Hass

Caitlyn's Family Tree: Caitlyn brought in a family tree that her mother uncovered from Ancestry.com. Using it, we noticed that she had relatives who were descendants of Native Americans and relatives who came over to the US from England very close to the time that Jamestown was being settled.

Blaize's Italian Immigration Records: Blaize's family found us record of an ancestor who came over from Italy, even noting the ship used for passage to this country.

Maya shared a story about her great grandfather who fought as a Jewish US soldier in World War II. He was injured, hiding from the Nazis, and stayed alive alone in the wilderness for three whole days before being found. However, as a safety measure, so as not to be found to have ties to his Jewish religion, he ripped off his dog tags that identified him as such. He ended up surviving and just recently passed away in his 90s. We got to discuss the way that religion affected life as a soldier during that time with this photograph.

Kennedi share with us some links that she and her mom discovered that her great aunt was a Civil Rights activist who worked alongside the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee. I will leave you all with this Documentary that features different ways that music facilitated connection and change in the movement. Kennedi's great aunt, Lula is featured in the beginning at between 6 and 7 minutes and again at between 27 and 28 minutes.