History is about people. Not wars and treaties. In Heart and Soul: The Story of American and African Americans, Kadir Nelson hones in on a broad topic by giving voice to his grandmother as she traces their ancestors from pre-Revolutionary War days to the present. Family stories inform his art and his text to bring the period alive for children.
Help your students see this important connection between people and history. Every family has stories that are too good to be forgotten.
- Ask your students to interview a grandparent or a parent. Find out one family story that occurred before they were born. Ask them to dig deeper to find one story that occurred before their parents or grandparents were born?
- Discuss what was happening in the world at the time of the story. What inventions were common? What books were popular for children? What music was popular? What did children wear at the time the story occurred?
- Ask you students to write the story on a piece of paper. Talk about who should tell their story? A child? An adult? Then ask your students to illustrate their stories.
- Take the activity one step further. Ask students to form groups of 4. Each day for 4 days, the students will be responsible for staging a mini-skit that tells the stories of each person in the group.
Good luck! Visit www.patriciamnewman.com/ and send me your stories, pictures, or video!
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