In keeping with what we’ve been talking about in class I would like you to go home and do a little digging into your family history.   I would like to find out a couple of  things about your past.  I’d like you to discover who in your family was the first to come to America.  Where did they come from?   Why did they come to America? 

Remember all the push and pull factors early Americans faced?  Let’s discover what pushed or pulled your relatives here.

You will be amazed at how many people it took to get you here.  You can ask your mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, great grandma, anyone and everyone.  Make sure when you talk with them you have your social studies notebook in hand so you can write down everything they tell you and everything they don’t.

I’ve done it and I’ll share in class what I found.

When you are done I’d like you to write up a short report and share it with us.

Your first paragraph should be an introduction of some sort, telling us who you are, what the assignment is, and a hint of what you discovered.

Your second paragraph should be about your mom’s side, who you talked to, what your discovered or didn’t discovered. Sometimes you find out that no one knows anymore. That’s fine, tell me who you asked and what you found out.

Your third paragraph should be about dad’s side. Tell us about who you asked and what you found out.

Your fourth paragraph is going to be all about the “winner”, the person who came first. This is where you tell their story. Details are important here. Tell us when they came over, how they came over, who they came over with and why they came over.

Have fun with this.  Remember to write everything down so when its time to write your paper you have everything you need to know right in from of you.

Clear as mud?

Tags: coming to america, pull, push, the first