The students will explore their origins by completing a family tree, a family inventory, and writing about a family “Hero/Shero.”

Groups of students will be filmed discussing their family origins, cultures, and genetic backgrounds. For credit, the students must mention aspects taken from each of their classes on the film.

• Checkpoint # 1: April 13 – 17
• Checkpoint # 2: May 4 – 8
• Final Project Due: April 29 - May 22

Students will explore fairytales and mythologies from different cultures and choose favorite characters from their own respective cultures to research (checkpoint #1). For checkpoint #2, students will compile notes on their characters in preparation for the final presentation.

Student will learn more about their family origin and select a person from their family to be a Hero/Shero. They will tell us about the person and why he/she was chosen. For checkpoint # 1, students will complete a selection activity. For checkpoint #2, students will write an assignment about Hero/Shero.

Students will demonstrate knowledge of cultural traits by sharing family cultural trait information during the “Our Real World” presentation. Students will also report on family geographic origins by country and continent. Checkpoint # 1 will be to gather family tree information. Checkpoint # 2 is making a visual family tree with all the informatio

For checkpoint #1, students will determine the mean, median, mode, and range of their family member’s names. For checkpoint #2, they will determine the mean, median, mode, and range of paragraphs from related in-class reading selections.

The students will explore their genetic background by completing a Family Heredity Inventory. For checkpoint #1, each student will interview relatives by asking them questions from this inventory (“Can you twirl your tongue?” Is your first or second toe longer?” etc…). This will enable the kids to better understand difficult vocabulary and to begin to see how hereditable traits are passed down to subsequent generations. The students will write a short informal paper describing their findings for checkpoint #2.

Students will edit and compile their group video using Moviemaker software. Students will be responsible for editing the raw video, inserting the title and credit slide and adjusting the audio for the final video. For checkpoint # 1, complete a country database. For Checkpoint # 2 students will take pictures and graph their hereditary traits.