SCHOOLS: History lesson

Students discover who they are by looking to their ancestors.

By: Sarah Winkelman
   Third-graders at Brunswick Acres School have spent the past few weeks delving deep into their family history to uncover their cultural traditions.
   As part of a unit on cultural heritage, the students researched their family history by talking to family members and looking through photographs, letters and other memorabilia to find out as much as they could about their ancestors and where they came from. They then made collages highlighting different aspects of their culture and presented the finished product to their peers.
   "Almost everyone who lives in America has family who came from another country," third-grade teacher Lorna Hoens said. "The point of the project was to find out as much as they could about their ancestors who came over to America."
   Ms. Hoens said the students had to use their collages to illustrate where their ancestors lived and what kinds of things were important to them. They could also include pictures of famous landmarks or pictures of their families.
   "Some of them put pictures of their grandparents on their posters and one child even put a letter from his great-grandfather to his wife in Russia urging her to come to America," Ms. Hoens said. "He also had a copy of the ship manifesto from when she came over. The kids are just so proud of their collages. They put a lot of effort into them."
   Ms. Hoens said students in her class had ancestors from at least nine different countries including Croatia, Italy, Poland, China, India, Ireland, Cuba, Russia and Germany.
   In Sharon Benjamin’s class, the students also had varied backgrounds. Kabir Thakral said his parents were born in India and came to the United States before he was born. He said his mom is from New Delhi, the capital of India, and his dad is from Bombay.
   For his collage he showed the different kinds of currency in India.
   "I put on coins, which are called paise, and the dollar, which is called a ruppe," he said. "I also showed a festival my dad celebrated called Baisakhi, which is like Thanksgiving."
   Kabir also put pictures of different kinds of food from India, including goan curry with rice and stuffing and gravy called sabji, on his collage.
   Colby Redfield said his ancestors came from England, Italy and Germany. His maternal grandmother was born in Germany and his maternal grandfather was born in Italy.
   He said he also put coins on his collage, including 20-pfenning and 10-pfenning coins from Germany. He also put pictures of his brother riding a bike and him playing basketball on his collage, plus pictures of his grandmother.
   Jenna Mastronardi said her ancestors lived in Italy and Ireland before coming to America. Her mom’s grandparents were born in Ireland and her dad’s family is from Italy.
   Jenna said she put various pictures of food on her collage, including different dishes from Italy and Irish soda bread.
   "I also put pictures of different games they play, like bocce from Italy," she said. "And the religion in Italy is Catholic so on the poster I put a picture of me from my First Holy Communion."
   She said she also put the Irish and Italian flags on her collage.
   Jason Chiu, a student in Evelyn Matus’s class, said his parents were born in Taiwan.
   "My grandparents still live there," he said. "I’ve gone to visit them a bunch of times. I like to eat fruit while I’m there because they don’t have the same kinds of fruit here. It’s also really pretty there."
   Like his peers, Jason also put various coins from Taiwan on his collage as well as pictures of foods indicative of the country. He also puts pictures of Taiwanese puppets.
   As a fun ending to the unit, the students and their parents will host a bread feast at the school on May 2. Each student will bring in bread indicative of their culture.
   Then in June, the students will take a trip to Ellis Island so they can visit the place their ancestors had to pass through in order to enter America.
   "It promises to be an exciting trip," Ms. Hoens said.