Wrapping

I really like the title of this stage in Annette Lamb's version of inquiry! "Wrapping" deals with creating the final package. It reminds me of wrapping a present before giving it to someone. On page 54 in the "blue book" she writes: "Many packages get wrapped and rewrapped before they are given away." While I don't usually wrap a present more than once before giving it to someone, I do take care in making sure that it looks perfect! The same too is with this project in the way that I am taking care in creating this project and making sure that it is looks perfect before I invite my family to view it!

Ways to use this information: I have thought about several different ways to use this information. First and foremost is a visual representation of our family for Jeffrie and Casey. I can also pass along this information to our Social Studies teachers here in my building as an example for them to show their students when they do a project similar to this. They can also compare the generations to see how families have changed over the years.

What I created: For this inquiry, I have created a website using Google Sites. The site showcases our family tree and contains the responses to the questionnaire I sent out to family members. Visit Who's My Family to learn about Jeffrie and Casey's family.

Why is this information important to me and how will it be used? It is such a blessing for Jeffrie and Casey to have four living great-grandparents. I never knew any of my great-grandparents except through stories that were told about them. (My favorite story: One of my great grandmother's passed away one month before I was born. My mom used to tell me that she always told my mom she was praying for her to have a red-headed little girl, because my grandmother was red-headed. Then my mom would tell me that she was praying that she would have a little girl without red hair!) Since Jeffrie and Casey are fortunate to have so many still living, I wanted them to have an opportunity to share with Jeffrie and Casey (and future generations). I wanted them to share what it was like for them growing up, what they enjoyed doing as a child, what some of their favorite memories were, and what they wanted their family to remember about them. With this information, I want Jeffrie and Casey to have an appreciation for where their family came from, and hopefully continue this gathering of information so it can be passed on to their children and so forth.

Who needs to know about this? (1) The two people that really need to know about this are Jeffrie and Casey. They are the reason I chose this topic and created the final product. While I plan on sharing with other family members, they are the main reason for doing this topic for my project. (2) I also plan on sharing this site with one of the Social Studies teachers here in my building. Our students just completed an activity similar to this. (I will show some student examples in my standards blog in the days to come!) They had to decide on a creative way to showcase their family tree. To my knowledge, none of them used a website to publish to. This could be an option for them to consider in the future.

The link for my final product is posted in this blog. It will also be posted in OnCourse. It is also a publicly searchable site; so hopefully, people will find it and enjoy browsing though it.