TITLE:    Developing Relationships with Older People

AUTHOR:     Annette Packard and Michelle Grant

GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT:       2-4        SAGE Lesson
        Social Studies, Math, Language Arts, Reading.

OVERVIEW/PURPOSE:
  This lesson is designed to help elementary age students
develop relationships with older people.

OBJECTIVES:
1.  Children with begin to value older people.
2.  Children will interview an older person.
3.  Through literature, the children will become more
    aware of and show empathy towards people who are a
    generation older than themselves.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
1.  Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles
    Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
    Nanny Upstairs, Nanny Downstairs by Tomi DePaolo
    Kevin's Grandma by Barbara Williams
    Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
    Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr, and John
    Archambault
    Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman
    Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
    Mandy's Grandmother-Open Court Level C,
       "A Place Called Morning"
2.  My Backyard History Book by David Weitzman
    Roots for Kids by Susan Provost Beller
3.  Challenge Project by Joseph S. Renzulli-Houghton
       Mifflin Reading "Are Your Arms a Hundred Years
       Old."
4.  Films:  "The Mailbox"-Brigham Young University,
      Provo, Utah.
    "It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House."-Utah
      State University film depository.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1.   Read stories and discuss them as a class.  (See
     resource #1.)
2.   Watch two films, "The Mailbox" and "It's So Nice to
     Have a  Wolf Around the House."  (See resource #4.)
3.   Develop a questionnaire to interview older people at
     a Retirement Center.  (See resource #3 and attached
     handout.)
4.   Create various graphs comparing ages, birth dates,
     family information, etc.  (See attached handout for
     some examples.)
5.   Write follow-up letters to the people interviewed.
6.  Invite Grandparents or Older Citizens of the
     community into your classroom to share experiences
     or tell stories.
7.   Make a card for Grandparents and person interviewed,
     to help celebrate National Grandparents Day.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:
  The above activities will be a springboard to get the
students excited about their own genealogy.  Using the
resources listed under #2,  the teacher could have the
student make a Family Tree, Pedigree Chart, or begin a
Personal History.  They could also begin to interview their
own Grandparents and write down their own family stories.
                    EXAMPLE OF QUESTIONNAIRE


Students Name:

1.  What is your name?  Was there a reason why you were
    named that?
2.  How old are you?
3.  Do you have any brothers or sisters.  If yes, how
    many?
4.  Have you ever lived anywhere else?  Where?
5.  What is your favorite childhood memory?
6.  What was it like when you were growing up?
7.  Did you like school when you were little?
8.  What was your favorite subject in school?
9.  When you were my age, what was your favorite thing to
    do?
10. Are you married?  If yes, what was your
    husband/wife's name?
11. Do you have any children?  grandchildren?  Where do
    they live?
12. Is it hard or scary to be old?

**These are just a few of the questions that can be asked.
To get the students involved, have them come up with a
question that they would like to ask.
      Some Math Activities to do After the Interviews

1.   As a class, you could use numbers 2,3,4,7,8,9,10, and
     11 from the included Questionnaire, to help teach or
     reinforce the concept of graphing.
2.   With question number 2, on the included Questionnaire,
     the teacher could have the students add all of the ages
     together, then add up the classes age, and subtract the
     difference.
3.   Have the students write up their own story problems
     from the information found on their Questionnaire.
4.   After adding up the ages of all interviewed, the
     students could divide the number of people interviewed,
     by how many people were interviewed and come up with an
     average age.  This could lead to a wonderful discussion
     about how old is old, and how old do you have to be to
     go to a Retirement Center.

**There are many other things you could do with the students
in your classroom depending on the level of the student.