I am looking for a creative and fun way to celebrate family in the classroom. A way for the children to concretely share their family similarities and differences, and then celebrate the concept of family.
Thanks for any ideas!
Wanda

[DJ/SC]

You didn't mention a grade level, so this may be too complicated for little ones.
As a hands-on project, you could have them create a shadow box that represents the home with cardboard figures of the family members standing inside.
Stand a shoe box or larger box on its side. Cut into the top side and cut down the folds so you can lift two flaps to make a roof.
Add paper to make "shingles" and take up the space in the middle of the ^.
Have the children draw their family members on the shoe box lid with a tab at their feet to glue to the "floor" of the home after cutting out. They can do the same for furniture, or draw furniture on the walls of the box.
Paint or contact paper on the outside make it pretty. This project can be as simple or as complex as you want. You may want these to be created individually or make one large one as a class.

[teachfla]

Have them bring in a small framed picture of their family and set them all up on a bookshelf in the classroom (buy a few cheap frame for those who don't have any.) Just the pictures themselves will spark children to discuss their family life. It's also a nice way to bring the families into the classroom!

[DJ/SC]

Wanda, in my reply above, I said you didn't mention a grade level! Then I saw First Grade in Bold Letters in your Title! DUH. Oh well, chalk it up to teacher fatigue! I do apologize!

[Melissa/1st/TN]

These are a couple of resources I found when I did my family unit:
http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/BuilderV03/...asp?LPID=37290
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lesson...famk1where.htm
Hope they help

[Mrs C]

If you have some cooperative parents who would be willing to cook up a favorite family/ethnic recipe to share with the class....snack is never a bad thing! Could compile a recipe booklet for each child to take home & try out. Could also make a class book with each child contributing a picture of a family holiday tradition, laminate & let each child get a chance to take it home to share.

I just taught this exact theme in my first grade classroom. I sort of made it up as I went along . . . .
We made family trees. They drew and colored their own tree on a large sheet of paper. Then I cut out apples for them to put on the tree. They glued pictures of their family on the apples. It went - themselves on the top. Then Mom to the right and dad to the left. Under each parent (Mom and Dad) was grandparents (their moms parents or dads parents). Then brothers and sisters in the middle. They turned out so great! Then we shared our trees with a partner and asked questions like who they lived with and if their parents were married. It wasn't till the sharing it really exemplified how families are different and how every family comes in different shapes and sizes and have different family members. Then they had to talk (in their partners) about what was the same about their family and what was different about their family. Then we shared out what each partner group discovered.
Some next steps I am taking is building a classroom family tree and talk about how we are a family at school in our classroom.
Hope this helps! Wish I had a picture to show you! They turned out awesome!