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My Family Tree

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The Book

A Family Is a Family Is a Family

Written by Sara O’Leary, illustrated by Qin Leng

This heartwarming book celebrates diverse family structures and the love that binds them together. Through a classroom discussion, children share stories about their families, highlighting the uniqueness of each one while reinforcing the idea that all families are special.

This book provides opportunities for young students to explore concepts of family by recognising and describing family members (AC9HSFK01 – Foundation Year, Humanities and Social Sciences). It also encourages children to develop a sense of self within their family (AC9HPFP01 – Foundation Year, Health and Physical Education) while practising personal and social skills to interact respectfully with others, particularly in understanding inclusion and acceptance (AC9HPFP02 – Foundation Year, Health and Physical Education).

With its gentle storytelling and wonderful illustrations, A Family is a Family is a Family fosters empathy, respect, and an appreciation for the many forms that family can take.

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Resource creator

Steven Huynh

Subject

Humanities and Social Sciences,

Level

Foundation,

Description

This activity encourages discussion about family diversity and helps students recognise and express their own family connections. Students will also create a personal family tree to represent their family structure. They will draw each family member on small blank pieces of paper, then attach them to the tree page.

Learning Intentions

• I am learning to identify and represent the members of my family.

Successful Criteria

✔ I can draw my family members.
✔ I can name and describe who is in my family.
✔ I can colour my family tree to complete my work.

Curriculum Alignment

AC9HSFK01 9.0 (Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation): The people in their family, where they were born and raised, and how they are related to each other

• discussing the members of a family (for example, mother, father, caregiver, sister, brother, grandparent, auntie, uncle, cousin) and acknowledging other varieties of kinship structure that may be represented in the cultural background of students (for example, cousin-brother and mother-auntie in First Nations Australian families)
• creating drawings of family members accompanied by information collected from questions and observations to share details of that person’s life, including the places they were born and raised
• creating concept maps of their family with pictures or photographs to show connections to those people who make up their family

Materials

  • The book:
  • Printed tree sketches 
  • Small blank pieces of paper (for drawing family members)
  • Glue sticks or tape
  • Crayons, coloured pencils, or markers (for colouring)

Instruction

Discussion

  • Who is in your family?
  • Does every family look the same?

Storytime

  • Read aloud: A family is a Family is a Family by Sara O’Leary.
  • Pause during the story to ask:
    • Does every family look the same? Why or why not?
    • Do you think their families are like yours?
  • Explicitly explain: Families can look different but are all based on love and care. 🥰

My Family Tree Activity

  • Show an example of a completed family tree.
  • Explain the steps:
    • Take their favourite printed tree.
    • Draw each family member on a small piece of paper.
    • With teacher/EA help, write a title under each family member (e.g., Mum, dad, sister, brother, pet..)
    • Stick the family members onto the tree.
    • Colour the tree to finish.

Wrap-up

  • Gather students and invite a few to share their family trees.
  • Discuss: What did you notice about our family trees? Are they all the same?

Extension

My Family Tree can be used as part of the T4R unit (Foundation Year) for A Family is a Family is a Family, focusing on activating prior knowledge about family structures and diversity.

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ⓘ Some content may have paid versions with additional features (e.g., editability, customisation, or enhanced design…)

Related Activities

AC9HSFK01 (Humanities and Social Sciences – Foundation)

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