The Process

1. Talk to your family to find out about your heritage. Make sure to talk to your extended family (i.e. grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and parents/guardians) if you can. This will provide a more accurate picture for you. Ask questions such as:

What is our nationality? When did our family come to America?

***Keep in mind, Native American heritages count too! Although they were here first, their past is just as rich and storied as any other!

After you get the information about your family, create a journal entry which includes: family origins, immigration dates, family names, points of origin&emdash;get as much of this information as you possibly can!

2. Use the immigration web sites provided for you. Read about the history of immigration, areas of entry, and more. Write a journal entry about what it must have been like for people like your ancestors to enter into America.

3. Using the urban garden web sites provided, read about what is involved in starting, planning, planting, and maintaining an urban garden. Find out about the different types of gardens. Create a journal entry about what you learned. Discuss all the aspects of urban gardens. What could be your potential problems? What are the benefits? What do you think abut urban gardens, are they bad or good? Why?

4. (***Class Project***)

Choose some plants which tie into your ethnic heritage. An easy way to find types would be to use a search engine. Cookbooks are also good places to look. After choosing plants, find a plot on our garden lot then start planting.

Instructions for Project:

Bring in a large piece of art paper (have one for each class working on the project. You should be able to display these, so keep your wall space in mind!) Have the class members decide how to divide up the 'lot' into plots. Will they elect a planning commission or just have each individual work alone? Is the garden for vegetables, fruit, flowers or all three? Talk to them about their decisions and why they are doing this.

During the project the students are required to talk to at least three other classmates about their heritage and background. There should be corresponding journal entries for these 'meetings.' To create the garden the students will use the available craft supplies. You could provide old magazines with pictures, construction paper, etc for them to work with. When the garden is complete, have a class celebration then put the garden up for display. The project should take about three days to complete.

 5. Along the way, keep track of whom you meet. Learn about your classmates' family histories. Journal about our class's ethnic makeup.

6. Now it is time to write your story! Look back over your journal. You can create a character or use yourself. Base the story on the urban garden, integrating your own ethnic background influence.

7. After the story is turned in to your teacher write a reflective journal. What did you learn throughout this project? What knowledge did you expand?