Family Tree

Scripture: Ruth 1

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will review the story of Ruth’s trip with Naomi and her marriage to Boaz.
  • Students will use family vocabulary terms to organize names and pictures into a family tree.  

Guiding Question: How do I refer to family members in English?

Materials: Pieces of paper with the following vocab terms and pictures on them. (Lamination is suggested.) Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunt, Uncle, Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Me, Cousins

Procedure: Review Ruth 1 and Ruth’s close relationship to Naomi, her mother-in-law. Explain that family was especially important in biblical times and in many cultures because when a family member dies, the surviving members take care of each other. Women especially did not have many rights and relied on the men in the family.

Spread out the picture vocab cards. Instruct the students to use the pictures to create a family tree starting with the grandfather and grandmother at the top and going down. This game is structured so that the names are ordered as they relate to “me”. Clarify this at the beginning because otherwise an aunt could also be a sister, etc. At the end, you can discuss the different family roles that one person might have. For example, a father can be a son, uncle and a brother.

For an added challenge, provide two sets and students race to make the tree. Another challenge would be to write the terms without pictures on the back of the cards and use that side to organize the cards. Repeat the process using just the written terms. As an optional fun visual you can create a large tree from bulletin board paper for them to lay the cards on or draw one on the sidewalk. Students can draw lines to show the relational connections.

Additional Questions:

  • What are some other family member names? (Daughter, son, great grandmother, mother-in-law, granddaughter, husband, wife)
  • What different names do you have in your family?

Supplemental Activities:

  • Students can illustrate their own family trees using the English family terms and their family members’ actual names.
  • Illustrate and write Ruth’s family tree in Ruth 1 and label them with English family member terms.
  • Create riddles for students to solve using family names. For example: My mom’s sister is my_____ (answer: aunt). My Dad’s father is my____(grandfather). My cousin is my grandfather’s______. (grandson)

Written by: Savannah Negas

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