My Family and Our Home (Primary 2 Social and Religious Studies): free lessons | Ganzaa

My Family and Our Home

Lessons

Primary 2 · Social and Religious Studies

My Family and Our Home

3 lessons

Lesson 1 of 3

Who Is in My Family

12 min

Let's begin

The teacher gives out big sheets of paper. “Draw everybody in your family,” she says.

Mutesi draws five people: Mama, Papa, her big brother Gatete, baby Keza — and herself.

Then she looks at Uwase’s paper. Uwase has drawn eight: her mother, her father, her grandmother, her aunt, three cousins — and herself.

“One of us must be wrong,” says Mutesi.

Nobody is wrong. Today you will find out why.

Start with the people in your house

Every morning, Mutesi wakes up and sees the same faces:

Umutoni, her mother
Byiringiro, her father
Gatete, her big brother, who is 9
Keza, her baby sister, who is 2
and Mutesi herself, who is 7

That is five people. These are the people Mutesi eats with and sleeps near. They are her close family.

Two useful words:

Your mother and your father together are your parents. One word for both of them.
Children who share the same mother and father are brothers (boys) and sisters (girls). Gatete is Mutesi’s brother. Keza is her sister.

Then the bigger circle

On Sunday, Mutesi walks up the hill to Nyogokuru’s house. Look who is there!

Her grandmother Nyogokuru and her grandfather — they are Mama’s mother and Mama’s father. Her father’s brother, Habimana. Her mother’s sister, Mukamana. And children running everywhere.

All these people are family too. They are Mutesi’s extended family — the bigger circle around her close family.

Now look at the words carefully:

Your parent’s brother is your uncle. So Habimana is Uncle Habimana.
Your parent’s sister is your aunt. So Mukamana is Aunt Mukamana.
Your parent’s mother is your grandmother. Your parent’s father is your grandfather.

A tricky one, worked out slowly

Uncle Habimana has a daughter called Uwase. Uwase is exactly as tall as Mutesi. They play together all afternoon and share the same mango.

So is Uwase her sister? Let us work it out in two little steps.

Step 1. Who is Habimana? He is Papa’s brother. A parent’s brother is an uncle. So Habimana is Mutesi’s uncle.
Step 2. Who is Uwase? She is that uncle’s daughter. The child of your uncle or your aunt is your cousin.

So Uwase is Mutesi’s cousin.

Uwase cannot be her sister. Why not? Because a sister must have the same mother and the same father as you. Uwase’s father is Habimana, not Byiringiro. Playing together does not make you sisters — sharing your parents does.

Now you can see why Uwase drew eight people. She drew her close family and her bigger circle. Mutesi drew only the people in her house. Both girls drew a real family.

Remember to count yourself

Ishimwe lives with his mother, his grandmother and his little brother. How many people live in that home?

Count the ones he named: mother is 1, grandmother is 2, little brother is 3.

Now stop! Ishimwe lives there too. So 3 + 1 = 4 people.

Almost everybody forgets to count themselves. Do not be one of them.

Families do not all look the same

Look around your own class:

Mugisha lives with his mother only. His father died when he was small.
Kwizera lives with her grandmother, her aunt and three cousins. Her parents work far away.
Rwema has six brothers and sisters. The house is loud from morning to night.
Ineza is the only child. The house is quiet, and she likes it.
Kalisa is looked after by an uncle who is not his father, but who feeds him, pays his school fees and tucks him in.

Big family, small family, one parent, two parents, grandparents, a guardian — every single one of these is a real family.

So here is the rule, and it is a good one:

A family is the people who love you, look after you, and belong to you.

It is not about how many people you can draw. It is about the caring. Never laugh at a friend because their family looks different from yours — their family loves them just as much as yours loves you.

Tip

The two-step chain. When someone asks “What is this person to me?”, do not guess. Take two steps.

Step 1 Who are they to my parent? (brother → uncle, sister → aunt, mother → grandmother)

Step 2 Whose child are they? An uncle’s child or an aunt’s child is always a cousin — never a sister, never a brother.

✦

Try it yourself

Work each one out slowly, then check underneath.

Ineza’s mother has a sister called Teta. What is Teta to Ineza?
Teta has a son called Manzi. What is Manzi to Ineza?
Niyonzima lives with his father, his grandfather and his sister. How many people live in that home?
Mugisha lives with only his mother. Is that a real family?
What is the one word that means your mother and your father together?

Answers

Her aunt. Teta is her mother’s sister, and a parent’s sister is an aunt.
Her cousin. Two steps: Teta is her aunt, and an aunt’s child is a cousin. Not her brother — a brother shares your mother and your father.
4. Father is 1, grandfather is 2, sister is 3 — and do not forget Niyonzima himself, who makes 4.
Yes! A family is the people who love you and look after you. Two people can be a whole family.
Parents. “My parents” means Mama and Papa in one short word.

Quick check

Match each person to the family word.

Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.

What you learned today

Your close family is the people you live with; your extended family is the bigger circle — grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.
A parent’s brother is your uncle, a parent’s sister is your aunt, and their children are your cousins.
When you count your family, count yourself too.
Families come in many shapes. Every one of them is real, and every one of them deserves respect.

1Start with the people in your house

2Then the bigger circle

3A tricky one, worked out slowly

4Remember to count yourself

5Families do not all look the same