ReadWriteThink: September 15, 2009: Hispanic Heritage Month begins today.

September 15, 2009

		A time for celebrating the culture, art, and achieve- ments of Hispanic people, September 15–October 15 has been designated as Hispanic Heritage Month. September 15 also marks the independence days of five Hispanic countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico achieved independence on September 16, and Chile on September 18. image © 2009 www.clipart.com

Hispanic Heritage Month begins today.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

Begin by brainstorming with students all the various aspects of culture, in this case, Hispanic culture. Remind students that culture is not just race and ethnicity but extends to dance, music, art, architecture, education, family dynamics, film, religion, politics, literature, food, holidays, and much more.

Once students have compiled a list of potential topics to research, organize the list into some general categories and have students identify resources they could use to learn more about Hispanic culture in their category. Encourage students to think about people in their communities or families who might have personal knowledge of the topics they’re researching.

Have students work in groups to research their topics and present the information they find to the class through PowerPoint, a webpage, a display, or an interactive tool such as the Flip Book or Stapleless Book. A Tool Tip Sheet is available for the Flip Book and there is an instructional video on the Stapleless Book.

Lesson Plans

My Family Traditions: A Class Book and a Potluck Lunch
This lesson for grades 3–5 starts with a read-aloud and analysis of “Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia,” by Carmen Lomas Garza. Students describe the book’s pictures and discuss family traditions. They then explore their own traditions by creating a class book and hosting a potluck lunch.

Using Timeline Games and Mexican History to Improve Comprehension
In this lesson, elementary students study the basic elements of Mexican history and use online resources to gather the information they need to make an illustrated timeline.

Investigating Names to Explore Personal History and Cultural Traditions
Latina author Sandra Cisneros’ House on Mango Street serves as a model for middle school students as they research and write about their own names.

Web Links

Pura Belpré Medal Winners
This is the webpage for current winners of the American Library Association’s Pura Belpré Award. Established in 1996, it is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. Links to past winners and additional information are available as well.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage
Choose among links to information on Hispanic history, famous Latinos, and Latinos in history on this Scholastic website. The site features a Flash interactive, the Piñata Concentration game, which is entirely in Spanish.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month—National Register of Historic Places, NPS
This collection of resources from the National Register of Historic Places includes links to publications, featured properties, and history in the parks, including a series of lesson plans that use places listed in the Register.

Texts

Rice, David. 2001. Crazy Loco. Dial.
Stories set in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas form the focus of this collection. Some of the stories are humorous, some poignant. All feature Hispanic main characters.

Saldana, Rene. 2003. Finding Our Way. Wendy Lamb Books.
These short stories feature Hispanic male protagonists facing a host of situations from helping a nasty neighbor to asking for a date to a dance.

Carlson, Lori Marie. 2005. Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States. Henry Holt and Co.
Poems by several Latino authors grace this collection of poems in both Spanish and English, a follow-up to Cool Salsa (Holt, 2004).

Media Projects Incorporated. 2003. Student Almanac of Hispanic American History. Greenwood Press.
This two-volume set offers a concise but thorough review of the history of Hispanic Americans.