Curated OER
"De Colores"
First graders learn color words in Spanish through the use of a song. In this Spanish music activity, 1st graders sing the song "De Colores" to help them learn their color words in Spanish.
Curated OER
Cinco De Mayo
Learners investigate the historical background of the holiday of Cinco de Mayo. They complete a word search, explore various websites, and create a pinata that is papered with facts about the holiday.
Curated OER
Book: Latino Economics in the United States: Job Diversity
Students, after reading Chapter 1 in the book, "Latino Economics in the United States: Job Diversity," write an essay that compares the cultural as well as the historical factors (experiences with jobs, discrimination, education, etc.)...
Curated OER
Entering the World Stage
In this American imperialism worksheet, students review a chapter as they define 5 vocabulary terms in their own words, eliminate 4 false statements, and identify 2 themes from this era of growth and challenge in America.
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Hidalgo's Fight for the Independence of Mexico
Tenth graders study and examine the life of Miguel Hidalgo while working to identify major themes. Small groups create sequence of event chains, analyze and label maps of Hidalgo's travels, and work together to create giant chalk maps...
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Capitalization Practice
In this capitalization worksheet, students circle capitalization errors and add end marks to sentences, capitalize proper nouns, and edit sentences to correct.
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The Adventure Begins: "Boys I Believe I Have Found a Gold Mine!"
Young scholars view and discuss historical documents regarding Native Americans and Californians prior to the gold rush in the 1940's. They complete a variety of activities designed to show what they have learned from these sources and...
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Days of '49: "I've Been Toiling Hard for the Last Two And a Half Years"
Students trace the stages of gold mining in California. They discuss the life of a gold miner and how the discovery of gold influenced towns and cities in California during the 1949 Gold Rush.
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Conjunto Music from South Texas
Students listen to conjunto music and identify the instrumentation. After discussing the the history of South Texas, they examine lyrics of several songs and interpret them. As extensions, students can learn to partner dance to the...
Curated OER
Daruma
Students study the significance of the daruma through history since the sixth century. Students discuss good luck symbols used by other cultures. Students make a paper mache daruma, filling one eye and setting a goal.
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Scenes of Reverence: The Virgin of Guadalupe
High schoolers learn the history of Christianity in New Spain. They learn the story and significance of the Virgin of Guadalupe. They compare and contrast images of the Virgin and religious art to European counterparts.
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Coming to California
Fourth graders read excerpts from Juan Bautista de Anza's diaries. They analyze the impact of primary sources. They write journal entries for characters in stories they have read during the year.
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Bless Me, Ultima - 1
Tenth graders consider the importance of setting in the Southwest-themed novel "Bless Me, Ultima". As part of a larger unit, 10th graders research the setting of New Mexico and work in groups to prepare presentations about the region's...
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"The Circuit" and the Civil Rights Movement
Students compare and contrast concepts of the civil rights movement to the concepts presented in the short story, "The Circuit." In groups, they sort a series of ideas written on index cards into two categories - rights and freedoms. ...
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The Study of the Spanish-Speaking People of Texas: Daily Life
Students analyze the different ways that photography helps historians understand the lives of people who lived in the past. They examine images from Russell Lee's photo essay and discuss how Texas' has changed from an agrarian to an...
Curated OER
Human Abstraction
Students explore and compare abstraction of human forms in various ancient cultures and by creating self-portraits using geometric shapes. They identify which geometric shapes form the following features: face, nose, arms, torso, legs,...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Yankee Doodle: How Has It Changed over Time?
Grab your feathers and your hat! And perhaps some macaroni! It's time to investigate the evolution of "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Groups do a close reading of sheet music covers, lyrics, and even YouTube videos to see how this political song...
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The Kanaka Village at Fort Vancouver: Crossroads of the Columbia River
Students study the interaction between Native American and European cultures in the Pacific Northwest in the 1800s. They focus their study on the Hudson's Bay Company and Fort Vancouver.
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The Huichol Community of Mexico: Communicating with Symbols
Students study the Huichol Indians. In this Huichol lesson, students red The Journey of Tunuri and the Blue Deer, design a visual story using symbols, and make a painting using large paper shapes. A class mural project is also included.
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Learning Landscapes
Fifth graders analyze a landscape depicting Yosemite during the time of the Wild West. They compare their perceptions of the West from film and television to this representation. They observe the use of scale and color to depict size and...
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African Masks
Fourth graders create three-dimensional paper African masks. They analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of Africa. they discover that masks were worn for various ceremonies.
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From Corn To Tortillas
Students investigate the food known as the tortilla. They research the growth cycle of the corn plant and how tortillas are made from it. The importance of the tortilla according to the Hispanic culture is explained to the students. The...
Curated OER
The Chicano Movement in California - Culture, Causes, and Community
Students explore the culture and community of the Chicano movement in California using prints that emerged from the Chicano movement. The historical, binational, and bicultural components are examined in this three lessons unit.