TeachersFirst Collection: Hispanic Americans' Contribution to American Culture

This collection celebrates the rich and enduring contributions Hispanic Americans have made to American culture. From literature and art to music and cuisine, Hispanic Americans have helped shape the nation's identity, weaving vibrant traditions and inventive perspectives into it. Through historical narratives, educational materials, and multimedia content, this compilation highlights the diverse voices and experiences that have shaped everything from the civil rights movement to contemporary pop culture. In exploring these resources, we honor the past while recognizing the ongoing impact of Hispanic Americans in building a more inclusive, dynamic society. 

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Reading Treks: The Distance Between Us - TeachersFirst

Grades
5 to 9
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Embark on a virtual field trip to follow the journey of Reyna Grande, an undocumented Mexican teen, as she tries to find her identity as both a Mexican and an ...more
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Embark on a virtual field trip to follow the journey of Reyna Grande, an undocumented Mexican teen, as she tries to find her identity as both a Mexican and an American. This Reading Trek provides a robust set of learning activities and extension resources to engage learners in exploring this book through a virtual journey using Google Maps. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades 5-9. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, National Core Arts Standards for Visual Arts, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire collection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): hispanic (53), identity (48), immigrants (50), mexico (67), Reading Treks (56)

In the Classroom

Take advantage of the many suggested classroom uses for this resource found on the Instructional Guide (PDF). After reading this book and completing the activities found in the Reading Trek, ask students to document their identity using a tool like Odyssey, reviewed here. Use Odyssey to create a map-based story that includes images, text, videos, and photos. Find more ideas for teaching identity at this Discover My Identity Lesson Plan, reviewed here.
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Reading Treks: Esperanza Rising - TeachersFirst

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3 to 6
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TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration...more
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TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book, Esperanza Rising. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades 3-6. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, National Core Arts Standards for Visual Arts, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.

tag(s): 1920s (26), 1930s (39), great depression (33), hispanic (53), immigrants (50), racism (84), Reading Treks (56)

In the Classroom

Take advantage of the many suggested classroom uses for this resource found on the Instructional Guide (PDF). This book and the suggested activities work well as part of lessons on racism and living conditions in the 1920s and 1930s on Mexican farms. Consider using the historical information and primary sources from the book to have students create timelines of the important events during the story. Find a variety of free online timeline creation tools located here. Use Google My Maps, reviewed here to create and share custom maps. As students conduct research related to life on Mexican farms during the 1920s and 1930s, use Fiskkit, reviewed here as a collaborative discussion tool. Use Fiskkit to share the link of any online article with students, then the site's tools provide the opportunity to highlight and add comments to areas within the article by users.
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Kid World Citizen - Becky Morales

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K to 6
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Kid World Citizen offers a large variety of resources to encourage kids to become global learners and thinkers. Explore categories such as books, food, and art to find international...more
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Kid World Citizen offers a large variety of resources to encourage kids to become global learners and thinkers. Explore categories such as books, food, and art to find international learning activities. Look for topics on specific countries using the map search. Be sure to check out the For Fun area with links to movies, music, games, and toys.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): back to school (57), chinese new year (5), christmas (35), cross cultural understanding (167), earth day (62), hanukkah (22), hispanic (53), holidays (292), italy (30), Juneteenth (33), mexico (67), native americans (169), ramadan (10), thanksgiving (24)

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site for use throughout the year when teaching about countries, holidays, and for cross-cultural literature resources. Choose a country to explore each month using resources found on the site. Learn about your students' backgrounds to find countries and regions to explore using activities on the site. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast your culture with that of a different country.

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Zinn Education Project - Zinn Education Project

Grades
6 to 12
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The Zinn Education Project provides teaching resources as a part of its effort to offer an alternative to traditional methods of teaching history. Inspired by the work of Howard Zinn,...more
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The Zinn Education Project provides teaching resources as a part of its effort to offer an alternative to traditional methods of teaching history. Inspired by the work of Howard Zinn, the site and its resources come from a clearly progressive point of view and focus heavily on issues of social justice. Understand there is a political agenda here. The website offers both lesson plans and other teaching materials and a bibliography of related books and other non-web-based resources. In order to access the teaching materials, you must register on the site.

tag(s): african american (130), bias (35), black history (133), civics (138), civil rights (228), hispanic (53), racism (84), social justice (44), women (194)

In the Classroom

If you are looking for additional teaching materials that focus on issues of social justice, racism, or which provide information from a progressive point of view, you can search by time period or theme (i.e., African American, Mexico, Hispanic, Latinx, LGBT, War and Anti-War, Civil Rights, Racism, and many more). The teaching materials are in PDF format you can download once you log in. Language arts teachers will find the articles here great for nonfiction reading and terrific as discussion starters!
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Daria -World Music for Children - World Music by Daria

Grades
K to 5
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Daria - World Music for Children explores music from around the world. The site includes class projects, information on unusual instruments, songs, holidays by month, and music in Spanish....more
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Daria - World Music for Children explores music from around the world. The site includes class projects, information on unusual instruments, songs, holidays by month, and music in Spanish. Examples of songs are Do the Limbo (Caribbean), Kumbayah (Africa), Uncle Joe (Appalachia), and Salaam/Shalom (Middle Eastern). Spanish songs include "Ese Pollito," "Guantanamera," "La Cucaracha," and "La Bamba." Videos for these links to Daria's YouTube Channel.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): hispanic (53), martin luther king (42), musical instruments (63), native americans (169), songs (50), sound (71)

In the Classroom

Students can use Google My Maps, reviewed here to visit the different places that the music originated from. Students can use Online Voice Recorder, reviewed here to record themselves singing the songs. Finally, students can use 2 and 3 Circle Interactive Venn Diagrams by Class Tools, reviewed here to compare and contrast music from different cultures.
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Cinco de Mayo Resources - TeachersFirst

Grades
K to 12
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Cinco de Mayo is a wonderful opportunity to bring cultural awareness, history, and celebration into your classroom! Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army's victory over French...more
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Cinco de Mayo is a wonderful opportunity to bring cultural awareness, history, and celebration into your classroom! Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army's victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 -- a powerful story of resilience and determination. This collection of resources offers K-12 educators engaging ways to explore the history, culture, music, food, and traditions associated with this important day. From lesson plans and activities to art projects and read-alouds, these resources will help your students develop a deeper appreciation for Mexican heritage and culture.

tag(s): hispanic (53), holidays (292), mexico (67)

In the Classroom

Use these resources to connect Cinco de Mayo to your curriculum in almost any subject or select one or two ideas to highlight along with your regular lessons.

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Vistas - Dr. Dana Leibsohn and Dr. Barbara Mundy

Grades
6 to 12
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At this site, you will find a wealth of material about the culture of Spanish America. This includes color images, short videos, an interactive timeline, essays (Library), and a glossary....more
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At this site, you will find a wealth of material about the culture of Spanish America. This includes color images, short videos, an interactive timeline, essays (Library), and a glossary. Spanish American culture thrived from the 16th century to the early 19th century and spanned from California to Chile. This site can be viewed in English or Spanish. DVDs are available with primary documents, more images, etc., but they are not free. This review is for the free internet site only.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (167), cultures (302), explorers (65), hispanic (53), resources (79), spanish (113)

In the Classroom

You could share this site with your students on your interactive whiteboard or projector and at the same time create a timeline for the Spanish Americas using a tool such as Timeline Infographic Template, reviewed here. What a wonderful resource for higher-level students during Hispanic Heritage Month!

The site lists several themes, and each theme starts with a video under five minutes. You might want to assign small groups to a theme and have them explore the site to learn what it's about (be sure to review the titles in the Library with them). Enhance learning by having the small groups use a tool such as MindMeister, reviewed here, to create and share concept maps of the important ideas about their theme. They may also want to use images from the site, so remind your students to cite their sources and credit the people who created the site when they create a project online.

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Cinco de Mayo - The History Channel

Grades
4 to 12
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The History Channel's Cinco de Mayo offers an overview of the holiday. It shares information on the history, the Battle of Puebla, where in Mexico it is celebrated, how it ...more
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The History Channel's Cinco de Mayo offers an overview of the holiday. It shares information on the history, the Battle of Puebla, where in Mexico it is celebrated, how it is celebrated in the United States, and the confusion between Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day.

tag(s): cinco de mayo (28), hispanic (53), mexico (67)

In the Classroom

Share maps of Mexico on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have cooperative learning groups create commercials highlighting what they have learned (be sure they include some new vocabulary words) or even a video advertisement modifying their learning for your class's Cinco de Mayo celebration. For the video use a tool such as Adobe Express Video Maker, reviewed here. Share the videos using a tool such as Schooltube, reviewed here.

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Salsa - Georgia Public Broadcasting

Grades
K to 12
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This Spanish language program features TV segments of popular children's stories in Spanish. The TV episodes include puppets, animation, live action and music characteristic of Hispanic...more
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This Spanish language program features TV segments of popular children's stories in Spanish. The TV episodes include puppets, animation, live action and music characteristic of Hispanic culture. Besides transcripts, the website includes an intro, vocabulary, and more. In some episodes, the action is translated into sign language for the hearing impaired, as well! Complete transcripts in Spanish and English allow the instructor to pre-teach vocabulary and set up the situation before showing the video. One of the main advantages of using this program in a mixed language class is that the Spanish-speaking students suddenly become the authorities in the classroom; they can assist the instructor with the episodes and activities.

tag(s): hispanic (53), preK (352), resources (79), spanish (113)

In the Classroom

Use these episodes to supplement regular Spanish language classes or as enrichment for elementary classes wishing to learn a language. Encourage your Spanish-speaking class members to assist with pronunciation, episode summaries, songs, etc. Provide this link on your class website for students to use both in and out of the classroom; the activities and stories help with Spanish language comprehension. After introducing your students to this program you may want to set up stations with different stories from this list for students to rotate through. Share the stories on your interactive whiteboard or projector as a model for world language students, then extend student learning by challenging students to create their own stories. Use a tool like FlexClip, reviewed here, to record them and share them. FlexClip is designed to allow you to create short animated or explainer videos to share on YouTube and other social media sites. Then, share on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here.

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Lessons from Teaching with Historic Places - National Park Service

Grades
5 to 12
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This National Park Service page offers dozens of lesson plans based on American historic sites and events. While all are ostensibly for grades 5-12, these vary widely in their complexity,...more
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This National Park Service page offers dozens of lesson plans based on American historic sites and events. While all are ostensibly for grades 5-12, these vary widely in their complexity, and teachers will need to determine the actual utility of these for their classrooms. There are enough options here, however, that those interested in American history should routinely check for curriculum connections.

tag(s): african american (130), american revolution (99), archeology (26), civics (138), civil rights (228), civil war (148), hispanic (53), immigration (86), lincoln (65), migration (44), native americans (169), politics (119), spanish (113), war of 1812 (14), women (194), world war 1 (88), world war 2 (169)

In the Classroom

This is a great resource for ANY history teacher! Save this site as a favorite on your classroom desktop and use it as a reference point when in need of new material.

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Hispanic Historic Places - National Park Service

Grades
4 to 12
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This site from the National Park Service shows several historic sites associated with Hispanic culture in the U.S. It can also lead to an appropriate selection of lessons from the ...more
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This site from the National Park Service shows several historic sites associated with Hispanic culture in the U.S. It can also lead to an appropriate selection of lessons from the NPS Teaching with Historic Places series. These lessons are a nice way to integrate Hispanic themes and contemporary accounts into an American history unit.

tag(s): hispanic (53), national parks (30), resources (79), spanish (113)

In the Classroom

Take advantage of the free lesson plans listed for Hispanic American/Latino American History here from the NPS Teaching with Historic Places series. This is a great resource for a history or geography classroom, just be sure to save it as a favorite to allow for easy retrieval later on. You might want to use a curation tool such as Wakelet, reviewed here to share with this site with your students.

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Free Learning Resources for Hispanic Heritage Month - Common Sense

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K to 12
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The Common Sense Education resource page on free learning resources for Hispanic Heritage Month offers a comprehensive collection of tools to help teachers celebrate Hispanic culture...more
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The Common Sense Education resource page on free learning resources for Hispanic Heritage Month offers a comprehensive collection of tools to help teachers celebrate Hispanic culture in their classrooms. It features a variety of free resources, including lesson plans, videos, and interactive activities suitable for all grade levels. Teachers can use curated media content, such as documentaries and digital books, to enhance learning. The article also provides recommendations for culturally relevant apps and websites that foster student engagement while teaching about Hispanic heritage, making it a versatile resource for in-person and virtual learning environments. If your district blocks YouTube, then the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): central america (25), cross cultural understanding (167), cultures (302), dance (42), hispanic (53), south america (77)

In the Classroom

Have students choose a Hispanic historical figure or cultural tradition and create a short video or digital story. They can use a free tool like Canva, reviewed here to combine images, text, and narration. Ask students to create a playlist of traditional and contemporary Hispanic music, ranging from salsa to reggaeton. Have students explore poems, artwork, or literature by Hispanic authors and artists. They can create artistic interpretations or write poems inspired by Hispanic culture, traditions, or history.

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