Here are eight ideas to celebrate National Hispanic Month! Scholars have the opportunity to read and discuss literature, include people and events in history, examine art, watch and discuss films, listen to and dance to music, explore...

New ReviewHigh schoolers are asked to consider the connections between food, culture, and identity. They read articles and share what they learned in a jigsaw activity, read a short story, and make a claim about the story's theme, backing up their...

New ReviewMiddle schoolers consider languages as representations of cultures and the importance of preserving various languages, especially the rapidly disappearing languages of indigenous peoples, in a lesson plan that tells the story of Marie...

A lesson examines the holidays, Día de los Muertos and Halloween. After an exciting clip from the movie Coco, class members review vocabulary and discuss what they know about Halloween. The conversation leads into the history of Día de...

Young artists examine pictures from and discuss the holiday Día de los Muertos. The symbolic skull showcases the use of warm and cool colors. Color exploration allows learners to use coordinating colors to create two paper...

Young artists examine Frido Kahlo's self-portrait "Time Flies" to identify details that make the painting unique. Following a whole-class discussion about their observations, scholars create a self-portrait using oil pastels, paying...

A lesson spotlights the poem "Tamales on Christmas" by Christian Robinson. Scholars discuss their favorite foods and then examine a lively picture of a family preparing tamales. After listening to the poem twice, learners participate in...

Here's a must-have resource for Latino/Hispanic heritage month, September 15 through October 15. The 18-page packet includes suggestions to guide your planning, quizzes to test knowledge of heritage facts and immigration myths, and...

Scholars of all ages examine Richard Blanco's poem, "El Florida Room." Looking closely at pictures, pupils look for details that stand out to them, then read the poem. A whole-class discussion allows learners to reflect on what they...

After sketching an essential person and reading an article, scholars read the poem "In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles" by Francisco X. Alarcón. They listen to the poem in English and Spanish and record lines that stand out to them. Small...

This lesson highlights the struggles of immigrants and the importance of showing empathy. Beginning with a read-aloud of a book in another language and a poem, scholars take part in a thoughtful discussion. Then, the class examines a...

A word splash activity introduces scholars to the lesson's theme—cultural characteristics. First, in examining Little Red Riding Hood by The Brothers Grimm, learners highlight the cultural characteristics and then spot the differences in...

Social classes may be explicitly defined as in a caste system or based more informally on such ideas as wealth or education. After reading and discussing an article about one woman's experience with trying to fit into a system different...

We are a tapestry woven of the threads of our family and its history, our environment, our ethnicity, and our culture. High school freshmen reflect on how these threads influence their goals for the future. After reading George Ella...

While the Roman empire often conjures up images of soldiers and emperors, its culture was more complex. Using primary sources, including ancient historians and pictures of artifacts, pupils consider the religious influences on Roman...

It doesn't take long to change the world! Alexander the Great's reign may have been short-lived, but his vision for a multi-cultural Hellenistic world shaped Afroeurasia for centuries. Pupils examine documents, such as excerpts from...

Toss gender roles out the window—some societies lived in a world where women not only possessed the family wealth but also were the farmers and butchers. Many Native American societies had more gender equity than European societies....

The odds are in your favor that your pupils will love this instructional activity that uses The Hunger Games to launch a study of gender empowerment, as well as the influence of social constructs of gender. Groups discuss how Katniss...

Fitting in to a dominant culture comes at a price—especially for native peoples. Class members consider this concept using a photo matching game of indigenous people in Alaska. Discussion questions help them consider to what extent these...

What makes heroes and villains? A six-part unit plan asks young scholars to explore the concept of heroism and the characteristics they consider heroic and unheroic. Groups create character maps that focus on how characters are shaped by...