Activity Description

Scholastic's Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Online Activity provides your students with an opportunity to discover the contributions and rich cultures of Hispanics in the United States. Hispanic Heritage Month — celebrated September 15 to October 15 each year — honors the diverse peoples of Spanish-speaking backgrounds who have come to the United States from more than 20 countries. Celebrate Hispanic Heritage is designed to coincide with this special month or be used throughout the year.

The components of Celebrate Hispanic Heritage are broken up into three categories:

Culture Component: Grades PreK–1
The Culture component is designed with young students in mind. The Piñata Concentration activity incorporates various Spanish vocabulary and memorization skills. The My Heritage activity allows students to explore Hispanic Heritage through the eyes of seven different Latinos from various walks of life. This activity is sure to generate discussion and is a great way to promote empathy among students from different backgrounds at an early age.

People Component: Grades 2–5
The People component is designed to teach students about famous Latinos and their contributions to American history. Additionally, students will practice writing biographical narratives with the content of this activity. In the Meet Famous Latinos activity, students can read complete biographies about six famous Latinos. These biographical sketches can also serve as a writing model for student writing. In the Latinos in History activity, students are provided with 25 biographical excerpts on Latinos who have contributed to American history in different ways. This component also includes a graphic organizer to help students gather and organize their biographical research.

History Component: Grades 6–8
The History component includes a chronological timeline that is accessed by clicking on an interactive map of Latin America. A printable version of the timeline is also available for your individual classroom needs. The Hispanic History in the Americas activity is a great way for students to understand the overall impact and influence that the Spanish conquest had on all of Latin America.

Additionally, students can start a research paper on Spanish Missions with Scholastic's Research Starters.

Lesson Goals:

Scholastic's Online Activities are designed to support the teaching of standards-based skills. While participating in the Celebrate Hispanic Heritage project, students become proficient with several of these skills.

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