I share a lot of resources on MommyMaestra for elementary students, but this week I'm going to focus on older children. And I'm starting off with one of the online education portals that you may already be familiar with: PBS Learning Media.
A few years ago, PBS ran a special documentary series: Latino Americans. You may have watched it. If not, it is an EXCELLENT media resource for your Latino Studies lessons at home or classroom. You can find it here. (aff link)
(There's an awesome book written by Ray Suarez to accompany the series, but more about that in my next post.)
 |
| A snippet of a larger lesson plan about Latinos at the Ballot Box on PBS Learning Media |
PBS Learning Media also has a fair collection of themed multimedia lesson plans for students in 4th through 12th grade to accompany the documentary. But before you ask, many of the lessons can be used independently. I love that the lesson plans include so many primary texts and well-researched historical sources, as well as downloadable materials for student use. The activities require critical thinking about each subject, some of which include:
- Who Are Latinos?
- Identity, Immigration and Economics: Involuntary Deportations of the 1930s
- Digging at the Roots of Your Family Tree
- Stereotypes vs. Statistics (grades 4 - 8) AND/OR (grades 9 - 12)
- Latinos at the Ballot Box
- Stories of Arrival
- What's In a Name?
- Students Rising
- Organizing the Farm Worker Movement
- Extranjeros & Expansion
- Puerto Rican Perspectives
- Cuban Exodus
- Journey from Mexico
- The Mexican-American War
- Spanish-American War
And there are quite a few biographies, too.
These are quality materials that should not be overlooked by teachers and parents. If you are teaching a multicultural studies class to your children or students, this is a must-have.
Those of you who must contend with Common Core and state standards, each lesson plan also has a list of the standards that are met.
TEACHER BONUS: All of these lessons are Google Classroom friendly and may be assigned directly from the lesson plans.
To take a look at all of the lesson plans they have available on this subject, click here.
