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Gear up for National Hispanic Heritage Month

Celebrate the histories and cultural contributions of Americans with ancestors from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and other locations. The observance starts September 15 to commemorate the anniversary of independence for many Latin American countries: Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. Mexico and Chile celebrate Independence Day on September 16th and September 18th.

Grades K-12

A Month of Ideas for Celebrating Hispanic Heritage

Discover many ideas for building community connections while celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. The straight-forward suggestions found in this resource offer many opportunities to engage and extend learning through peer-to-peer and global interactions.

Grades 4-12

Hispanic Historic Places

Check out this site from the National Park Service that shows several historic sites associated with Hispanic culture in America. There are also lesson plans you can use to integrate Hispanic themes into your American history lessons.

Grades K-12

Safe@School - Lesson Plans and Toolkits

Engage with this extensive collection of resources that will help you facilitate discussions about race, racism, and diversity with students of all ages. Some of the resources include lesson plans, glossaries, toolkits, and other activities.

Grades 3-12

Américas Award for Children and Young Adult Literature

Skim this collection of outstanding books by Hispanic authors and/or about Hispanic themes written for children and young people. Click the title to see a description of the story—many also include a classroom unit with reading levels and standards.

Grades K-12

Salsa

Share these TV segments of popular children's stories in Spanish. The episodes include puppets, animations, live-action, and music characteristic of Hispanic culture. You will also find transcripts, activity guides, games, and review activities.

Cool Tools to Honor Hispanic Heritage Month

In this section, we’re sharing several tools you can use to create projects honoring the cultures and histories of Hispanic Americans. Find the ideal tool your students can use to show what they have learned. 

Grades K-12

DesignCap Poster Creator

Create free posters in three easy steps without registration. Begin by selecting a template from the many offered on the site, then use the tools to edit your poster’s features, including text, images, and background. Download your image and then share.

Grades K-12

Buzzsprout

Buzzsprout offers free, easy-to-use podcast hosting and a dashboard that walks you through the creation process. Challenge your students to research cultural contributions made by Hispanic Americans and create a podcast to share with the class.

Grades K-12

Knight Lab

Explore the variety of tools available for storytelling and promoting quality journalism. Check out the timeline options to create a visual list of events in Hispanic-American history. Students can use this to create a project to show what they know.

Grades K-5

WriteReader - Children As Creators

Engage your younger students in creating a project related to Hispanic Heritage Month using this tool that allows users to create their own books with text, pictures, and voice recordings. Teachers also have their own space on the page to write comments.

This Week at TeachersFirst

We invite you to join our first fall session of OK2Ask this Tuesday at 7 PM ET. We are also sharing a related blog post and kindly request your input on our weekly poll.