The authors describe a month-long unit on Afro-Latin@ identity in which third grade students began with a discussion of complex questions with which many historians, anthropologists, and scholars struggle to make sense. The goal of this month-long unit was to have students adopt the lens of cultural anthropologists as they explored the historical…

While there are many difficulties faced by world language educators, both teachers and students of certain languages--languages commonly identified with countries and cultures deemed to be hostile to the United States--often find themselves in uniquely paradoxical situations. This article begins with a brief anecdotal description of the personal…

In the Puerto Rican Carnivale, a traditional figure seen in many parades is the "vejigante," a clown-like character who wears a colorful mask. The author's kindergarteners were learning about Carnivale in Spanish class, so making vejigante masks of their own in art class was a great idea--and an opportunity to teach them papier-mache…

The Day of the Dead project is absolutely one of the author's favorite lessons. It's easy enough for almost any grade level--the author does it with her second-graders--yet can be detailed enough to keep eighth-graders interested. It uses a limited number of easy-to-acquire supplies, which is great for tight budgets. It can also be easily broken…

Latin American customs and colors play an important role as second graders are introduced to multicultural experiences through food, music, dance, art, and craft. In this article, the author describes a printing project inspired by Guatemalan weavings and amate bark paintings. (Contains 2 online resources.)

The study of the beautiful monarch butterfly lends itself to a vast array of subject matter, and offers the opportunity to meet a large and varied number of standards and objectives for many grade levels. Art projects featuring monarchs may include many cross-curricular units such as math (symmetry and number graphing), science (adaptation and…

With distance bridged by speedy planes, the Americas of tomorrow will accept as natural and reasonable the exchange of visits between countries separated by several thousand miles. Geography will be learned first hand not confined to books and maps. In the schools of the United States there has long been some inclusion of content on the other…

The Commissioner of Education presents an education-progress review, and discusses compulsory education; national education aid; work of the commissioner's office; education statistical summaries; nurse-training schools; states' education duties; results of five years' compulsory education in Great Britain; industrial day schools; the Boston…