To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Verizon Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org)
has launched a new feature highlighting more than two dozen free
educational resources to help teachers bring the stories of Hispanic
Heritage Month to life in their classrooms.
The resources range from a magical tale of a farmer and his horse, to a virtual excursion through the history of Santa Fe, N.M.,
to personal stories of immigration to the U.S. over the past century.
Verizon Thinkfinity's Hispanic Heritage Month feature offers something
for every K-12 teacher or parent interested in sharing the diverse
history and important contributions Latinos have made to American
culture.
Thinkfinity is a comprehensive educational website that contains
thousands of free educational resources to make learning fun and improve
educational achievement. Parent-friendly resources, in-class activities
and homework help can be found quickly and searched by grade level,
keyword or subject. Verizon Thinkfinity also offers literacy resources
to assist adult learners.
Among the resources available in the Thinkfinity Hispanic Heritage section are:
- The Road to Santa Fe: A Virtual Excursion --
In this resource from the National Endowment for the Humanities'
EDSITEment, students learn the rich history of this 400- year-old city.
Students will experience a unique mix of cultures and use an interactive
map to travel the El Camino Real, an ancient road that connected Santa Fe with Mexico City. http://edsitement.neh.gov/spotlight.asp?id=181
- Hispanic Heritage Books, such as "Bobo's Magic Wishes," a traditional Puerto Rican folktale about a farmer, Juan Bobo,
who catches a magical horse but lets him go in exchange for several
wishes. The story is one of several highlighted in OurStory, a project
of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstory/bibliography/searchresults.cfm?list=Latino
- A Nation of Immigrants: Latino Stories
-- This educational resource from the Smithsonian's National Museum of
American History contains articles and photographs highlighting personal
experiences of Latino immigrants. The resource features immigrants from
the 1920s who came to the U.S. to escape the Mexican Revolution; Caribbean
immigrants who came by raft in the 1960s; and Mexican nationals who
came between 1942 and 1964 to take part in the Bracero Program, a
sometimes-controversial guest-worker program. http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/themes/story_51_2.html
- My Family Traditions: a Class Book and a Potluck Lunch -
In this lesson plan from ReadWriteThink, a joint project of the
International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers
of English, students read the bilingual children's book "Family
Pictures/Cuadros de Familia" by Carmen Lomas Garza
and write descriptions about family traditions. Students then create a
class book, including information about their own ancestry, and share a
potluck lunch with families and peers. http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/family-traditions-class-book-941.html
"Through
Verizon Thinkfinity, teachers receive quick and free access to a
multitude of educational resources to bring the stories of
Hispanic-American history to life," said Verizon Foundation President Patrick Gaston.
"From lesson plans to powerful stories of our nation's immigration
heritage, Thinkfinity offers something for every K-12 teacher."
In
addition to providing free educational resources, Verizon Thinkfinity
offers a comprehensive professional development program that allows
teachers to sign up for free online training.
Content
for Verizon Thinkfinity is provided through a partnership between the
Verizon Foundation and 11 of the nation's leading organizations in the
fields of education and literacy: the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, the Council for Economic Education, the International
Reading Association, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Center for Family Literacy, the National Endowment for the
Humanities, the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics, the National Geographic Society, ProLiteracy and
the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.