Curriculum

México y las bellas artes: Books by Duncan Tonatiuh

3rd through 5rd Grade Social Studies and Language Arts
Author/illustrator: Duncan Tonatiuh, books on Diego Rivera, Posada, Frida Kahlo, and Amalia Hernández and the Ballet Folklórico de México

In this unit, elementary students will examine the works of four Mexican artists through picture books over the course of 2 to 4 weeks. Students will understand the characteristics common in biographies, the contributions of Mexican artists, and how artists highlight Mexican culture and traditions in their art.  While this unit is designed for 3rd through 5th graders, 1st and 2nd graders could certainly access this material with some modifications.

Una América Oculta / A Hidden America: Scientific and Technological Contributions of South American Pre-Hispanic Societies to Modern Life  (2015)

6th Grade Social Studies and English Language Arts
Authors: Andrew Hurie and Carolina Zúñiga-Solarte

In this unit, students explore the scientific and technological knowledge developed by pre-Hispanic cultures in South America, focusing on agricultural, botanical, and engineering knowledge created by the Incas and indigenous groups from the Amazon. The unit has been aligned to the TEKS and Common Core standards at the sixth grade level and is broken up into three one-week modules. However, we encourage teachers to adapt the content according to their specific grade level and classroom context.

Literary Curriculum Guide: Margarito’s Forest/El Bosque de Don Margarito, by Andy Carter

 3rd Grade English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Math
Guide author: Mohit Mehta

This dual-language curriculum unit is based on Andy Carter’s book Margarito’s Forest, which tells the story of Esteban, a young Maya boy in the village of Saq’ja, who learns from his village elders the importance of planting and reforestation according to ancestral knowledge in the face of commercial pressures to cut down trees. The unit includes five lessons corresponding to third grade TEKS for English Language Arts and extension activities for Math, Social Studies, and Art. Through understanding the story told in Margarito’s Forest and examining its images, students learn about the Mayan people, Guatemala and its civil war, and the role each of us can play in protecting the environment. Students delve deeper into understanding the rates and effects of deforestation through math problems, recreate scenes from the book using collage, and even learn some K’iche’, the Mayan language spoken in the Saq’ja.

Literary Curriculum Guide: Migrant/Migrante, by José Manuel Mateo

4th Grade English Language Arts and Social Studies
Guide author: Andrew Schleisman

This curriculum guide is designed to accompany the book Migrant by José Manuel Mateo and illustrated by Javier Martínez Pedro. Migrant, laid out in one long illustration resembling a codex, tells the story of a boy’s journey to the United States with his family and the dangers and hardships they face crossing the border. The unit looks at the United States as a nation of immigrants, connects modern-day immigration stories with ones in the past, and examines why so many people choose to migrate despite the many hardships it entails. Students learn about symbols and art representations, participate in gallery walks and group work, and create storyboards and codices of their own families’ journeys.

Exploring the Zapatista Movement and Social Justice

6th Grade Social Studies and English Language Arts
Author: Stacey Saatoff


In this two-week unit, students examine issues of social justice and Indigenous rights and how the Zapatista Movement in Chiapas, Mexico, has positively transformed communities. The unit allows students to explore the Zapatista Movement and make connections to the larger world. The unit uses digital media, art, and children’s books, written by Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos, to provide context and explore Zapatista ideology, culture, and thought.

Brazil Our Cousin
K-5 Social Studies

This unit explores our cousin, Brazil. Although we have different parents (England and Portugal) that shaped our development for good or bad, our grandparent, Europe, continues to influence the lives of its grandchildren. From Columbus to coffee, students will learn about Brazilian history, culture, and communities.

Complicating Conquest
High School World History

Traditionally, the conquest of the Americas has been presented to students from a Eurocentric point of view. The Europeans arrive, demolish indigenous civilizations, and triumphantly (re)build the new world. This unit seeks to challenge this portrayal of conquest and present students with a new narrative. Through analysis of written and visual primary sources, students will reconstruct their understanding of the interactions between the colonizing Spanish and the indigenous Aztec, Maya, and Inca. Students will emerge from this unit with an understanding of the indigenous cultural legacy in the foundations of the New World.

• Complicating Conquest (PDF, 25.5MB)
• LCI: Aztec Glyphs (PDF, 738KB) / LCI: Aztec Glyphs (PPT, 1.8MB)
• LCI: Religion (PDF, 5.6MB) / LCI: Religion (PPT, 7.6MB)
• LCI: The Church of Santo Domingo (PDF, 3MB) / LCI: The Church of Santo Domingo (PPT, 6.3MB) 
• LCI: Colonial Peru (PDF, 3MB) / LCI: Colonial Peru (PPT, 5.7MB)
• LCI: Colonial Mexico (PDF, 3.8MB) / LCI: Colonial Mexico (PPT, 16.6MB) 
• LCI: Contemporary Textiles (PDF, 6MB) / LCI: Contemporary Textiles (PPT, 8.7MB)
• LCI: Debrief (PDF, 9.5MB) / LCI: Debrief (PPT, 29.6MB)

Indigenous History of the Americas (Mesoamerica and the Caribbean)
Grades 9–12 Social Studies

In this lesson, students will understand Indigenous history of the Americas from the experiences and perspectives of Indigenous people during and after the Columbian Exchange. There is a heavy focus on the Caribbean and Mesoamerica to exemplify different aspects of the Indigenous experience.

Mexico '68
Grades 9–12 Social Studies

The year 1986 was marked by social and political upheaval, including assassinations, riots, military actions, and the mobilization of students in many countries, including Mexico. This lesson explores the student protests in Mexico that culminated with an event at la Plaza de las Tres Culturas known as the Tlatelolco Massacre, just a few short weeks before the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.