Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month is September 15th through October 15th, recognizing and honoring the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. Here are some ideas to incorporate Hispanic heritage, books, and authors into your lessons any time of the year.

• Explore award-winning titles that portray Hispanic and Latine experiences on these lists:

  • Pura Belpré Awards Resources for titles portraying, affirming, and celebrating the Latino cultural experience
  • Tomás Rivera Book Award Resources for the titles honoring literature that authentically depicts the Mexican American experience
  • Américas Award Resources for the titles portraying Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States

• Incorporate this reader’s theater script for Bravo! Poems about Amazing Hispanics to engage your students and learn about a few of the people featured in the text.

• Have fun and play with rhymes featuring English and Spanish in this complete video reading of One is a Piñata: A Book of Numbers.

• Watch this interview with Juliet Menéndez, author of Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers, to hear about her work telling the stories of Latinas across history who have influenced and inspired many others and made an impact.

• Browse our entire Latino/a/e/x Collection for title ideas, then use a Cultural Representation Reflection alongside the reading to encourage readers to reflect on the cultural experiences they encounter in texts as well as their own experiences.

• Find inspiration in these curated lists of titles celebrating Hispanic heritage:

  • 37 Kidlit and YA Titles in Honor of Hispanic Heritage Month by School Library Journal
  • Hispanic Heritage by Colorín Colorado

  

• Use this audio excerpt from Green is a Chile Pepper to inspire students to pick a color and write their own verses about where they see that color in their lives.

• Listen to this Meet-the-Author Recording with Anika Aldamuy Denise for Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré to learn about the librarian who was a pioneer for diverse representation in children’s books. Then, have students think about what it means to be able to see oneself represented in books and beyond.

• Watch this complete video book reading with author Yamile Saied Méndez for Where Are You From?, which celebrates heritage and family.

• Share this audio excerpt from Dreams from Many Rivers: A Hispanic History of the United States Told in Poems to hear verses that bring 1491 Puerto Rico to life as a way to explore Hispanic history in the Americas.

• Check out this brand-new list of Elementary Bilingual Spanish / English Books and resources from the TeachingBooks team!