Get Creative with Cinco De Mayo Lesson Plans

Cinco de Mayo is a pretty popular holiday, but it may be hard to incorporate it into the classroom sometimes. Here are some great activities and ideas to help introduce Cinco de Mayo to your students, or even your children if you happen to be a parent wanting to make your children more culturally aware.

1. Cinco de Mayo Webquest/Trivia Hunt:

Grades: 4+

Details: In order to really get your students learning more about the history surrounding Cinco de Mayo and a little of the culture that goes into it, a webquest is a wonderful way to approach it. Not only do your students need to get involved in searching and reading about it, but it gives them a chance to learn more about it than what is just in textbooks or more than just the questions on the webquest. I recommend for grades 4 and up so that they have a good grasp of computer searching skills, good reading abilities, and so they are able to fully understand what they're reading.

2. Cinco de Mayo songs:

Grades: 3 - 6

Details: If you're more musically inclined, there are all sorts of cute children's songs for cinco de mayo. If you play an instrument (my Spanish teacher played the guitar) then it would certainly be a nice addition to add musical accompaniment, if possible. If you've got no idea what to use for songs, there are so many song sites, such as this one.

3. Cinco de Mayo writing activity:

Grades: 4+

Details: This activity not only gets the children acquainted with the history behind Cinco de Mayo, but it also lets them use their creativity and imaginations. There are so many different writing activities that can be used, but the purpose is to make them do some research, learn new facts, and think from a new perspective. Some writing topics may be a journal entry from a fighter during the battle on Cinco de Mayo, how the children would feel being in a position where they are facing an army so much larger than them, etc.

4. Cinco de Mayo Pictionary/Bingo:

Grades: 3 - 6

Details: This isn't so much geared towards familiarizing children with Cinco de Mayo in itself, but it is indeed a good way to get them to begin to learn the language. Start by introducing them to a list of Spanish words and having them work on recognizing them. A sample list can be found here. Then you can use these words to play Pictionary or bingo, ensuring that they get used to using and recognizing words. This is great for preparing younger children to learn a foreign language as well as getting them into the spirit of the holiday.

5. Cinco de Mayo Reenactment:

Grades: 5+

Details: This works best in a smaller class, but it can be done with a large class, too. Divide the class into half and these will be the two different armies (or, if you want to be more accurate, put three quarters of the class on one army and one quarter in the other). Each army needs to elect a general to fill that role. Then, let the battles begin. This can be accomplished in any sort of way. You can have some sort of physical battle (my class did something similar with throwing wads of paper at each other) or you can have a role of dice or whatever. To add an extra element, you can always stretch this out for a couple of days and encourage the students to write journals from the point of view of the soldier and ask them to come up with a background for them and everything.