Smithsonian Learning Lab

Three Kings Day: Celebrating Tradition

This Learning Lab from the National Museum of the American Latino highlights the significance of tradition by exploring the Three Kings Day holiday. Latino communities in the United States continue these traditions. In this Learning Lab, after exploring different festive Latino Three Kings Day traditions, participants can engage with hands-on activities related to science and art. The idea behind the Three Kings Day Learning Kit is to reflect on the significance of tradition in Latino culture and emphasize the role individuals play in its preservation and evolution. The hands-on activities promote the museum’s idea that latinidad is diverse, dynamic, and inclusive – traditions live on through participation!

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Yo Soy/ I am… Creating a Community Art Piece

This learning kit from the National Museum of the American Latino highlights five important Latinos(as) who have worked for their local communities and are featured in the exhibition <a href="https://latino.si.edu/exhibitions/presente" target="_blank">Presente! A Latino History of the United States.</a> The learning kit provides an activity sheet and steps to create a community art piece.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Voices y Valor: Latinas in the U.S. Army

This Learning Lab features stories of Latinas in the U.S. Army and spotlight five Latinas that span different military eras and that have served the United States Army in various capacities. The Learning Lab collection includes additional resources and classroom activities such as creating object biographies of Smithsonian Collections and additional questions for class discussion using Project Zero's Thinking Routines.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Community Murals: Art on Walls

The National Museum of the American Latino is proud to partner with museums to hold events and meet the nation’s diverse Latino communities across the country. At these events we invite local artists to paint Community Art Walls based on the Latino culture and traditions that are local to their region. These Community Art Walls then travel to Washington, D.C. to be temporarily displayed in the Molina Family Latino Gallery’s General Motors Learning Lounge. This space hopes to inspire visitors to the gallery to explore more about Latino culture and is a chance to be a window to the nation. After they are displayed, we return them to be enjoyed by their community. Take a virtual tour through these murals, learn about the artists, and about Chicana Muralist Judy Baca, view Smithsonian collections, and take a hand at designing a sketch for your own mural.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Collidoscope: De la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective Learning Kit

The traveling exhibition, "Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective," sponsored in part by the National Museum of the American Latino showcases three decades of the brothers’ work. In this virtual exhibition you can explore the brothers’ work through their voices. This serves as the accompanying learning tool kit with primary source resources, background information, and hands-on activities.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Sylvia Mendez, Latinas Talk Latinas

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino and National Museum of American History's video Latinas Talk Latinas, Margaret Salazar-Porzio Talks About Sylvia Mendez: From Classrooms to History Books. After watching the video, which is located in the second tile of this collection, please return to this page to learn more about the objects and resources we have in our digital collection as well as additional information that will help you further explore the topics and themes presented in the video. Sylvia Mendez has dedicated her life to bringing awareness of discrimination in schools. Her activism began as a young child attending school in Southern California. During the 1940s, her family joined others to fight for fair schooling for non-white children.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Luisa Capetillo, Latinas Talk Latinas

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino and National Museum of American History's video Latinas Talk Latinas, Taína Caragol Talks About Luisa Capetillo: Breaking the Mold. After watching the video, which is located in the second tile of this collection, please return to this page to learn more about the objects and resources we have in our digital collection as well as additional information that will help you further explore the topics and themes presented in the video. Luisa Capetillo was a feminist and a labor organizer. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Luisa Capetillo dared to dress as a man at a time when women were not wearing suits or even pants! It was her intellect that made her a fearless labor organizer.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Graciela, Latinas Talk Latinas

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino and National Museum of American History's video Latinas Talk Latinas, Ashley Mayor Talks About Graciela: The Power of Music. After watching the video, which is located in the second tile of this collection, please return to this page to learn more about the objects and resources we have in our digital collection as well as additional information that will help you further explore the topics and themes presented in the video. Graciela helped popularize Mambo music during the 1950s in the New York City Latin music scene. Her unparalleled voice allowed the trailblazing Afro-Cubana to use music to break color lines and stereotypes.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Jovita González, Latinas Talk Latinas

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino and National Museum of American History's video Latinas Talk Latinas, Cynthia Vidaurri Talks About Jovita González: Documenting a Community. After watching the video, which is located in the second tile of this collection, please return to this page to learn more about the objects and resources we have in our digital collection as well as additional information that will help you further explore the topics and themes presented in the video. Jovita González was one of the earliest folklorists to document the border between the United States and Mexico as its own cultural zone. She wrote several groundbreaking books with innovative documenting and writing techniques.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Jovita Idar, Latinas Talk Latinas

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino and National Museum of American History's video Latinas Talk Latinas, Gilda Mirós: From the Journalist's Desk. After watching the video, which is located in the second tile of this collection, please return to this page to learn more about the objects and resources we have in our digital collection as well as additional information that will help you further explore the topics and themes presented in the video. Jovita Idar, recently depicted in coinage as part of the American Women Quarters Program, was a courageous journalist and educator. She wrote about injustices and promoted Latino civil rights from her Texas home.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Gilda Mirós, Latinas Talk Latinas

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino and National Museum of American History's video Latinas Talk Latinas, Gilda Mirós: From the Journalist's Desk. After watching the video, which is located in the second tile of this collection, please return to this page to learn more about the objects and resources we have in our digital collection as well as additional information that will help you further explore the topics and themes presented in the video. Gilda Mirós is an entertainer, radio personality, and TV journalist that has covered major events in U.S. history from the reporter's desk. She has been an active member of the Latino community, championing Latinas and Latinos and ensuring the community has access to the important news of the day.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Nuestras Voces: Cocuyo Lights the Way

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino's book Cocuyo Lights the Way created in collaboration with Capstone and written by Danielle Smith-Llera and illustrated by Juan Manuel Moreno. In the summer of 1493, eleven-year-old Cocuyo is eager to find her place within her Taíno community on the island of Quisqueya. But in less than a year, her home, her family and friends, and her daily life will be forever changed by the arrival of Europeans. As Cocuyo learns more and more about the strangers who arrive by sea—and what they want from Quisqueya and its people—she looks for ways to help her community. At first, the Taíno try to befriend the strangers, but later they must protect themselves from invasion, disease, and enslavement. As the Taíno resist and survive, Cocuyo becomes determined to help preserve the culture that she loves. In diary format, the Nuestras Voces series profiles inspiring characters and honors the joys, challenges, and outcomes of Latino experiences. This Learning Lab helps identify objects in the Smithsonian's collection that could be found in Cocuyo Lights the Way. They are grouped into themes for easier viewing. What is in a collection? It has objects that were used or worn by someone. Examples of objects include articles, photographs, artifacts, and videos. Objects can be anything from a baseball to a piece of clothing. It could even be a space shuttle! Objects help museums tell more complete stories. Museums also take care of objects. That way, future visitors can see them, too. Each Learning Lab includes a thinking routine. They are from the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero. These questions can help create discussion around the stories and objects here. This Learning Lab can serve middle school and high school students. Especially if they are interested in Latino culture. It can help with a Spanish project exploring family traditions. For more information on the Nuestras Voces series, please visit www.latino.si.edu.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Nuestras Voces: Wishing on Star With Estrella

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino's book Wishing on a Star With Estrella created in collaboration with Capstone and written by Vanessa Ramos and illustrated by Eugenia Nobati. Sixth grade is hard enough, but Mexican American Selena Estrella Herrera has to do it in a new town. Her family has moved to El Paso to help care for her grandfather (who seems not to want them there and insists on speaking only Spanish). One upside to being at a new school, though, is that she can finally leave behind her embarrassing obsession with musical megastar Selena—whom her parents named her after even though she can’t sing. She renames herself *Strella, avoids her grouchy grandfather, and tries to move on with her life. Then *Strella starts a National History Day project. The topic her team chooses? Selena. Can *Strella embrace her Tejano heritage and her old love of Selena and still become her own person? And will she ever discover what her own gifts are? In diary format, the Nuestras Voces series profiles inspiring characters from yesterday and today, and honors the joys, challenges, and outcomes of Latino experiences. This Learning Lab helps identify objects in the Smithsonian's collection that could be found in Wishing on a Star With Estrella. They are grouped into themes for easier viewing. What is in a collection? It has objects that were used or worn by someone. Examples of objects include articles, photographs, artifacts, and videos. Objects can be anything from a baseball to a piece of clothing. It could even be a space shuttle! Objects help museums tell more complete stories. Museums also take care of objects. That way, future visitors can see them, too. Each Learning Lab includes a thinking routine. They are from the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero. These questions can help create discussion around the stories and objects here. This Learning Lab can serve middle school and high school students. Especially if they are interested in Latino culture. It can help with a Spanish project exploring family traditions. For more information on the Nuestras Voces series, please visit www.latino.si.edu.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Celebrating the Holidays with Poinsettias

This learning lab collection explores the origins and history of the Cuetlaxóchitl (phonetic spelling cuet-lax-o-chitl) plant. Find out interesting facts about the plant that we have all come to know as the Christmas plant. Discover the legend behind the plant and the science behind the magical color. Then, try your handicraft skills out and make your own poinsettia plant using materials found at home or in the classroom. The learning lab includes additional resources and videos to continue exploring.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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¡Descubra! Breaking Barriers in Space

Latinas and Latinos have had a long legacy of contributing to space exploration from Arturo Campos, an electrical engineer that helped solve the power crisis on the Apollo 13 mission and Franklin Chang Diaz and Ellen Ochoa, the first Latino and Latina astronauts respectively, to today and the team of three (3) Latinas Diana Trujillo, Christina Hernandez, and Clara O’Farrell who helped lead the Mars Perserverance Rover Team. On the International Space Station, astronauts like Frank Rubio continue to pursue answers to science's greatest questions. Explore this Learning Lab collection to learn more about these space pioneers through Smithsonian objects, exhibitions, articles, and video resources. Go a step further and enjoy exploring space through our Create-It activities for elementary, middle school, and high school students.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Nuestras Voces: On the Home Front with Valentina

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino's book On the Home Front with Valentina created in collaboration with Capstone and written by Claudia Oviedo and illustrated by Juan Manuel Moreno. In 1940, eleven-year-old Valentina lives in El Paso, Texas, with her Mami, Papi, and two older brothers, Hugo and Kiki. Valentina loves reading and learning, and she hopes to go to college and become a teacher and writer someday. Her brother Hugo was in college, but with World War II looming—and Kiki eager to join the military—Hugo decides to join the National Guard with Kiki. Trying to help her family navigate wartime changes, Valentina takes on a lot more at home. She writes to her brothers, keeps her parents updated on news about the war, and helps with the war effort on the home front—all for a country she’s not so sure accepts Mexican American families like her own. In diary format, the Nuestras Voces series profiles inspiring characters and honors the joys, challenges, and outcomes of Latino experiences. This Learning Lab helps identify objects in the Smithsonian's collection that could be found in On the Home Front with Valentina. They are grouped into themes for easier viewing. What is in a collection? It has objects that were used or worn by someone. Examples of objects include articles, photographs, artifacts, and videos. Objects can be anything from a baseball to a piece of clothing. It could even be a space shuttle! Objects help museums tell more complete stories. Museums also take care of objects. That way, future visitors can see them, too. Each Learning Lab includes a thinking routine. They are from the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero. These questions can help create discussion around the stories and objects here. This Learning Lab can serve middle school and high school students. Especially if they are interested in Latino culture. It can help with a Spanish project exploring family traditions. For more information on the Nuestras Voces series, please visit www.latino.si.edu.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Nuestras Voces: Paloma's Song for Puerto Rico

This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino's book Paloma’s Song for Puerto Rico created in collaboration with Capstone written by Adriana Erin Rivera and illustrated by Eugenia Nobati. It is 1898, and twelve-year-old Paloma lives in Puerto Rico with her Papi, Mami, and little brother, Jorge. They are coffee farmers, and Paloma loves the chickens and fruit trees that she helps to care for. She also loves music―the song of the coquí frogs who sing her to sleep, and the melodies from Papi’s tiple guitar. But Paloma’s world begins to change when war arrives on Puerto Rico’s shores. What will happen to their culture, the island? As Paloma and her family navigate changes they can’t control, they hold tightly to each other and hope for a better future. In diary format, the Nuestras Voces series profiles inspiring characters and honors the joys, challenges, and outcomes of Latino experiences. This Learning Lab helps identify objects in the Smithsonian's collection that could be found in Paloma's Song for Puerto Rico. They are grouped into themes for easier viewing. What is in a collection? It has objects that were used or worn by someone. Examples of objects include articles, photographs, artifacts, and videos. Objects can be anything from a baseball to a piece of clothing. It could even be a space shuttle! Objects help museums tell more complete stories. Museums also take care of objects. That way, future visitors can see them, too. Each Learning Lab includes a thinking routine. They are from the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero. These questions can help create discussion around the stories and objects here. This Learning Lab can serve middle school and high school students. Especially if they are interested in Latino culture. It can help with a Spanish project exploring family traditions. For more information on the Nuestras Voces series, please visit www.latino.si.edu.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Latino Patriots in American Military History | Patriotas Latinos en la Historia Militar Estadounidense

This bilingual publication highlights ten Latino patriots and spans the American War of Independence to the Vietnam War. The heroes presented are merely a small group of the thousands of Latinos who have served in our armed forces with distinction. The publication is meant to enhance awareness among all Americans of the positive contributions that the Latino community has made and continues to make to U.S. society. Resources serve grades 7/8 and 9/10 social studies, U.S. History, AP Military History, Spanish Language courses and life-long learners. They include critical thinking, writing, language arts, visual arts, historical inquiry activities. Each war era presents biographies and interesting facts on each of the patriots, a lesson plan for each era, two extension activities (one for 7/8th grade and one for 10/11th grade), and five handouts. Wars and topics covered include: <ul><li>American War of Independence</li><li>Texas Revolution and the Mexican American War</li><li>Manifest Destiny</li><li>U.S. Expansionism</li><li>Civil War</li><li>World War I</li><li>World War II</li><li>Korean War</li><li>Vietnam War</li></ul> Also included in the publication are teacher and student resources, as well as the listing of Latino Medal of Honor recipients. Please note that Captain Humbert “Rocky” Roque Versace, Jr. was erroneously omitted from this elite group of men at the time of printing (2008). Captain Versace was born on July 2, 1937. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and began his tour in Vietnam in May of 1962. During a mission in October 1963, he was taken Prisoner of War by the Viet Cong forces and was listed as Missing in Action. His fluency in English, French, and Vietnamese aided him during his capture. After more than two years, he was executed by his captors. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by President George W. Bush on July 8, 2002, making him the first Army POW to receive the Medal of Honor.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Day of the Dead Learning Kit

El Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead is a celebration to honor and commemorate the cycle of life and the lives of the recently departed. This Pre-Columbian celebration has been observed in Mexico since before the arrival of the Spanish. Although many cultures see death as a cause for sadness rather than celebration, the cultures that observe el Día de los Muertos view death as a part of life. This is also a special celebration among some Native American and Mexican American communities in the United States. The National Museum of the American Latino has created this resource as a guide to learn more about the Day of the Dead. Use this Learning Lab as a starting off point to celebrate with your community, family, and/or students. Our on-line learning kit includes general information and the history of the tradition. Smithsonian collections, video resources, music, and hands-on activities for in-school or at-home learning are also included. This Learning Lab collection also includes links to a special exhibit and mural gallery on the Healing Uvalde Mural Project from Texas.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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SLC Day of the Dead Bilingual Curriculum-Based Resources

The cultural online programs and resources developed by The Smithsonian Latino Center (SLC) featuring Dia de los Muertos represent groundbreaking efforts by the Smithsonian to promote a deeper appreciation for Latino heritage and our connections to the ancestral past. In addition to its online festival, complete with bilingual interactive online resources based on Smithsonian scholarly research, is a vehicle for the exploration of this traditional practice which has become a phenomenon of popular American culture today. The online programming is in part a collaboration with Michigan State University (MSU) and other key community partners across the country. Generous support for the Smithsonian Latino Center's bilingual digital educational resources provided by the following Education Sponsors: Target and The Walt Disney Company.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Cerámica de los Ancestros: Central America's Past Revealed

This bilingual collection features activities, publications, and videos for middle and high school students as well as scholars and life-long learners on Central American archaeology and history through ceramics from 1000 BC to the present. For thousands of years, Central America has been home to vibrant civilizations, each with unique, sophisticated ways of life, value systems, and arts. The ceramics these peoples left behind, combined with recent archaeological discoveries, help tell the stories of these dynamic cultures and their achievements. Cerámica de los Ancestros examines seven regions representing distinct Central American cultural areas that are today part of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Spanning the period from 1000 BC to the present, the ceramics featured, selected from the National Museum of the American Indian's collection of more than 12,000 pieces from the region, are augmented with significant examples of work in gold, jade, shell, and stone. These objects illustrate the richness, complexity, and dynamic qualities of the Central American civilizations that were connected to peoples in South America, Mesoamerica, and the Caribbean through social and trade networks sharing knowledge, technology, artworks, and systems of status and political organization. This collection features the past exhibition, Cerámica de los Ancestros: Central America's Past Revealed, a collaboration of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian Latino Center.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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Our Journeys Our Stories: Portraits of Latino Achievement | Nuestros Caminos Nuestras Historias: Retratos del Logro Latino

This bilingual resource serves middle and high school teachers and students as well as lifelong learners. Our Journeys/Our Stories: Portraits of Latino Achievement explores the diversity of the Latino experience in its portrayal of a group of extraordinary men and women and the stories they tell. Like the exhibition, this companion book combines personal narratives, portraits, and dichos, or traditional sayings, to provide an inspirational, illustrated anthology of Latino accomplishments across generations. People of all ages and backgrounds will be engaged by these inspirational stories and portraits of Latinos who have made significant contributions to American life. By telling the stories of leaders in the Latino community who display outstanding character traits, such as dedication, discipline, perseverance, integrity, passion, responsibility, courage, and commitment, this anthology provides multiple views of achievement that will motivate many other Americans to realize their own dreams.Este recurso bilingüe sirve a estudiantes de secundaria y preparatoria (high school) y a aprendices de todas edades.Nuestros Caminos/Nuestras Historias: Retratos del Logro Latino explora la diversidad de la vivencia latina al presentar de un grupo de hombres y mujeres extraordinarios y las historias que ellos nos cuentan. Así como la exhibición, esta publicación complementaria combina anécdotas personales, retratos y relatos orales tradicionales para ofrecer una antología ilustrada de inspiración sobre los logros de los latinos a través de distintas generaciones. Personas de todas las edades y orígenes se sentirán atraídas por estas historias y retratos de latinos que contribuyeron de manera significativa a la vida estadounidense. Al contar la historia de los líderes de la comunidad latina que demuestran características sobresalientes como dedicación, disciplina, perseverancia, integridad, pasión, responsabilidad, valor y compromiso, esta antología ofrece múltiples facetas del logro que motivará a muchos otros estadounidenses a materializar sus propios sueños.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

5

Panamanian Passages | Pasajes Panameños

This collection highlights the science, geography, cultural contributions, including those of native peoples of Panama, and the 20th century history of Panama. This includes the science and geography of the Isthmus, the Panama Canal, the U.S. in Panama and US expansionism and cross-cultural exchange. It will give students an opportunity to learn an overview of U.S. history in Latin America and Panamanian contributions to world history. The collection includes bilingual (English and Spanish) activities for middle school and high school students including a scavenger hunt like worksheet and discussion questions for group conversations or individual essay statements that focus on historical inquiry-based learning. Esta colección bilingüe resalta la ciencia, la geografía y las contribuciones culturales, incluyendo las de comunidades indígenas y las de la historia del siglo 20, de Panamá. La colección incluye la ciencia y la geografía del istmo, el Canal de Panamá, el expansionismo estadounidense y los intercambios culturales entre ambos. Les dará a los estudiantes una oportunidad de aprender un resumen de la historia estadounidense en Latinoamérica y las contribuciones panameñas a la historia mundial. La colección incluye actividades bilingües para estudiantes de secundaria y preparatoria incluyendo una hoja de ejercicios con un juego de tesoro y preguntas de discusión en grupo. También incluye preguntas para ensayos.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

6

Southern Identity: Contemporary Argentine Art

These bilingual (English/Spanish) resources feature activities related to Argentine culture through the lens of contemporary art for families, middle school, and high school students. This digital collection is from an exhibition with the same name, organized by the Smithsonian Latino Center with Argentina’s Secretariat of Culture. Southern Identity presented an overview of the major movements and trends in Argentina’s national art scene since 1948 and is organized in four sections featuring political art, landscapes, national identities and abstraction. It was the largest survey of Argentine contemporary art ever organized in the United States and included paintings, drawings, sculptures, video art, photography and prints representing the work of artists working in Buenos Aires and throughout Argentina’s provinces. Southern Identity was part of the public program and exhibition series Argentina at the Smithsonian 2010 that commemorated Argentina’s bicentennial.

Smithsonian Latino Museum

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