Teaching Little Ones about Civic Engagement

The following is a guest post by Latina mom, Monika Aldarondo. It's part of our Hispanic Heritage Month 2020 series.


I was raised to share my time, talent, and treasure with my community. I want to pass on those values. It is challenging to find ways to authentically engage in serving our community with little ones when all is well with the world, but this year, it is even harder.

That’s where connecting with organizations such as Community Impact Lab (CIL) is so helpful. The founder, Xouhoa Bowen, is a mom of young kids that has made it her mission to create opportunities for families to engage in meaningful ways to give back to our community.

My 5-year-old has been posing questions that frame our daily exploration. But last week, I posed a question: How can we share with our community? 

I knew that morning we would be spending the day participating in CIL’s school supply drive. I had posted about local school supply drives for the children of migrant workers. Xouhoa messaged me that she wanted to help. CIL had requested a list of supplies from the community for local schools. Xouhoa collected and distributed supplies from her home. Since the usual volunteer days of assembling supplies are not possible in the time of COVID-19, my son and I picked up the supplies from her porch. We brought them home to assemble into sets before driving them an hour to another group that was distributing supply-filled backpacks in San Jose and to migrant farmworker families in Salinas. 

As my son grows, I want him to witness us engaging in our community. Many of the families receiving these bags are doing the labor that allows us to stay safe and fed at home during the pandemic... and now during forest-fire-induced-smoky skies. 

Speaking of their contribution to our lives was step one. Taking actions that show how we depend on each other and must hold up our end of taking care of everyone in our community is critical. I don’t believe that a bag of supplies is equal to their contribution to us. But, we do try to find ways to give back despite the challenges of this time.

My son may not see or understand voter drives, giving to community fundraising campaigns, or calling elected officials that I engage in (yet). But he does understand that kids need supplies to create and learn. So we include him there. The rest he can witness by observing us, and we will include him more and more as he grows.

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Monika Aldarondo is a former arts educator, and current photographer and creative shape-shifter with Puerto Rican roots. She posts about her bilingual home/un-schooling journey on Instagram @librolovinmama. Her photography and creative projects can be found at laancla.com

New Titles in Heritage Journal Series: Guatemala & France

I'm so happy to share that two more titles have been released in my Heritage Journal Series! I had several requests for a heritage journal that explores Guatemalan heritage. So I wrote My Guatemalan Heritage Journal (aff) to help kids explore and document their heritage... and I had a lot of fun researching it.

**And I'm pleased to say that now through August 1st, I'll be donating a portion of the sales of My Guatemalan Heritage Journal to Save the Children for the work they are doing for the asylum-seeking families in Deming, NC.

In addition, I've started working on a series of non-Hispanic titles, starting with My French Heritage Journal. A French version will be coming out soon. And I'm working on Spanish translations of the titles that explore Hispanic heritage. So keep an eye out for these.

As with my other heritage journals, these two books contain:

• a journal cover page,
• "This journal belongs to" page,
• a map for coloring in where in Guatemala/France their family has lived,
• a page allowing children to write where their family has lived,
• a page for drawing or pasting your family's crest coat of arms,
• pages for drawing a family tree,
• a page for drawing or pasting snapshots of family members with lines for titles and captions,
• a page titled "Why I consider myself to be Guatemalan/French" with writing prompts and room to write down thoughts and answers,
• 17 journaling pages with small cultural images and fun facts from Guatemala/France, plus one blank journaling page to be reproduced as often as you like,
• 3 pages to share favorite family memories or stories with space for adding photos or drawing pictures,
• 4 pages for recording family interviews,
• 4 pages dedicated just to photos,
• 1 sketch pad page,
• and a family recipe cover page and actual recipe page.

I loved learning about some of the fascinating facts, crafts, and traditions most closely associated with these countries. For example, in the Guatemalan journal, your children/students will learn about places such as Tikal and Pacaya, as well as products like jade, cacao, and coffee. They'll read about worry dolls and huipiles, then discover the resplendent quetzal.

In my French journal, they'll read about famous landmarks like the Arc de Triomphe and Louvre, as well as the traditional game of boules and the popular Tour de France. They'll also be introduced to French cuisine and famous people.

All these and so much more are found within the pages of these journals. They are here to guide your children as they explore their family heritage and provide a place to record their discoveries. These are designed to be family treasures to be passed down from one generation to the next.

You can find a complete list of all the titles in my Heritage Journal Series here.

And to see some sample pages, take a look at this post that I wrote for the launch of the series.

If you've purchased or plan to purchase any of these titles, I would like to ask that you please, please, please consider writing an honest review on Amazon. Those reviews help my journals show up to families searching for these titles. Thank you!

Latino American Resources from PBS Learning Media

I share a lot of resources on MommyMaestra for elementary students, but this week I'm going to focus on older children. And I'm starting off with one of the online education portals that you may already be familiar with: PBS Learning Media.

A few years ago, PBS ran a special documentary series: Latino Americans. You may have watched it. If not, it is an EXCELLENT media resource for your Latino Studies lessons at home or classroom. You can find it here. (aff link)

(There's an awesome book written by Ray Suarez to accompany the series, but more about that in my next post.)

A snippet of a larger lesson plan about Latinos at the Ballot Box on PBS Learning Media

PBS Learning Media also has a fair collection of themed multimedia lesson plans for students in 4th through 12th grade to accompany the documentary. But before you ask, many of the lessons can be used independently. I love that the lesson plans include so many primary texts and well-researched historical sources, as well as downloadable materials for student use. The activities require critical thinking about each subject, some of which include:

• Who Are Latinos?
• Identity, Immigration and Economics: Involuntary Deportations of the 1930s
• Digging at the Roots of Your Family Tree
• Stereotypes vs. Statistics (grades 4 - 8) AND/OR (grades 9 - 12)
• Latinos at the Ballot Box
• Stories of Arrival
• What's In a Name?
• Students Rising
• Organizing the Farm Worker Movement
• Extranjeros & Expansion
• Puerto Rican Perspectives
• Cuban Exodus
• Journey from Mexico
• The Mexican-American War
• Spanish-American War

And there are quite a few biographies, too.

These are quality materials that should not be overlooked by teachers and parents. If you are teaching a multicultural studies class to your children or students, this is a must-have.

Those of you who must contend with Common Core and state standards, each lesson plan also has a list of the standards that are met.

TEACHER BONUS: All of these lessons are Google Classroom friendly and may be assigned directly from the lesson plans.

To take a look at all of the lesson plans they have available on this subject, click here.