Cinco De Mayo: Learn and Celebrate in Style

May 5^th has a very special significance when it comes to celebrating the Hispanic heritage. It is a day of special celebration and it is called Cinco De Mayo. Many schools are realizing with the ever-growing awareness of other cultures within our communities, that celebrating and educating our children is truly the way to foster friendships and appreciation for other cultures.

There are many ways that we can celebrate Cinco de Mayo both in and out of the classroom. Implementing but a few of these ideas can take an ordinary day and turn it into a day of learning for another culture and quite frankly can make it a special day of fun as well.

Tips for creating a super Cinco De Mayo Celebration:

Decorate your classroom, home or learning environment with festive colors and decorations. Using items such as the Flag of Mexico, and discussing and learning about the major cities and areas in Mexico add to a better understanding of our friends from the south. Flags in all their glory with information about Mexico can be found on several sites, as well as sites which explain in easy to understand terms about the holiday and those who enjoy it's heritage. Though this holiday is not celebrated in Mexico and is primarily a holiday enjoyed in the US, it is an opportunity to share a heritage with students that they might not otherwise be as aware of. The history of Cinco De Mayo can be found on vivacincodemayo.com, which though a bit older in focus has information that can easily be adapted for nearly any age group.

In this day and age it is easy to use the Internet for learning fun in a different way. One site, which has an interesting interactive game about Cinco De Mayo, is apples4theteacher, a site that works hard at making learning fun. The word search found there is interesting for students of any age and is one that will gather a crowd when played.

Kaboose.com has a wide array of interesting facts, fun and activities for kids and would be an excellent source of extra worksheets for any classroom situation. And if you require more online fun, try this untimed Map of Mexico puzzle. It's actually fun for a wide range of ages.