Every year, my 4th grade students study Colorado history. I always have fun with this unit because I love watching my students become excited as they learn how diverse their home state really is.

About 70% of the students in my school are Hispanic. To many of them, being Hispanic in Colorado means parades down Colfax Avenue on Cinco de Mayo and traveling to Mexico on school vacations to visit family. They aren't aware that Colorado was once part of Mexico, and, in fact, was part of Spain before that. So I created a flipchart on Colorado's Hispanic Heritage to help them learn more about Colorado's diverse heritage and history.

My students are fascinated when they read that the first Spaniard to explore Colorado was here 80 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Learning facts like this gives my Hispanic students a greater sense of pride for their home in Colorado. Here are some of the other facts my students find interesting:

  • The first Spanish explorers in Colorado were actually searching for gold.
  • Many cities, mountains, and rivers have Spanish names, such as Colorado (Color Rojo = Color Red), San Luis Valley (Saint Luis), Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Blood of Christ), Las Animas County, and cities such as Alamosa, Pueblo, Del Norte, Monte Vista, Escalante (after Father Escalante)
  • In 1983, Federico Pena was elected the first Hispanic mayor of Denver.

I use this flipchart as a starting point for further cultural studies. The next step is to have my students research other ethnic groups that have large populations in Colorado and then we trace their histories and contributions. It is exciting to see our minority populations get excited about sharing their cultures. Over the years, I have had students share their information in different ways. They have created PowerPoint slide shows and web pages, but the most fun was being able to create placemarks in Google Earth and watch the Earth spin from one place to another, showing everyone how far we have all traveled to reach Colorado.

Google Earth is terrific way to bring the world into your classroom without the expense of a field trip. My students can virtually visit all the places first discovered by early Spanish explorers, and share with each other the towns and countries their families came from originally.

Activities like these build stronger communities within the classroom and the school. If your school doesn't have a large Hispanic population, look around your city or town. Is there a Germantown or Chinatown? Who were the first settlers in your area? Have fun exploring the cultural diversity in your area!

Here are some of the websites and articles my students and I use during our studies:

 
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