Part of the Geographic Education and Technology Program's collection of lesson plans.

Mexico (Mini Unit)

Pat Sloan/Mary Sullivan

Table of Contents: Grade: K-1

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Location and Climate
The learner will: Families and Celebrations
The learner will: Basic Needs
The learner will: Art and Music
The learner will:

TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Location and Climate
The area of Mexico is over 761,000 square miles. It is about 1/5 the size of the United States. The capital is Mexico City, which is the world's second largest city after Tokyo, Japan. The population of Mexico City in 1990 was 20,207,00. The population of Mexico in 1990 was 88,335,000. (Compare this with 250,372,00 for the U.S. remembering that Mexico is only one-fifth the size.) The people of Mexico are descendants of the Aztec and Mayan Indians and many other Indian groups, and the Spanish conquerors. Today, Mexico is approximately 30% Indian, 10% Spanish, and 60% mixture of Indian and Spanish, which is called Mestizo. The official language of Mexico is Spanish; however, a variety of Indian languages are also spoken. The currency used in Mexico is the peso; one peso equals 100 centavos (cents).

Mexico has great geographical diversity. The Sierra Madre (mountain range) is an extension of the Rocky Mountains of the United States. Mountains extend more than halfway down the length of Mexico and back up the other side. Their elevations reach more than 6,000 feet, forming highlands of the Tierra Fria (cold lands). Between the mountain range lies a large wide plateau. The central plateaus and some parts of the highlands are between 3,000 and 6,000 feet above sea level. This area is called the Tierra Templada (temperate lands). The Tierra Caliente (hot lands) are the lowlands area, which borders the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Families and Celebrations
Mexican families are very close. It is not uncommon for more than one family to stay in the same house or apartment. Usually these families are relatives, often aunts and uncles with their children and also grandparents. We call this type of family the extended family. It includes relatives who live with you but are not in your immediate family (mother, father, sister, brother).

To help identify families, Mexican children take their father's last name as their middle name, and their mother's maiden name as their last name.

Members of Mexican families all have responsibilities. They must all work to help support the family. The children work for extra money after school and sometimes they have to drop out of school so they can earn more money to help out. Most Mexican families are not very rich. They need for everyone to help so they can buy food and pay for housing. Because there are usually little children in the home, some of the older children have to stay at home and take care of the younger ones and take care of the house. That way the older members of the family can go to work to make money for food. They all work together to help take care of each other.

In the same manner, Mexican families enjoy having fun together. Mexican people celebrate the holidays in their homes with families and friends. They all enjoy preparing for the celebrations and enjoy taking part in the festivities.

Basic Needs (Food, Clothing, Shelter)
Corn is the basic food of the Mexican people. From it we get cornmeal and corn oil. The main use of corn is to make tortillas. Corn can be dried and kept for a long time. The corn husks are used for cattle feed. Corn was domesticated by Indians in the Tehuacan Valley of Central Mexico as early as 7000 years ago. Other foods given to the world from Mexico are chocolate, tomatoes, vanilla, pumpkins, avocados and chilies.

Most Mexicans eat beans for protein and use less meat than Americans. Meat is expensive. Flour tortillas are served with most meals, like bread is served with meals in the United States. Tortillas are flat cakes that are baked on a hot pan. The tortillas are often filled with cheese, beans or other vegetables.

Tell the children that meals in Mexico are a little different from ours. They eat an early breakfast, which is a sweet bread with milk, coffee, or chocolate. Next, they eat a second breakfast around 9:00 A.M. In the city people eat lunch around 11:30. Explain that the main meal is eaten in the middle of the afternoon between 2:00 P.M. and 5:30 P.M. Another little snack is eaten by the children between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. Each meal has a different Spanish name. Ask the children how that compares with the meals and snacks we eat in America.

Art and Music
Mexican art has been influenced by the Mayan and Aztec and other Indians, the Spanish and other people of Europe. Geographic influences are especially important since Mexico is a country of mountains. For this reason, many villages are remote and their crafts have a unique character of that region.

Artists from Mexico have developed bold and colorful murals that illustrate their way of life and the legends of the country. Mexico is a country full of bold colors and handmade arts and crafts. Diego Rivera was a great Mexican artist. As a boy he drew on everything, even walls. He later became one of the greatest muralist of all the world.

REFERENCES

ACTIVITIES

    Location and Climate

  1. Cut and Paste Mexico

    Families and Celebrations

  2. Children of the World
  3. Family Roles and Responsibilities
  4. Mexican Flag Bulletin Board
  5. El Grito
  6. Counting in Spanish
  7. Christmas in Mexico
  8. Names in Mexico

    Basic Needs

  9. Mexican Foods
  10. Mexican Doughnuts
  11. Mexican Clothing
  12. Mexican Houses

    Arts and Music

  13. Mexican Mural
  14. Make a Rhythm Instrument
  15. Festival Mask
  16. Ojo de Dios

ACTIVITY 1 Cut-and-Paste Mexico

Overview

Students will gain a sense of the size of Mexico relative to the United States and to Florida by cutting and pasting Mexico into the United States and by cutting and pasting Florida into Mexico. (geography, thinking skills, motor skills, math, art, reading, writing)

Materials

Procedures

  1. Gather the children around the globe. Have a student point out and verbally describe the location of the North and South Poles. Have another student point out and verbally describe the location of the United States. Another student should locate and verbally describe the location of Florida (be sure to show east and west), and have still another student point out the location of the equator and tell what it is. As each child is locating the area on the globe, have another volunteer point to the written word on the vocabulary chart.
  2. Tell the class that the country they are going to be learning about next is located south of the United States and that it touches the United States border. Tell them that it is also west of Florida. Ask if a volunteer might point to a country that it could be. When he/she does, repeat: Is this country south of the United States? Is this country west of Florida? Does it border the United States? Is there any other country that does those things? Does anyone know the name of this country? (If it has not already been named.) Write the word Mexico on the vocabulary chart.
  3. Move to a class map of North America. Have a volunteer point to Mexico. Ask the students which is larger, the United States or Mexico. Let's do an experiment to find out. About how many Mexicos do you think will fit inside the United States? Write their estimates on the board, with their names beside them. Tell the class that we will use the word approximately. Explain that this word means just about or almost. Have the students repeat the word as you write on the tablet.
  4. Pass out the map of the United States with Mexico on the border along with the extra Mexicos. Have the students color the United States green and Mexico brown with colored pencils or markers. Have them color and cut out as many Mexicos as they need to fill the area of the United States. Tell the children that we call the land on a map the area. Write the word on the vocabulary chart.
  5. Have the students cut out the rest of the United States and glue it on a piece of blue construction paper with a sentence strip attached to the bottom. Each student should copy from the board, onto the sentence strip at the bottom of their map: Mexico is approximately times smaller than the area of the United States.

Extension

ACTIVITY 2 Children of the World

Overview

The activity introduces students to similarities and differences between family life in Mexico and their own lives. (vocabulary, cultures, classifying, critical thinking, comparisons)

Materials

Procedure

  1. Explain a little about Mexico's family life from the background information. Tell the children that you are going to read them a story about Maria Elena, a little Mexican girl. Ask them to compare some of the things that Maria Elena does to some of the things they do.
  2. Read the story to the class. (Any story about Mexican life will do. This one is especially good.) When the story is complete, make a two-column chart on the board. Head the top of one Similarities (alike) and the other Differences. Be sure to write similarities on the vocabulary chart and tell the class that it means things that are alike or the same. Write differences on the vocabulary chart and explain that the word means things that are not the same.
  3. Ask the children to tell what they heard in the story that was like things we do in the United States. Write these things on the board under the correct column. Continue with things that were alike and things that were different. (Example: "We start school at 8:30 a.m. and get out at 2:30 p.m., while Elena's school goes from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., or 2:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.", would go under differences. If someone said "We both go to school," that would go under similarities.)

Extension

ACTIVITY 3 Family Roles and Responsibilities

Overview

Students learn about the roles and responsibilities of members of a Brazilian family through the book Hill of Fire. (Comparisons, vocabulary, reading, writing).

Materials

Procedure

  1. Read the story to the class. Discuss the role of each family member. The father is a farmer who works every day to keep up his farm. The mother cooks, cleans the house, and takes care of Pablo. Pablo attends school, and when he is not in school, he helps his father on the farm.
  2. Have the children tell how that compares with their families. Have each child make a booklet with a separate page for each member of his/her immediate family. On each page the student writes one sentence that tells what the main role of that family member is. Then the student draws a picture to illustrate it. Include a cover that says MY FAMILY'S ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.
  3. Place these booklets on the reading table so that each student has a chance to read the others. Also place Hill of Fire on the reading table (it's an easy book). This story is also available in video from Reading Rainbow and has a wonderful explanation of volcanoes and of what is inside the earth.

ACTIVITY 4 Mexican Flag Bulletin Board

Overview

Students will make a Mexican flag bulletin board to use for displaying work and for playing the game "pin the Coat of Arms on the Flag." (listening, critical thinking, recall sequences, art, gross motor skill)

Materials

Procedure

  1. Tell the students that you are going to read them a story about a child whose parents came from Mexico. Have them listen to the story to find out what Enrico's problem was and how his father helped him solve it.
  2. Read the story. Ask the following questions:
    "Who was Enrico going to give a presentation to?"
    "Why was he sad?"
    "What props did his father have for him?"
    "What game did the children in Mexico play using their flag?"
  3. Write the children's responses on the board. Tell the class that they are going to make a Mexican flag bulletin board to use to display their Mexican work and to try out the Mexican game that was played in the story about Enrico.
  4. Divide the class into four groups. Use cooperative learning to have children look up what the flag looks like. They must divide a bulletin board into three equal sections. Each of the three groups will cover a third of the board in colored paper. (green first, white second, red third). The fourth group is to color the flag emblem and cut out the circle. When the three stripes and their emblem are completed, allow the children to play the game.

ACTIVITY 5 El Grito

Overview

Students will make a mural comparing a celebration in Mexico with a celebration in the United States. (history, research, comparison, critical thinking, art, listening)

Materials

Teacher Background

Mexico's national holiday El Grito is celebrated on September 16. It is their Independence Day. The day is in honor of a priest named Hidalgo, who called the people to revolt against Spanish rulers. It is tradition on this day for the president of Mexico to ring the Independence Bell. It is the same bell that Hidalgo rang to call the people of Dolores together. People today still repeat the Grito de Dolores, which is the famous plea of Hidalgo. He is called the "Father of Mexican Independence." To celebrate this day, there are military parades, band concerts and fireworks.

Procedure

  1. Take the class to the library and show them how to look up information about holidays. Gather several books that might tell about Independence Day in Mexico as well as in the United States.
  2. Take the books back to your room and read them to the class. Ask the students to tell what ways El Grito is like our 4th of July. Compare the two bells that were used in each country.
  3. Have the class tell what their families do to celebrate the 4th of July. How many go to see the fireworks. Have the class make a mural of things their families do to celebrate Independence Day.

ACTIVITY 6 Counting in Spanish

Overview

Students will be introduced to Spanish number words through the book Count Your Way through Mexico. (language, history, writing, language arts)

Materials

Procedures

  1. Review the numbers 1-10 in English. Tell the class that you are going to read a story about Mexico and introduce the numbers 1-10 in Spanish. Read the story Count Your Way Through Mexico. As each Spanish number is read, write the word on the vocabulary chart. Place the English word beside it.
  2. After the story, have the students repeat the words after you as you point to them on the chart. Have the students practice using the Spanish number words in a sentence. Example: "My cat has tres kittens." Be sure each student has a chance to give a sentence orally. Have each student write five sentences using the Spanish number words.

Extensions

ACTIVITY 7 Christmas in Mexico

Overview

Students will learn how children celebrate Christmas in Mexico.

Materials

Teacher Background

Ask the children how they celebrate Christmas. List the responses on the board. Tell the children that in Mexico at Christmastime they celebrate with parties or posadas. Write the word on the vocabulary chart. Have the children repeat the word.

Tell the children that the story they are going to hear tells about a little girl's first posada. Tell them to listen to the story to find out what things the children do at a posada in Mexico.

Procedures

  1. Read Nine Days to Christmas. A Story of Mexico. Ask the children to name the members of the family in the story. List them on the board. Ask: How old do you think Ceci might be? Why do you think so? Why was she excited? What did Ceci's mother take her into the Christmastime market to buy? What made Ceci sad at the posada? What cheered her up at the end?
  2. Have the students fold a piece of drawing paper in half. Cut out the shape of Ceci's pinata. Leave the middle fold uncut. Open the paper, and have the students draw the items that were put in Ceci's pinata. Color the outside of the pinata.

Extensions

ACTIVITY 8 Names in Mexico

Overview

Students will learn how children's names in Spanish include both their father's last name and their mother's maiden name. (language, vocabulary, writing)

Materials

Procedure

  1. Tell the children that in Mexico, a child's middle name is the same as his/her father's last name, and that the child's last name is the same as his/her mother's maiden name.
  2. Tell the children to take this letter home and have their parents fill it our and return to school so that we can find out what their names would be if they were Spanish.
  3. As the letters are returned, write each child's Spanish name on a chart tablet entitled Spanish names of our class.

ACTIVITY 9 Mexican Foods

Overview

Students will make a bulletin board entitled: How Our Class Likes Mexican Foods. (vocabulary development, reading, math skills, social studies)

Materials

Procedure

  1. Ask the students what Mexican-type foods we eat in the United States. Write each of the foods on the board. Have the children tell what Mexican foods they eat at home. Write any foods on the board that have not been included in the first question.
  2. From the list of foods on the board, have each child copy his/her favorite one on a 3x5 card with his/her name on it. Be sure to include "I don't like Mexican food" as a choice.
  3. Have each child read his/her favorite food out loud and line up behind children with like foods.
  4. After everyone has read his/her card orally, have the group with the most children place their cards in the first column forming a ladder. Add a heading for that column. Continue this process with the children having the next largest group. Continue until all students have placed their cards on the bulletin board.
  5. Ask the students to look at the graph they have just made and tell what Mexican food is the favorite of their class. Which food is liked the least? How many children do not like Mexican food at all?

Extension

ACTIVITY 10 Mexican Doughnuts

Overview

Students will make Mexican Naquis (doughnuts). (vocabulary, math, cooperative learning, reading)

Materials

Each group will need:

Teacher Background

This is a deep-fried batter cake. It would be eaten for the early breakfast or as a snack.

Procedure

Pair your students for this activity. Each pair will:
  1. Measure and mix all ingredients together to form a soft dough.
  2. Add more milk mixture if necessary.
  3. Break off small ball of dough. Roll in hands and shape into tiny doughnuts, or into cigar shapes. Make as many as their dough allows.
  4. Fry doughnuts in hot deep fat at 350 degrees until brown.
  5. Drain on paper towels.
  6. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

ACTIVITY 11 Mexican Clothing

Overview

Students will dress clothespin dolls in native Mexican clothes. (art, motor skills, thinking skills, vocabulary development, language arts)

Materials

Procedure

  1. Have the class look at the pictures of their Mexican families displayed in your room and in magazines and books about Mexico that are on the reading table.
  2. Discuss what the people in the pictures are wearing. Ask the students if this type clothing is due to the temperature? The job they might be doing? Ask the class if there are some other reasons that the people might be dressed as they are and what these reasons might be? Ask the students if the clothes that the Mexican people are wearing in their pictures are much different than the clothes we wear in America today.
  3. Tell the children that traditional clothing of Mexico is worn at all festivals throughout Mexico. Show the class pictures of common items of Mexican traditional dress.
  4. Write each vocabulary word on the chart as the picture is shown, and have the students pronounce the word. The rebozo is a colorful shawl worn by women or girls. They can wear them on their heads or around their shoulders for warmth or to protect them from the sun. A rebozo can also be used to carry packages and small children. Serapes are small blankets worn over the shoulders by the men or boys. Ponchos are worn as a wrap or jacket by children and adults. They are blankets with an opening in the middle for the head. Poblanas are full, long skirts worn by women and girls. Poblanas are considered the national folk dress. They are always worn for the Mexican Hat Dance. Charro suits are worn by men and boys and by musicians on festive occasions. They include a short jacket, trousers, a white shirt, and red tie. The sombrero is worn by the men who work outside to protect them from the sun and the rain. Huaraches are leather sandals which are worn by men, women, and children. Wide sashes are worn by boys and girls and colorful beads are worn by the women and girls. Mexicans like bright colors and their clothes reflect it.
  5. Demonstrate for the class how to make and dress a clothespin doll. Have pattern pieces cut from unbleached muslin for the poncho, the rebozo, and the poblana (gathered skirt), the trousers, and the sash. Using a rounded clothespin and a pipe cleaner, form a stick doll by twisting a 5" long pipe cleaner around the neck of the clothespin. Fold arms down on each side. With a dark brown or black marker, add dot eyes and dark hair. A black yarn braid can be added to the women if you like. Use a red marker to make the mouth. Decorate the pieces of pre-cut muslin with designs and stripes. Slide the decorated muslin on the doll. Use the arms to help hold the tops down. Use the florist wire to gather the skirt or trousers and twist on waist of doll. Trousers can be colored on with a marker. Add a colorful sash.
  6. Stand the doll up on a small clump of clay. Display on a table. Keep dolls together as they are made to form a grouping.
  7. Place materials to make the dolls in a center so that children can take turns creating their own dolls.

Extensions