Model Curriculum and Grade Level Biographies | Additional Online Biographies for K-3
Web Based Projects | K-5 | 4-6 |6-8 | 9-12 | Online Links
 Service Projects | NEW Free Online Videos | Recommended Books
 

 
 March 31, 2008

In honor of Cesar Chavez Day 2008, Helen F. Chavez (wife of Cesar Chavez) is encouraging schools and communities to start service-learning projects to "step up for peace and social justice in your community."  Click on her name above to read her current letter to your class.

Perhaps some of our classes could participate in activities that would use non-violent, democratic processes to send messages to our state government about funding education at a level that will ensure ALL students in California receive a high quality education.  This page from the Cesar Chavez Foundation provides resources for students who want to take action to change their communities.

The Cesar Chavez Foundation website also has excellent educational resources, including new Cesar Chavez Service-Learning resource guides and Outstanding Grade Level Toolkits.

In August of 2000 the state of California  established an official state holiday to honor Latino labor leader César E. Chávez, born on March 31, 1927. César Chávez Day is intended to promote service to the communities of California in honor of Chavez's life and work. 

When the California Board of Education adopted a model curriculum for teachers to use, Chavez' oldest son, Fernando stated: "We’re happy that in the years ahead, public school children in California will learn how my father showed that even the poorest and most powerless people in our society can overcome grievous wrongs through personal sacrifice and non-violent, democratic means." 

(The holiday will be celebrated on March 31, or the appropriate Monday or Friday following or preceding that date.)
 

The California Department of Education site provides PDF files of biographies of Cesar Chavez written for each grade level. Click on the link by each grade level below, or go to the Department of Education Cesar Chavez Site.

Lessons for Grades K-5

Here are some model lessons selected for each elementary grade by Eric Lehew.

Grade K: Biography; Lesson 5:The Memory of Cesar Chavez 

Grade 1: Biography; Lesson 5: Similarities and Differences

Grade 2: Biography; Lesson 4: The Importance of Farm Owners and Farm
                                                      Workers

Grade 3: Biography; Lesson 1: We Depend on the Land 
                                    Lesson 2: An American Hero

Grade 4: Biography; Lesson 2: Immigration: When Did Your Family
                                                        Arrive?

Grade 5: Biography; Lesson 2: The Struggle for Freedom

Lessons for Grades 6-8

Here are some model lessons selected for each middle school grade by Dr. Miguel Carrillo, principal of Black Mountain Middle School. Lessons marked with an asterisk are ones Miguel STRONGLY encourages teachers to use.

Grade 6: Biography; * Lesson 1:Education of the Heart
                                       Lesson 6: Non-violence
                                       Lesson 7: Service for Citizenship

Grade 7: Biography;    Lesson 2: A Renaissance Man
                                    * Lesson 5: The Reformers
                                       Lesson 6: Service for Citizenship

Grade 8: Biography;   Lesson 1: Documents of Natural Rights
                                      Lesson 4: Whose Rights Are They?
                                      Lesson 7: The Economy and MLK II and Cesar
                                                         Chavez
                                   * Lesson 10:Our Common Ground
                                      Lesson 12:Service for Citizenship

Grades 6-8: 

• The Read-Write-Think Website has and excellent writing lesson titled: "Writing Free Verse in the 'voice' of Cesar Chavez"
   

• César Chávez Bio-Posters:
  A Problem Based Activity

This is an excellent web based project that challenges students to make bio-posters to hang around the city to help people understand the new holiday in honor of Cesar Chavez.  The project includes teacher notes, research information, assessment, and reflection ideas.

Grades 4-6

• What Makes a Hero
  Crossing the Line: A Tribute to Cesar Chavez, a Great American Hero

• The Learning to Give website has excellent questions for our study of Cesar Chavez, such as: "What are the social conditions under which an individual realizes his or her full potential as a leader who is willing to take private action for the common good?" Some of the resources were hard to find, but the questions on this link are excellent essential questions for our work.
   

• 10-12 Grade Model Curriculum Lessons

• Powerful Consumers, Exploring Boycotts, Past and Present. (New York Times Learning Network)
   

• Work Forced: Exploring Issues facing Young Farm Workers (From New York Times Learning Network)

• SDCOE provides a list of suggested service projects for teachers, students, and the community to do in honor of Cesar Chavez.

 

Free Online Videos

• A History of Hispanic Achievement in America: Cesar Chavez: Google Video (7min33secs)

• Cesar Chavez: Embrace the Legacy  5 minutes on You Tube (You Tube is blocked in the district, but if you go to www.youtube.com and override St. Bernard you can view this video with your class.

Recommended Books

(grades 8-12)	Compiled by Ann McGregor, edited by Cindy Wathen, and photographs by George Elfie Ballis, Remembering Cesar: The Legacy of Cesar Chavez, Quill Drive Books, c.2000  Ann McGregor has compiled an absolutely fascinating collection of stories from hundreds of people who knew and understood the passion and purpose that drove Cesar Chavez to fight tirelessly for migrant farmworkers. Just by reading this book and analyzing the vignettes included, students can "meet" Caesar Chavez through those who knew him best.
(grades 8-12)	Atkin, S. Beth, Voices from the Fields: Children of Migrant Farmworkers tell their stories, Little Brown and Company, c.1993 - This book captures the current issues of migrant farmworkers through the voices of their children. This is a great book to start the conversation about critical issues for Hispanic youth of today.
(grades 3-5)	Harvesting Hope tells the story of how Cesar Chavez overcame many challenges to become a world leader who used non-violent strategies to force changes that would ensure equal rights and improved living conditions for America's migrant farm workers.
(grades 8-12)	Altman, Linda Jacobs, Migrant Farm Workers: The Temporary People, An Impact Book, c. 1994. Linda Altman carefully chronicles the stories migrant farm workers, revealing the horrible working conditions they face and analyzing the rise of the United Farm Workers Union.
(grades 3-8)	Altman, Linda Jacobs, The Importance of Cesar Chavez, Lucent Books, c.1996.  This biography is filled with photos and accounts of the life of Cesar Chavez in order to help students understand the unique contributions he made to our world and especially in the lives of migrant farmworkers.
(grades 8-12)	Anaya, Rudolfo, Elegy on the Death of Cesar Chavez, Cinco Puntos Press, c.2000.  When Rudolfo Anaya heard about the death of Cesar Chavez, he felt compelled to say something powerful about his life. This book is the poem he wrote to honor Cesar and deal with his death.
(grades 8-12)	Ferris, Susan and Ricardo Sandoval, edited by Diana Hembree, The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement, Harcourt Brace and Company, 1997.  This book captures the dramatic events of the life of Cesar Chavez and chronicles his tireless fight for rights for the migrant farmworkers.
(grades 4-8)	Rodriguez, Consuelo, Hispanics of Achievement: Cesar Chavez, Chelsea House Publishers, c. 1991 This is an excellent biography of the life of Cesar Chavez. It captures his passion for serving, sacrificing, and using non-violence to fight for the rights of migrant farmworkers.