Social Studies

This unit explores the journey of the African people from the Yoruban and Dahomean cultures to the Caribbean through the forced migration of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Students will learn about the similarities of the music found all over Latin America in the countries Haiti, Cub, Trinidad and Brazil. There are 4 lessons within this unit.

A few recipes from a variety of countries in Latin America are included that students can prepare together and later feast together. This will help students immerse into Latin American culture and they'll get the opportunity to enjoy tasty meals.

This sheet provides a variety of activity ideas that students can enjoy in a fun day about Latin America. This can be used to finish off a long unit about Latin America.

Students will illustrate the biological and ecological exchanges that began taking place as soon as Columbus made the Americas known to Europe. Commerce quickly led to the exchange of products which gave rise to new, interdependent material cultures. This project will aid in understanding how Latin America began to affect word culture.

This activity focuses on the migration of people from the Caribbean. Students will look at paintings by a contemporary Haitian artist that depict the political life in Haiti. In addition, students will read a poem that describes the poverty in Haiti and expresses the author's sentiments about this poverty. Students will also analyze the messages in political cartoons and construct a Hatian tap taps bus decorating it to illustrate the reasons people leave Haiti.

In this activity, students will read a declaration for political asylum by a Guatemalan refugee. They will examine this document to better understand how violent conflict can contribute to the large scale movements of people. Students will design a poster using elements of Guatemalan weaving to illustrate the reasons people leave Guatemala.

The Quiche Mayas of Guatemala were heavily dependent on the raising of corn for survival. Their daily activities were closely related to agriculture and so they developed a calendar which organized time in relation to the corn field cycles. Students will earning about Pre-columbian agriculture and will understand the structuring of time in different ways, according to the lifestyle of a culture.

This unit is intended to focus on some aspects of Guatemalan life and history that are of great significance to understanding the people of Guatemala today. Certain aspects include Mayan achievements in time recording and math, as well as the history of the U.S. driven coup of 1954 and even forces driving environmental destruction in the Peten, Guatemala. There are 5 lessons in this unit.

This activity on El Salvador illustrates aspects of forced migration, which differs significantly from those flows of people tied to international economic forces. Students will be able to distinguish between displaced persons and refugees. Students will examine drawings of the war in El Salvador done by children in refugee camps. To evaluate students on what they have learned they will be asked to create a 3 dimensional sculpture.

This unit focuses heavily on the environment and the impact humans have on their surrounding environment. The purpose of this unit is to have students consider how Ecuadorians have altered their environment and for what reasons. Students will study the impact of these changes, as ell as how people think about their environment. Students will look at Ecuador as a case study and then reflect on their own community. From their own observations, they will identify issues affecting their society and reflect on what should be done to minimize the clash between people and the environment. There are 4 lessons within this unit.