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Cinco de Mayo Some History: Over six thousand French soldiers had come to take the village. As the French forces moved closer to the forts, the Mexican army opened fire. This did not stop the French. They regrouped and pushed closer until the Mexican soldiers charged on horseback and drove the French back with their swords.The Mexican cannons fired on the French. It became obvious that the mighty French soldiers in their fancy uniforms, had been defeated by the tiny Mexican army. The Mexican army had only 2,000 men, many without weapons. The French had been too confident and thought that the taking of Puebla would be easey. The never counted on the pride and bravery of the Mexican people. The battle of Puebla showed the world that the Mexican people would fight to keep their country and their freedom. General Zaragosa sent a report to President Benito Juarez that stated: "The Mexican army has covered itself with glory!" Today the fifth of May, or Cinco de Mayo is an important holiday in Mexico. It is also celebrated by Mexican-Americans here in the United States. On every Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican people stop to remember how their fathers and grandfathers fought to save the tiny town of Puebla on that great day in 1862. Activities Decorate your kitchen and prepare a Mexican meal Play some mexican music or sing mexican songs and have a fiesta! On the day of the fiesta, invite the students to wear colorful sombreros, serapes and sandals. Have the boys wear crepe-paper sashes around their waists, and have the girls pin colorful tissue-paper flowers in their hair. Allow students to parade from room to room wearing their jolly jinglers (below) and rousing the other students to attend the fiesta. Culminate the fun by preparing and serving tortillas, salsa, guacamole and polvorones. While students and other guests are enjoying the food, play musical selections from Papa's Dream, availbable from Music for Little People, 1-800-346-4445. End the fiesta by breaking a pinata. Read the book Count Your Way Through Mexico by Jim Haskins to introduce students to Spanish---the official language of Mexico. Then, with the students' help, make a chart that has the numbers from one to ten with the Spanish number words printed next to them. Practice the pronunciation of each Spanish word. Then play a game called What's Your Number? Ask each student a question such as "How old are you?" or "How many sisters do you have?" Ask each student to give his response in Spanish. Lotto Mexican Style Then place ten index cards that have each been programmed with a number between one and ten into a lunch bag. To play, select a card from the bag and say the number word in Spanish. Instruct each student to look for that nuber in his M column. If the student has the number, he may cover that space on his gameboard with a frijole (bean). Return the card to the bag and repeat the process for the remaining columns. Continue in this manner until one student has six spaces covered, vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. At that time, the student should call out "Mexico"! Cinco de May Bells Cooking Taco in a Bag Place ground beef in a large skillet. Cook and stir over medium heat until browned. Drain excess oil. Mix With the bags unopened, gently crush the corn chips. Snip the corners off the bags using scissors and slit open the bags along the side edge. Spoon equal amounts of the beef mixture, lettuce, tomato, Cheddar cheese, salsa and sour cream into the bags on top of the crushed chips. Serve in the bag and eat using a fork Make nachos and for the drink make: Sangria In a large pitcher mix 4 parts purple grape juice, 2 parts seltzer, and 1 1/2 parts orange juice. Throw in some orange slices and cherries for decoration! Make Quesadillas with tortillas and cheese slices Polvorones Arts and Crafts Mexican Lantern Decorate a piece of construction paper with crayons and markers. Fold the construction paper in half lengthwise Make cuts beginning at the fold and leaving a 1" border around all edges excepton the fold. Mexican Flower Stack 3-5 different colors and sizes of tissue paper circles on top of each other with smallest on top. Maraca Another version of maracas 9-inch paper plate, First, decorate the outside (bottom) of the paper plate- use bold designs and bright colors! Fold the plate in half and put a handful of beans or rice inside. Staple it shut. Then staple the colored streamers to the curved side of the plate. Now shake your maraca, Serape Cut straight up the seam on the back of the bag, branching into a "V" and then a hole in the bottom of the bag (this is the neck hole). Next, cut about a 5-inch wide strip from each side of the bag. This makes the open sides of the serape. Now make fringe around the bottom by either cutting slits all around the edges, or by punching holes along the bottom and threading pieces of yarn through. Now, turn the serape inside out, so that the print in inside, and the side that is showing is plain brown. You may need to secure the shoulder area (the bottom of the bag) with masking tape. Finally, lay your serape out flat, and paint with bright colors! Pinata! Here's what you do: Blow up the balloon & tie tightly. Then tear the newspaper into long, thin strips (about 1 inch wide and at least 12 inches long). You'll need lots of strips! In a large bowl, mix 5 cups of flour with water- adding the water slowly until it is the consistency of pancake batter. Dip the newspaper strips in the flour and water mixture, wetting them completely. Remove any excess moisture from the strips by running them through your fingers, and then drape them over the balloon. Continue overlapping strips until the balloon is completely covered. Add more and more layers of newspaper until you have applied 5 -10 layers. To decorate your pinata, let it dry completely, then either paint it, or cover it with colored tissue paper attached with craft glue. Overlap the tissue like roof shingles. To fill the pinata, cut a small flap in the top, bend it back carefully and drop in small wrapped candies or goodies. When the pinata is full, fold the flap back in to place. Songs Cinco de Mayo It was the fifth of May in 1862. Mexican Mosaics Draw a sketch on a 5 inch square piece of white construction paper. Make a class Burrito Book - have the children draw what they like on their burrito Games and Activities: Remember, most games can be adapted to all ages of children with a bit of creative thinking. Also, if you Benito Juarez Says Played similar to Simon Says. The player up is "Benito Juarez". Player will say "Benito Juarez says hop on Repeat for additional activities such as take one baby step forward, step backwards, turn around, sit down. Sometimes Benito Juarez will say "Benito Juarez says" and sometimes he won't. It's a fun game to play with young children. Cinco de Mayo Pictionary How To Play:Put papers with Cinco de Mayo/Mexican objects written on them into bag. Divide children into two groups. Flip a coin to see which team goes first. Invite a child from the playing team to approach the chalkboard, draw a slip of paper, and read it to themselves. On your mark, the child should then draw the object in hopes that his/her team members will guess the object on their paper. If the team guesses correctly, before time runs out, they score a point. If the playing team does not guess correctly the other team has five seconds to try to come up with the correct answer. If they guess correctly they score a point and it is their turn to play. This game can be simplified for young players utilizing words such as: sombrero, poncho, donkey, taco. Make more difficult for older players by using short phrases: Mexican War, Mexico, guacamole, etc. Word Find Example: Guacamole Cinco de Mayo Twenty Questions Learn Spanish Activity Clue Freeze Pin The Sombrero on Tomas How To Play: Blindfold the player, spin 'em around and let them try to stick the heart where it's supposed to Mexico Bean Toss Break the Pinata Buenos Amigos (Good Friend) Five Strings Jalapeno Hop Pass The Chili Pepper Here's the catch, players may only use their heads to pass (no hands or teeth allowed). The process continues to the last person in line and then reverses sending the pillow back to the first player in line. The first team to complete the game wins. How Many Beans Cinco de Mayo Bingo Another variation to create your own Bingo card: Write the names of all the children on pieces of paper and drop them into a Valentine bag. Note: remove the names of any children absent that day. Create a BINGO card with blank spaces. Across the top it will say "N-A-M-E-S". Have the children go around and have their classmates sign their name to the spaces on the card. When all are done, have them sit Mexican Hat Dance Musical Chairs Find your Partner Mirror Relay Recommended Cinco de Mayo books: Literature Extenders: Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia: After reading the story, create a classroom book titled: "Our Family Traditions". Provide each student with a sheet of white construction paper. Ask the student to draw a picture of her favorite family celebration or event. Have the student write a story about the event beneath her picture. After students have shared their pictures, bind them together. Diego: After reading the story, motivate students to create Mexican murals. First diveide students into groups of four. Provide each group with a lenth of bulletin-board paper, tempera paints, and paintbrushes. Have each group pain a mural depicting a fiest or other Mexican scene. If desired, provide students with travel posters or pictures of Mexican scenes to refer to while painting the murals. Display the colorful murals in the hall or cafeteria where all school members may enjoy them.
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