This telling time to the hour clock activity lets 1st and 2nd Grade students match analog clocks to fiesta event cards for a Cinco de Mayo schedule. Answer key included.
Using this Telling Time To The Half Hour Clock Activity, students practice telling time to the half hour on an analog clock.
This Cinco de Mayo Word Search Worksheet gives 3rd graders six holiday words to find and six meaning sentences to complete. An answer key is included, so students can check their own vocabulary work.
Fiesta, history and a lot of color
Cinco de Mayo means "the fifth of May" in Spanish. Kids learn that it remembers the Battle of Puebla in 1862, when the Mexican army won an unexpected victory over a larger French army. They also learn a common mix-up: it is not Mexico's Independence Day, which is September 16. Today it is a celebration of Mexican culture, with music, dancing, food and bright decorations. The aha moment is when kids realize a small army's brave win is still celebrated more than 160 years later.
Pair the history with festive practice and kids stay engaged all day.
Set up a pretend fiesta schedule and have kids show each event on the clock activity: the parade starts at 2:00, music at 3:00. Practicing time to the hour with a theme makes it feel like planning a party.
Why it works: in a well-known study, a few short sessions of a simple number board game measurably boosted young children's number skills (Ramani and Siegler, 2008).
Try it withTelling Time To The Hour Clock ActivityActivitiesOpen it →The next day, move to half hours with the same fiesta schedule. Building on yesterday's activity keeps the theme going while the skill grows.
Why it works: the brain holds on to what it meets again and again over time; spaced practice was rated among the very best methods (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withTelling Time To The Half Hour Clock ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Show Mexico on a map and point to Puebla. Then tell the story of the battle in three simple pictures: two armies, the battle, the celebration. Pictures help young learners follow history.
Why it works: pairing a picture with each word gives kids two ways to remember it, a well-tested principle of how people learn (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withCinco de Mayo Word Search WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Bring the fiesta right into your classroom.
Teacher favorites right now: Telling Time To The Hour Clock Activity, Telling Time To The Half Hour Clock Activity and Cinco de Mayo Word Search Worksheet.
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday on May 5 that remembers the Mexican army's victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It is also a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage.
No. Mexican Independence Day is September 16. Cinco de Mayo remembers a single battle, not the country's independence.
Tell them it celebrates a time when a smaller Mexican army won a big battle, and that people now celebrate Mexican music, food and traditions on that day.
Word searches, counting in Spanish, paper flower crafts and themed math like telling time to a fiesta schedule are all easy and fun.
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