5 Ways to Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month this May
Did you know that May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month? I didn’t either, but now that I do, I am starting to look for ways to show my students the contributions of these people.
We want all students to feel welcomed and acknowledged in our classrooms and this is an easy way to make that happen for students of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. If you don’t have students of that heritage in your class, it is still important to promote diversity and education about minority ethnic groups.
Here are some things I’m going to do in May to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month:
This resource includes:
Brief Description of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Table of Contents
12 Asian Pacific American Hero Slides - each with a brief description and two links to reliable websites with articles and videos.
4 Reflection and Discussion Questions
You can use this resource in a variety of ways:
Have your students explore the slideshow and answer the reflection questions. Use the reflection questions to lead a whole-class discussion.
Have students pick one person to research in depth and then write a short summary of that person's life.
Have students pick one person to research and then create a poster featuring his or her important accomplishments.
Assign three slides per week in May and spend time researching them with your class.
I plan on having my class learn about the different Asian and Pacific Islander heroes using the digital resource during our reading rotations and then going in deeper with them during our morning meeting time.
This website has 12 free ideas for enriching kids’ appreciation of Asian and Pacific American Culture.
I am going to dig into the history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with my students using this site’s ideas.
The website I linked has some great ideas. Check out your local or school library for titles. You can also find many picture books being read aloud on Youtube!
This website is a treasure. Not only can you view exhibits, but you can also print art lesson plans to use in your classroom! We will definitely be using this in May.
My students will use the Digital Google Slides resource about Asian and Pacific Islander heroes and then pick one of those people to study in-depth for a biography.
You can purchase my Asian Pacific American Heritage Month resource for Google Slides and my Biography Writing Unit as a bundle!
I hope these ideas have helped you and encouraged you to incorporate Asian and Pacific Islander studies into your classroom this year. Do you have any comments or additional resources you use? I’d love to read your comments below!
