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You can use these Cinco de Mayo activities for students on and leading up to May 5 to celebrate Mexican heritage, hear from those who celebrate, and build them into social studies and ELA lessons without adding extra work.
[Build background with Cinco de Mayo social studies activities](id-ss)
Key takeaways:
Build background knowledge to help students better understand the history and significance of the holiday.
Use Cinco de Mayo as a case study to teach cause and effect and historical significance.
Help students compare cultures and perspectives between the U.S. and Mexico.
Extend beyond the holiday to teach modern Mexico and global connections.
Students need context before they can do anything meaningful with a topic like Cinco de Mayo. Especially if your students don’t recognize or celebrate this holiday at home, you’ll need to build background in a way that actually sticks before diving into a lesson.
These activities help you move into a real understanding of history, culture, and how people view the holiday in different parts of the world.
How do Cinco de Mayo celebrations differ in the U.S. and Mexico?
In the United States, Cinco de Mayo celebrations often focus on recognizing and embracing Mexican culture. In Mexico, this is a smaller, more regional holiday tied to the Battle of Puebla. That contrast gives you a way to teach comparison, perspective, and historical context.
To help students see those differences clearly, use resources that show both the holiday's history and how celebrations look today. Try:
What can students learn about Mexico beyond Cinco de Mayo?
Cinco de Mayo is a great introduction to Mexico and its culture, but it’s not the whole story. Students need a broader view of Mexico’s past and present history to achieve a one-day understanding of the whole country.
To build that bigger picture, bring in resources that show how Mexico functions today and how it’s evolving. Try articles on topics like:
[Strengthen literacy with Cinco de Mayo ELA activities](id-ela)
Key takeaways:
Turn Cinco de Mayo content into ELA skills practice to boost engagement without losing instructional time.
Use multimedia analysis to bring stronger comprehension across formats.
Bring in cultural storytelling to deepen engagement and meaning.
Connect reading to real experiences with immigration and identity topics.
You don’t need to pause your ELA pacing to recognize and celebrate Cinco de Mayo in your classroom. With ready-made content for reading, writing, and analysis, you can slot in activities and lessons that still align with your standards.
These activities help you keep skill-building front and center while giving students something meaningful to work with.
How can students analyze multimedia sources using Cinco de Mayo content?
Combine video, text, and cultural context into a single lesson using Cinco de Mayo resources. It makes it easier to teach students how format shapes understanding, and not just what they learn, but how they learn it.
To guide that work, structure it step-by-step with the following lesson:
Finally, ask students to complete a three-column chart worksheet to organize what information they learned from each source and explore how the presentation of the information influenced what they learned.
Why is storytelling important in Mexican and Mexican-American culture?
Storytelling is a core way people share identity, history, and values across generations. When students see that through art, film, and media, they understand that culture is something that’s lived. To make the concept concrete, use resources that show storytelling in different formats, like:
A video biography of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, to explore how personal experience shapes artistic expression.
A bilingual cartoon called “Dancing at sunrise: Life in Mexico’s land of the artists” by Ernesto Sin to show storytelling through visuals and language.
An opinion article about how the Disney-Pixar film “Coco” celebrates Mexican culture while connecting to broader social and political contexts.
What can students learn from journeys to and from Mexico?
Students can connect Cinco de Mayo to real people, movement, and decisions. It helps them see immigration as part of history and everyday life. To build that understanding, bring in sources that show different types of journeys and their impact. Try:
A video about forced Mexican deportation during the Great Depression to introduce historical context and human impact.
An article examining the Bracero Program and its influence on labor, immigration policy, and American life.
Keep Cinco de Mayo learning going with Newsela
Cinco de Mayo is a great seasonal moment to engage your students in Mexican culture and the world of bilingual education. But it doesn’t have to be the only moment for these activities.
With Newsela products, you can support Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) or supplement teaching Spanish to English speakers with thousands of translated articles on various topics. Highlight articles that showcase Latin American countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, and more.
If you’re not a Newsela customer yet, you can create an account and start your free 45-day trial to explore a taste of our premium differentiated content and engaging formative assessments.
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