2nd Grade Diversity Lesson Plan

Book Title: My Name is Celia/Me llamo Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz/La Vida de Celia Cruz

Author: Monica Brown

Publication Date: October 30, 2004
Grade Levels: Kindergarten through 3rd Grade

Culture: Afro-Latinx
Social Justice Standards:
Identity Anchor Standard #3: Students will recognize that people’s multiple identities interact
and create unique and complex individuals.
Diversity Anchor Standard #9: Students will respond to diversity by building empathy, respect,
understanding and connection.
Diversity Anchor Standard #8: Respectfully express curiosity about the history and lived
experiences of others and will exchange ideas and beliefs in an open-minded way.

Nevada Academic Content Standards:

Reading Standards Literature. RL. 2.1.: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where,
when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Reading Standards Literature. RL. 2.2.: Recount stories, including fables and folktales from
diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
Reading Standards Literature. RL. 3.3.: Describe how characters in a story respond to major
events and challenges.

Objective:
The students will be able to identify the Afro-Latinx culture through the life of Celia Cruz by
learning where she comes from along with finding Cuba on the map with 90% accuracy.
The students will be able to identify new cultural traditions by presenting to the class individual
traditions or cultural items/foods that are held within their own families with 90% accuracy.

Materials:
 Book: My Name is Celia/Me llamo Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz/La Vida de Celia Cruz
by Monica Brown
  Coloring Utensils
 Individual copies of North American Map
 An item or food to share with the class that represents their culture

Procedure:
1. Introduce: Introduce the book to students and ask them if they know what salsa is. Then
continue and ask them if they know who the Queen of Salsa is and what it means to be
Afro-Latinx. Ask students if they are or know anyone who might be Afro-Latinx. Lastly,
ask if they know how to dance to salsa.
2. Read: Read the book My Name is Celia/Me llamo Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz/La Vida
de Celia Cruz by Monica Brown to the class.
3. Discuss: Students will find their way to the carpet and will be seated in a big circle.
Students will then voluntarily participate in the class discussion where questions will be
asked based on the book.
1. “Where was Celia Cruz from?”
2. “What was the gift given by Celia Cruz’s father?”
3. “Was Celia Cruz rich or poor, and did singing cost her money?”
4. “Did Celia Cruz allow the amount of money she had and the color of her skin
stop her from signing?”
5. “What were some of the foods that Celia Cruz and her family would eat most
of the time?”
6. “Did Celia Cruz leave Cuba, what did she leave for?”
7. “Before Celia Cruz would get on stage and sing what did she to the crowd to
remind her of her home, Cuba?”
8. “What were some of the things Celia Cruz accomplished in America?”
9. “What do you think we learn from the story of Celia Cruz, can we achieve
anything we want to regardless of what we look like or where we come
from?”
4. Activities:
a. Find Cuba on the North American map: Students will be given a map of North
America and have to find Cuba on the map and color it in. They will then get to see
where Celia Cruz came from, on the sheet of paper they will then need to identify
what ethnicity she was, they will have multiple choice options and must select Afro-
Latina.
b. Presenting a Cultural Item or Food: Students will then be told that they can go
home and select an item at home that represents their culture or they can ask their
parents to prepare a food that comes from their culture. They will then take the map
with them and color in where they are from and if it is not from North America then
they must find a picture online and draw it on the back side and write down their
ethnicity. Then they will bring it in the next day to present their item or food and
share it with the class along with their map and ethnicity.
Assessment:
Students will be assessed on their responses held from the discussion questions about the story.
Students will then be assessed by their ability to find Cuba on the map and answering the
question correctly of what ethnicity Celia Cruz was.
“Presenting a Cultural Item or Food” will be graded by the student’s cultural food or item and
the knowledge they possess of what they choose to present. They must also know their own
ethnicity and present to the class what the country they come from looks like on the map.