It started as a humble idea last year to bring awareness to the plight of migrant families, especially those within Mission CISD. Then through the collaboration of the district’s social studies and migrant departments and the Mission Historical Museum, a traveling museum exhibit started its rounds at Salinas Elementary School last month on Cesar Chavez Day. The display features “then and now” photos of local families and their experiences as migrant farm workers.
As the first school to host the traveling exhibit, Salinas Elementary has set the bar high. Teachers developed lessons to go along with the exhibit with student activities varying across grade levels. Kinder students learned where migrant workers go, while fifth graders created timelines and their own displays of research they conducted about migrant topics. With their projects, students multiplied the exhibit. One display had tools and other items used by migrant farm workers that students brought from home. In another display, there were photos and personal stories from Salinas Elementary students who are migrants. Principal Martina Garcia said incorporating the exhibit with the classroom content helped the students see how migrant farm workers are a part of their life.
“It did make a difference having them create something; it became their project,” said Garcia. “it became something that’s not in the past; it is something that affects people’s lives here.”
As the traveling exhibit continues through all schools into next year, Social Studies Elementary Coordinator Faustino Cedillo says he hopes students will use the display to spark a conversation and view the migrant experience from all angles, whether it be learning about different climates in science class, the geography of the various states migrants visit, to the basic understanding how many people and processes it takes to get fruits and vegetable to grocery aisles and onto our plates.
“When we do things like this,” he said, “we always want to make a strong connection to curriculum.”