Celebrating Hispanic heritage, by Nathan Weiser

Red Hook’s PS 676 held their first Hispanic Heritage Celebration on October 15 as part of National Hispanic Heritage month.
Adding to the Hispanic heritage theme of the event was the ethnic food that Kimpanadas, a new restaurant on Smith Street, donated. The owner is a friend of pastor Edwin Pacheco from Redemption Church.
A world map gate gave students the opportunity to put a sticker on the country where their family was from. Stickers were placed on Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia and others.
Lynn Shon teaches third, fourth and fifth grade. She organized a writing project about important Hispanic scientists. Her goal was to broaden student’s horizons.
“I used to teach at MS 88 and I would have the students do an experiment where they would draw a scientist and usually at least 80 percent of the students drew Albert Einstein,” Shon said. “They have internalized that what being a scientist is is generally being a white man.”
“I put together a packet and the students could choose among the scientists that I had curated,” Shon said. “I printed out a ton of information on these scientists and they could pick and choose from there.”
Two scientists that some adults might recognize were Eleanor Ochoa and Dr. Antonia Novello.
Ochoa was one of the first Hispanic NASA astronauts. She was the first Hispanic director and second female director of the Johnson Space Center. Dr. Novello was the first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General.

[slideshow_deploy id=’14329′]

“Hopefully we will just leave these up for a couple of weeks so that people read and understand all the contributions that Hispanic Americans have made in the field of science,” Shon said.
Shon teaches science to third through fifth graders and also teaches STEM focused on maritime.
When she began teaching at 676 this year she thought they needed to make sure that Hispanic Heritage Month was recognized.
Reach Children’s Study House donated backpacks, notebooks and crayons for the kids. There was a free raffle for the kids of PS 676. Some of the donated prizes included a $50 Amazon gift card, children’s books, a world map puzzle, a brand new soccer ball, Mexican chocolate and toys. The kids were excited to get their prize from parent coordinator Marie Hueston when their number was called.

Author

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Comments are closed.

READ OUR FULL PRINT EDITION

click here to see our previous issues.

Our Sister Publication

a word from our sponsors!

Latest Media Guide!

Where to find the Star-Revue

Instagram

How many have visited our site?

wordpress hit counter

Social Media

Most Popular

On Key

Related Posts

Special birthday issue – information for advertisers

Author George Fiala George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and

PS 15’s ACES program a boon for students with special needs, by Laryn Kuchta

At P.S. 15 Patrick F. Daly in Red Hook, staff are reshaping the way elementary schoolers learn educationally and socially. They’ve put special emphasis on programs for students with intellectual disabilities and students who are learning or want to learn a second language, making sure those students have the same advantages and interactions any other child would. P.S. 15’s ACES

Big donors taking an interest in our City Council races

The New York City Council primary is less than three months away, and as campaigns are picking up steam, so are donations. In districts 38 and 39 in South Brooklyn, Incumbents Alexa Avilés (District 38) and Shahana Hanif (District 39) are being challenged by two moderate Democrats, and as we reported last month, big money is making its way into

Wraptor celebrates the start of spring

Red Hook’s Wraptor Restaurant, located at 358 Columbia St., marked the start of spring on March 30. Despite cool weather in the low 50s, more than 50 people showed up to enjoy the festivities. “We wanted to do something nice for everyone and celebrate the start of the spring so we got the permits to have everyone out in front,”