Yes we can! Celebrate the lives of labor and civil rights icons Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Cesar Chavez Day is March 31 (his birthday), a state holiday in California. It’s followed by Dolores Huerta Day on April 10 (her 92nd birthday this year).

The State Board of Education offers a model curriculum on Chavez’s life and work for multiple grade levels. United Farm Workers created a supplemental curriculum kit that offers a coloring book, song book, poster and video. A teacher’s guide includes a detailed biography, discussion questions and handouts.

Last year, a team of educators including CTA members worked with the Dolores Huerta Foundation to develop K-12 curriculum based on her life and legacy. Students can learn about the rich history of struggle in the Central Valley and the state as they examine the essential question: “How do people work together to solve problems and implement the solution?”

“I want students to get a sense of their own empowerment and the things they can do to make the world a better place,” Huerta said about the curriculum. Find it at doloreshuerta.org. (Read our story at cta.org/doloreshuerta.)

Enter CTA’s Cesar E. Chavez and Dolores Huerta Education Awards Program

Students from pre-K through higher education can demonstrate an understanding of the vision and guiding principles embraced by Chavez and Huerta by submitting a visual arts project or a written essay. Students must be sponsored by a CTA member. Awards up to $550 will be given to both the student and the sponsoring CTA member. Deadline is March 4; for details, go to César E. Chávez and Dolores Huerta Education Award Programs page.

Featured image: Artwork by student Aaliyah Ruiz; teacher Nicole Brady; Ontiveros Elementary School