Palmer Lake Elementary students get hands-on look at Hispanic culture with school museum exhibit

Students at Palmer Lake had a chance to explore Hispanic heritage in a hands-on way at the beginning of October, when the school hosted a museum for Hispanic Heritage Month. 

Classrooms could sign up for times to visit the school’s museum, which contained a wide variety of different items and artifacts from around the Spanish-speaking world. Just some of these artifacts include: serapes, which is a shawl or blanket used throughout Latin America; maracas; a Boruca mask from Costa Rica; a sombrero, or wide-brimmed Mexican hat; and an ofrenda, an altar used to celebrate a family’s deceased relatives. 

Some students found excitement in finding items that had commonalities with their own cultures; for instance, one third grade student of African descent happily noted that she sees artwork of faceless dolls in her culture as well. 

When visiting the museum, students visited stations and wrote down interesting facts they learned about a few of the artifacts that stood out to them.