2025 Central America Celebration of Learning at Bruce Monroe @ Parkview Elementary

For the past six years, the staff and students at Bruce Monroe @ Park View Elementary School in Washington, D.C. have dedicated six weeks in the early fall to a schoolwide, dedicated focus on Central America. Their study culminates in a community showcase. 

Coinciding with the school’s first quarter theme of identity, the unit of study allows students to learn about and honor their own family history and of their peers. (More than 50% of the student body has and many of the staff have ties to Central America.) Many art projects were animated by student’s identity — the unique choices that they make to create pieces of writing and works of art.

The curriculum drew on resources from the school’s collaboration with Teaching for Change’s Teach Central America Week and the Pulitzer Center 1619 Project Educator Network. (The school takes a similar in-depth approach to a study of the Black Lives Matter principles in February and March each year.)

The description below is based on our volunteers’ (Andrea Vincent and Marcy Campos) observations and detailed descriptions from the assistant principal, Dr. Tamyka Morant.

During the two day showcase, student learning was displayed for their peers, family, and community. Hallways, turned into exhibitions of student learning, were festooned with anchor charts, student art work, zines, performances, digital resources and activities that allowed visitors to learn about and interact with the knowledge teachers and students had constructed. Students invited visitors to huddle around their art work and writing and to share their learning process.

Read about each grade level at Teaching Central America.