Friday, October 4, 2013

Unit Study: Sonia Sotomayor (Hispanic Heritage Month)


Read the biography of Sonia Sotomayor, and answer the following questions:
  1. When and where was she born? (6/25/1954 in the Bronx, NY) 
  2. What is her heritage? (her parents are Puerto Rican)
  3. What law school did she graduate from? (Yale Law)
  4. Which president nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court? (Barack Obama)
  5. When was she confirmed by the US Senate, making her the first Latina justice on the Supreme Court? (August 2009)

English and Writing:

Learn how to do research and create a research project on either a case that the US Supreme Court has ruled on or the life of another Supreme Court justice (past or present, but not Sonia Sotomayor.)

Spelling and Vocabulary:

Be able to spell, define, and use each of the following words in a sentence: justice, docket, unanimous, verdict, prosecutor


judge: el juez(male)/la jueza (female); to judge: juzgar; school: la escuela; college: la universidad; to learn: aprender

Social Studies: 

Learn about the U.S. Supreme Court.  Be able to name 9 justices (at least by last name) and describe how a case gets to the Supreme Court.


Learn about Puerto Rican art history.


Learn about the various musical instruments common in Puerto Rican music. (There is a list on the left hand side.  You need to click on each one.)


Learn about stress and healthy ways to deal with it.


We will be working on percentages, particularly what percentage of the court ruled which way on various cases throughout history.  There is also a nice lesson here on teaching percentages.

Domestic Arts:

Learn where your family comes from and create a family tree.  Be sure to include place of birth of each person.  See how far back you can go.

Physical Education:

We will work on personal health this week by participating in a variety of physical activities and games.


Learn about hurricanes and make your own.

1 comment:

  1. This is great! She is such an important figure for kids to learn about.