Cesar Chavez Day: Teaching Resources

Cesar Chavez Day is celebrated on March 31, 2025.

This holiday falls on Cesar Chavez’s birthday and honors his legacy as a civil rights activist and labor leader who fought for the rights of farm workers. In 2025, March 31st falls on a Monday.

Below you’ll find answers to frequently asked questions about Cesar Chavez. These Q&A pairs can help students better understand this important historical figure and civil rights leader. Use these as discussion starters, for research projects, or to supplement your Cesar Chavez Day teaching materials.

Who was Cesar Chavez?

Cesar Chavez was a brave person who helped farm workers. Farm workers are people who pick fruits and vegetables that we eat. Cesar was born on March 31, 1927. He worked very hard to make sure farm workers were treated fairly and got paid enough money for their work. He was a kind and peaceful person who believed in solving problems without fighting.

Chavez had a famous saying: ¡Sí, se puede!

This means “Yes, we can!” in Spanish. He used these words to give people hope that things could get better if they worked together.

Where did Cesar Chavez grow up?

Cesar grew up on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona. His family owned this farm and they were happy there. But when Cesar was about 10 years old, his family lost their farm during a time called the Great Depression when many people lost their homes and jobs.

After losing their farm, Cesar and his family had to move to California. There, they became migrant farm workers. This means they had to travel from farm to farm to find work picking fruits and vegetables. They lived in many different places and sometimes had to sleep in their car or in tents. It was a very hard life.

When did the Latino civil rights movement begin?

The Latino civil rights movement began in the 1950s and became stronger in the 1960s. This was a time when many Latino people (people whose families came from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other Spanish-speaking countries) started working together to be treated fairly.

Before this time, many Latino people weren’t allowed to use the same bathrooms, swimming pools, or schools as white people. They often didn’t get paid as much money for doing the same jobs. The civil rights movement was about changing these unfair rules and making sure everyone was treated with respect.

What year did Cesar Chavez have the grape worker march?

In 1966, Cesar Chavez led a famous march of grape workers. They walked all the way from Delano to Sacramento in California! That’s about 340 miles – like walking for almost two weeks!

The grape workers were on strike, which means they stopped working to show they weren’t being treated fairly. The march helped people all over the country learn about how hard life was for farm workers.

Who founded the National Farm Workers Association?

Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) in 1962. This group helped farm workers join together to ask for better treatment and fair pay.

Dolores Huerta was a very important leader too! She worked side by side with Chavez for many years. She is still alive today and continues to help workers and women be treated fairly.

The NFWA later became the United Farm Workers (UFW), which still exists today helping farm workers.

How We Celebrate Cesar Chavez Day

On this day, many schools and communities remember this by:

• Learning about his life and work
• Doing volunteer projects to help others
• Growing vegetables in community gardens
• Reading books about Cesar Chavez
• Making posters with Cesar’s famous saying “¡Sí, se puede!”

Teaching resource : Cesar Chavez Word Search

This word search contains 15 words related to Cesar Chavez and his work. Students should find and circle all words, which may appear horizontally, vertically, diagonally, forward, or backward.

Vocabulary (for students)

Before beginning, review these words and their meanings:

• CHAVEZ: The last name of Cesar Chavez
• FARM: Where crops are grown and where many workers labored
• WORKER: Person who does a job, especially physical labor
• GRAPE: Fruit that workers picked during the famous strike and boycott
• MARCH: Long walk protest from Delano to Sacramento
• JUSTICE: Fair treatment for all people
• UNION: Organization of workers who join together for better conditions
• LEADER: Person who guides others toward a common goal
• RIGHTS: Things all people should be entitled to
• STRIKE: When workers stop working as a form of protest
• PEACE: Solving problems without violence, as Chavez believed
• HUERTA: Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the union with Chavez
• HARVEST: Gathering crops from fields
• ARIZONA: State where Cesar Chavez grew up
• BOYCOTT: Refusing to buy products as a form of protest

Includes 15 key vocabulary words related to Chavez with definitions, a complete word search puzzle, and an extension activity where students connect the words to his life and work.

Looking to create your own Cesar Chavez Day word search puzzle? You can easily make a custom word search with your own choice of words and difficulty level.

If you want to make your own word search, click here.

With a word search generator tool, you can:

• Choose your own vocabulary words about Cesar Chavez
• Control the difficulty level for different grade levels
• Print multiple versions for your classroom
• Download in pdf format

Reading Passage with MCQs: Features an age-appropriate reading passage about Cesar Chavez’s life and work, followed by 6 multiple choice questions to test comprehension

Both resources are designed to teach students about Cesar Chavez’s importance in American history, his fight for farm workers’ rights, and his methods of peaceful protest. 
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Remember, just like Cesar Chavez showed us: “¡Sí, se puede!” – “Yes, we can!”