Third Grade
Worksheets
Cesar Chavez's Childhood
Have you ever changed schools? It's not always easy! It's hard to be the new kid. Cesar Chavez knew this feeling. He changed schools a lot. Sometimes Cesar went to a new school for only one week before it was time to move again! Cesar and his family were migrant farm workers. They moved from city to city and from farm to farm looking for work.
Cesar did not mind moving. He liked being with his family and didn't care where they lived as long as they were together. He didn't, however, like school. The Chavez family spoke Spanish. At school, Cesar was only supposed to speak English. This was hard. He got in trouble anytime he spoke Spanish. When Cesar was fifteen, his dad was hurt in a car accident. He couldn't work and make money for his family. Cesar stopped going to school. He started working in the fields full time instead.
Cesar spent many hours in the hot sun each day. Picking crops made his hands very sore. Sometimes they bled. It made his back sore, too. It was hard to bend over all day long. Even though Cesar worked very hard, he did not make very much money. Cesar used to earn twenty cents for each hamper of peas he picked. The hamper weighed twenty-five pounds!
