DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
I love the celebration of Dia De Los Muertos because it is a colorful celebration of life. The students learn about Mexican customs and rituals and get a flavor of the Mexican culture through music and folk art from the different regions of Mexico. This year I enjoyed collaborating with our Spanish department to create an all school assembly dedicated to this Mexican tradition. Each grade level created a different craft relating to Dia De Los Muertos. We constructed an ofrenda in our Multi Purpose room and the entire school participated. It was beautiful and brought more meaning to the study of this celebration. At our school assembly we sampled pan de muerto and even had a mariachi band perform. It was a memorable afternoon with lots of joyful students. See video below.
I was so excited that a parent offered to help me make authentic sugar skulls for three grade levels. I ordered the sugar skull molds and she did the rest. I am so grateful because many of the students were able to experience the actual craft that is so popular in Mexico. We used puff paint instead of frosting for decorating but the results were fantastic!!!
These are Nichos boxes or Retablos that were made in my 5th grade class. Students brought in a shoe box and the assignment was to create a reflection box in honor of a loved one or pet who is living or deceased or create a self portrait box. The results were amazing and were show cased at our spring art show as well as our local museum of art.
These are second grade's version of Mexcian prayer candles made from tennis ball cans that I collected from our local tennis club. They looked beautiful on our school ofrenda. We used sticker paper to make our own stickers and pom poms and sequins to add a little pizazz. For the finishing touch I bought battery operated tea lights from Target.