Multicultural Night: Day of the Dead

I just realized that I hadn't brag about how AMAZING was our annual Day of the Dead celebration!!!!! This is the second year we do it at our campus, and it was so great to see that fellow educators were excited to be part of the committee since the beginning. We had so much fun planning it! Those hours at the Truck Yard on Greenville paid off!!! Thanks, team!!! On Tuesday October 28th from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. we created a space for parent/community involvement with the school with our Multicultural Night, celebrating the Day of the Dead. 

Through a project that I created on Donors Choose, we were able to count with the supplies and materials needed. Last year I made all the sugar skulls from scratch, but needless to say my house was full of sugar everywhere haha 
So, this year it was great to have the support of friends and family - who I annoyed for a week to get donations - :D thanks, y'all!!!

The night was a BIG success! Some of us did our make up like Catrinas, to get kids excited about the face painting booth. We also had in the auditorium a movie playing to learn about the tradition, as well we had other interactive stations such as: decorating sugar skulls, making papel picado, making paper flowers, creating a skeleton using their name written in cursive, making skeletons using q-tips, playing loteria to win school supplies, enjoy traditional bread and hot chocolate, take pictures in the photo booth, and most importantly come together as a community. 

When I handed out the invitations, I had over 380 people R.S.V.P.!!! I think we had around 300 hundred attendees in the 2 hours that the event took place. Also, we made it to the DISD's The Hub, check it out: http://thehub.dallasisd.org/2014/10/31/celebracion-del-dia-de-los-muertos/

It was really unbelievable seeing not only Hispanic families, but also African American and White so interested in this tradition! I think that it was a lot because of the movie "The Book of Life", so it warms up my heart to keep our traditions alive, and that all these families came to be part of it. 

“La Catrina ronda Silberstein,
ronda y ronda esperando encontrar
a Mrs. Garza y Mr. Freelon distraídos
y al fin podérselos llevar.

Los persigue por los pasillos,
los sigue con mucha ansiedad,
para llevarlos de los tobillos
al panteón para enseñar

Encuentra a Mrs. Garza 
muy atenta en un salón,
la encuentra concentrada 
haciendo una observación.

La Catrina alegremente le dice:
"’amonos wera, ya te tocó!"
Mrs. Garza espantada  le contesta:
"espérame tantito, deja mando la retroalimentación"

Ya se encuentra Mrs. Garza
muy contenta en el panteón,
esperando el próximo Día de Muertos
para ir por el subdirector.”

If you want your students to write poems like the one I did above, you can find some activities in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store: 

On this activity, you only have to add your name (or the studets' names), so it may be a good exposure for the students before writing their own:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Calaveras-Literarias-para-el-salon-Dia-de-Muertos-940352

On this activity the students have to fill in the word that rhymes:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Calaveritas-Literarias-937135

I am working on creating some in English, so I'll keep you posted!!!!

I also created a Unit of Study to implement in the classroom, to compare and contrast Halloween and the Day of the Dead. Being that we are in the States and Halloween is more a tradition here, I wanted to link it to reading skills where students learn about two traditions that they could interact with. 

You can find the Unit of Study in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, I have it available both in English and Spanish:

English: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Day-of-the-Dead-Halloween-Unit-938714

Spanish: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Unidad-de-Estudio-del-Dia-de-Muertos-y-Halloween-951192

¡A este guapetón, me lo llevo al panteón!

Needless to say, Day of the Dead is my favorite time of year. It takes me back to the cool activities that we did with my Elementary teachers and how it brought us together with our loved ones that have past away. What is your favorite holiday/tradition of the year? Let me know how you take a tradition into your classroom, or how you celebrate with your family!