Stewart And Stratford FLES Students Celebrate Día de Los Muertos

Stratford Avenue School students in Melissa Coyne's third-grade class with their skeleton creations.

Spanish teachers at Stewart and Stratford Schools contrasted the Mexican festival Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) with Halloween in their classes this fall, leading students to identify some interesting differences between the two holidays. The exercise is part of the Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) program, which includes Spanish in the curriculum beginning in second grade.

Día de Los Muertos is celebrated in Mexico and much of Latin America on November 1, also known as All Saints' Day, and November 2, also known as All Souls' Day. The holiday honors the lives of the dead and celebrates death as the beginning of a new stage. There are parades and festivals, and many families build small shrines to honor their ancestors.

Bill Kupferman's third-graders read the book Just a Minute by Yuyi Morales, a story about a grandmother living in Mexico who is visited by Señor Calavera (Mr. Skeleton) during the Día de los Muertos celebration. The grandmother tricks the calavera into staying for a party, with the calavera as guest of honor.

Stewart School students in Stella Guiry's second-grade class with their masks and Spanish Teacher Malaszczyk.

After discussing the story, the students concluded that Señor Calavera was probably the soul of a dead family member coming to visit for Día de los Muertos. They also noted that a Halloween story featuring a skeleton would probably be scary, unlike the story they had just read.

"They came to the conclusion that Día de los Muertos is very different from Halloween and is a special and fun time for people in Mexico," Mr. Kupferman said.

The students then created their own calaveras and pasted them on to a scene representing a Día de los Muertos celebration. They also drew decorations that would typically be seen in Mexican town and ofrendas (offerings) that might be left on an altar or grave during the holiday.

Lisa Malaszcyk's second-graders made Día de los Muertos masks, created a "skeleton number line" to practice their knowledge of the numbers in Spanish, and used a Venn diagram to compare Halloween with Día de los Muertos. April Cornachio's fourth-graders worked on similar projects, including flash cards.

Stratford Avenue School students in Carrie Moran's second-grade class, wearing their masques, take a break from working on other Día de los Muertos projects.

Stewart School students in Regina Lehan's third-grade class with their skeleton artwork. Catherine Ehrlein's fourth-grade class at work on their flashcards at Stewart School. Alyson Torina's fourth-grade class at Stratford Avenue School with their completed flashcards.