teach. - Day of the Dead and A Leap of Faith
It's the second quarter of the school year, and I'm still loving what I'm doing. Some days, I feel like I have to hide how much I love my job because I don't want to annoy others who may not be loving it as much as me. Don't get me wrong, the days are long and it's really hard work, but I'm excited to wake up and go to work each day, and for me, this is a major change. This time last year, I was determined to find another career-to leave teaching and never look back. I'm so grateful I didn't.
On Halloween, I decided on a Dia de Los Muertos room transformation. I was excited about the transformation but nervous about the activities. Several of my students have lost parents and loved ones. The last thing I wanted to do was upset them or make them feel sad. However, I also knew celebrating life could be therapeutic and several of my students are Mexican, so I thought it would be an opportunity for all of my students to learn about their classmates' culture. And, I decided I could continue my transparency by sharing my own story. So, I took a leap of faith and ran with the idea.
My poor husband got suckered into going shopping with me and cutting out 50 plus paper plate skulls. We went several places in search of decorations. I found a pack of five LED balloons with sugar skulls on them at Target for a couple of bucks. I hit up the dollar store for colorful tablecloths and tissue paper and roped a really good friend into making me 20 tissue marigolds. I ordered a ten-piece Day of the Dead themed decoration pack and a colorful prayer flag banner from Party City for a total of about $15. I stalked Facebook and Instagram friends for decorations and found the most perfect pumpkin someone had decorated with a sugar skull. I "jokingly" asked if I could have it, and guess what, I got it. Fred's had some LED blinking skulls on sale for two bucks a pop, so I bought a couple of those, and I had previously found a pack of 100 neon glow sticks on sale for about three bucks. I picked up some neon tempera paints and colorful jewels from Walmart, both of which, I can use for future projects. And, viola, I had everything I needed. Plus, all of the decorations are re-usable, so now I have stock for the future.
On the Monday before Halloween, our district had a teacher work day. So, before leaving that afternoon, I was able to get most of the decorations up. The only thing I had to do on Tuesday morning before kids arrived was the glow sticks and LED balloons. When the bell rang, I had the kids line up outside my door. And, they had to give me a ticket to get in the classroom (a hug or a handshake). When they walked into my dark classroom with Disney Halloween music playing and glow sticks glowing, their reactions were priceless. I could've just about given them any boring assignment, and I think they would've loved it just because the room looked so cool. I even heard one say, "Mrs. Granger is the best fifth-grade teacher. I'd keep her as a teacher forever for doing this." So, of course, I had to keep the momentum going with the lesson.
The first activity was a read-aloud of Rosita y Conchita. It's a fairly short book written in prose. At the back of the book, the author included some information about the holiday, so I read that first. As I read the book aloud, I stopped to talk about the author's word choice and how it played a role in setting the author's tone, and how the author's tone set the mood. We discussed how the tone and mood changed throughout the story and how the author accomplished that. Students were also able to identify some figurative language.
After the read aloud, students created a calavera using the paper plate skulls my husband cut for me, the neon paints, and the jewels. The students had to create the mask to honor someone special to them. I gave them the choice to honor someone living or not, and if they wanted, I let them create one for a pet. It was their choice. While the mask dried, students had to write a paragraph sharing a memory with this special person or pet or explaining why they chose to honor this person or pet. However, they had to use some type of figurative language and had to use words that would set a tone for their feelings. They published their paragraphs on PicCollage and added a photo of their mask. I printed these and displayed them in the hallway.
For our last activity, I showed a short film. After the short film, we discussed how the creator set the tone with animation, and we discussed how the film would have been different had it been created from the mother's perspective.
I was able to pull in all the reading standards we had been working on in our current unit, and the kids LOVED every moment of it. They were incredibly engaged, and for all their engagement and hard work, we celebrated with sugar cookies, since I didn't have time to make dead bread.
No tears were shed and all the students were celebratory in their creations and memories. They uploaded their PicCollages to our class Seesaw, and the parent responses were great too. Their parents were touched by the thoughtfulness their children had put into their projects.
After teaching this lesson three times that day (we team teach and I have three 90 minute ELA blocks), I was exhausted! But, it was so totally worth it. One student stopped by at the end of the day and said, "Mrs. Granger, I just wanted to tell you how creative that lesson was and how much fun I had. My family celebrates this holiday, and tomorrow, we will visit my mother's grave and take her favorite foods and have a fiesta after. We will also call my cousins in Texas and celebrate our grandfather." I wrapped my arms around this child and thanked her for sharing. As I was cleaning up the tissue marigolds, I placed two on this student's desk-one for her mother and one for her grandfather-with a small handwritten note. All the work, planning, and money I put into that lesson were worth it.
Don't worry, I've got a Thanksgiving surprise up my sleeve too...and I am totally stoked about it!
Have I mentioned I'm having the best year ever?
On Halloween, I decided on a Dia de Los Muertos room transformation. I was excited about the transformation but nervous about the activities. Several of my students have lost parents and loved ones. The last thing I wanted to do was upset them or make them feel sad. However, I also knew celebrating life could be therapeutic and several of my students are Mexican, so I thought it would be an opportunity for all of my students to learn about their classmates' culture. And, I decided I could continue my transparency by sharing my own story. So, I took a leap of faith and ran with the idea.
My poor husband got suckered into going shopping with me and cutting out 50 plus paper plate skulls. We went several places in search of decorations. I found a pack of five LED balloons with sugar skulls on them at Target for a couple of bucks. I hit up the dollar store for colorful tablecloths and tissue paper and roped a really good friend into making me 20 tissue marigolds. I ordered a ten-piece Day of the Dead themed decoration pack and a colorful prayer flag banner from Party City for a total of about $15. I stalked Facebook and Instagram friends for decorations and found the most perfect pumpkin someone had decorated with a sugar skull. I "jokingly" asked if I could have it, and guess what, I got it. Fred's had some LED blinking skulls on sale for two bucks a pop, so I bought a couple of those, and I had previously found a pack of 100 neon glow sticks on sale for about three bucks. I picked up some neon tempera paints and colorful jewels from Walmart, both of which, I can use for future projects. And, viola, I had everything I needed. Plus, all of the decorations are re-usable, so now I have stock for the future.
On the Monday before Halloween, our district had a teacher work day. So, before leaving that afternoon, I was able to get most of the decorations up. The only thing I had to do on Tuesday morning before kids arrived was the glow sticks and LED balloons. When the bell rang, I had the kids line up outside my door. And, they had to give me a ticket to get in the classroom (a hug or a handshake). When they walked into my dark classroom with Disney Halloween music playing and glow sticks glowing, their reactions were priceless. I could've just about given them any boring assignment, and I think they would've loved it just because the room looked so cool. I even heard one say, "Mrs. Granger is the best fifth-grade teacher. I'd keep her as a teacher forever for doing this." So, of course, I had to keep the momentum going with the lesson.
The first activity was a read-aloud of Rosita y Conchita. It's a fairly short book written in prose. At the back of the book, the author included some information about the holiday, so I read that first. As I read the book aloud, I stopped to talk about the author's word choice and how it played a role in setting the author's tone, and how the author's tone set the mood. We discussed how the tone and mood changed throughout the story and how the author accomplished that. Students were also able to identify some figurative language.
After the read aloud, students created a calavera using the paper plate skulls my husband cut for me, the neon paints, and the jewels. The students had to create the mask to honor someone special to them. I gave them the choice to honor someone living or not, and if they wanted, I let them create one for a pet. It was their choice. While the mask dried, students had to write a paragraph sharing a memory with this special person or pet or explaining why they chose to honor this person or pet. However, they had to use some type of figurative language and had to use words that would set a tone for their feelings. They published their paragraphs on PicCollage and added a photo of their mask. I printed these and displayed them in the hallway.
For our last activity, I showed a short film. After the short film, we discussed how the creator set the tone with animation, and we discussed how the film would have been different had it been created from the mother's perspective.
I was able to pull in all the reading standards we had been working on in our current unit, and the kids LOVED every moment of it. They were incredibly engaged, and for all their engagement and hard work, we celebrated with sugar cookies, since I didn't have time to make dead bread.
No tears were shed and all the students were celebratory in their creations and memories. They uploaded their PicCollages to our class Seesaw, and the parent responses were great too. Their parents were touched by the thoughtfulness their children had put into their projects.
After teaching this lesson three times that day (we team teach and I have three 90 minute ELA blocks), I was exhausted! But, it was so totally worth it. One student stopped by at the end of the day and said, "Mrs. Granger, I just wanted to tell you how creative that lesson was and how much fun I had. My family celebrates this holiday, and tomorrow, we will visit my mother's grave and take her favorite foods and have a fiesta after. We will also call my cousins in Texas and celebrate our grandfather." I wrapped my arms around this child and thanked her for sharing. As I was cleaning up the tissue marigolds, I placed two on this student's desk-one for her mother and one for her grandfather-with a small handwritten note. All the work, planning, and money I put into that lesson were worth it.
Don't worry, I've got a Thanksgiving surprise up my sleeve too...and I am totally stoked about it!
Have I mentioned I'm having the best year ever?
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