Nov. 1 and Nov. 2: Our Ofrenda

After viewing a slideshow about Dias De Los Muertos that Tr. Ann wrote earlier this week, we were very excited about today's project: setting up the kindergarten ofrenda. Each kindergartner collected the special things that he/she made by hand last week and added his/her pieces to the ofrenda table positioned under the papel picado banner in the center of our classroom.





Our ofrenda is as colorful as it is sparkly. It is covered with brightly-decorated sugar skulls, tissue paper flowers, tin art butterfly decorations, chili peppers, silk flowers, fruit, candles and candleholders, Mexican pottery, and photos and drawings of loved ones who are no longer with us. We made glittery frames for photos of our monarchs, too!

After our ofrenda was complete we gathered for snack with the lights off so we could enjoy the ofrenda for a time of remembrance in candlelight as is traditional in Mexico. For morning snack we shared round loaves of pan de muertos (a traditional sweet bread of Dias de Los Muertos) and warm tortillas that were made at Tortilleria San Roman the same morning in Phildelphia! (Muchas gracias, Daniel, for the extra special delivery this morning!)

A surprise visitor shares stories from Mexico!

On Wednesday, October 26 David's dad Daniel came to kindergarten today to talk to us about Mexico and what it was like to grow up in Mexico City. David had great time helping his dad with the slideshow presentation. Daniel's stories really got us thinking about Mexico in new ways!

Daniel returned to kindergarten the following week to help us make sugar skulls for our ofrenda.

Working in small groups we mixed sugar, water, and meringue powder together in big bowls and then scooped and packed the mixture in to molds to form the shape of the sugar skull. One by one the skulls were tapped out of their molds and left to dry.





To recreate the colorful and intricately decorated Dias De Los Muertos sugar skulls made by Mexican artists we squeezed colorful icing out of the tips of plastic bags and added colorful candies to our sugar skulls once they had dried.







The shared experience of making sugar skulls together provides not only an opportunity to learn through the process of cooking and creating edible art but a fantastic foundation on which to practice the art of storytelling! Be sure to ask your kindergartner to tell you all about making sugar skulls for our Dias De Los Muertos ofrenda!

Artists at work!

On Dias De Los Muertos (Nov. 1 and 2) kindergarten will be setting up an ofrenda in our classroom. We have already begun working on special hand-made items for our ofrenda that will make our ofrenda colorful and welcoming. Our ofrenda will help us remember our butterflies and our loved ones. Our ofrenda will reflect our understanding of the joyful family celebration of Dias De Los Muertos in Mexico.

Sra. Ayers showed us very tiny banners of papel picado as well as large banners of papel picado during a Spanish class. Papel picado banners are colorful banners used during many celebrations in Mexico. The banners are displayed in homes, markets, plazas, and other public places during the celebration. The banners often feature symbols of the Mexican culture or the celebration in the cut-out designs. In the photos that follow we are making papel picado banners with tissue paper. It took a lot of concentration to cut on the fold and we had to be very careful when we opened each piece of papel picado but it was fun to see our designs emerge!






We also made tissue paper flowers and Mexican Tin Art butterfly ornaments. We will save all the special things we made for our ofrenda. We will add the last of our Salsa Garden's chili peppers to our ofrenda, too!

Kindergarten prepares to celebrate the return of the Monarchs to Mexico!

Seven weeks ago our monarchs set off on a journey of 2,000 miles to the overwintering sites in the mountainous regions of central Mexico. We said "Adios, mariposas" as our butterflies warmed their wings in the September sun and flew away. More recently, kindergarten read Ghost Wings, a story about a young Mexican girl who looks forward to the return of the butterflies to her hometown as she helps her family prepare for Dias De Los Muertos.


We also viewed sections of NOVA's The Journey of the Butterflies as a review of all that we have learned thus far about the monarch migration. We tracked the migration with maps on Journey South's website and found out that more and more butterflies are being reported in southern states than earlier this month.

We are working on special projects now that will help us learn more about the celebration the children are looking forward to in Mexico called Dias De Los Muertos. They will be celebrating Dias De Los Muertos when the leading edge of the migration arrives in central Mexico. During this time the monarchs fill the streets, gardens, plazas, markets, and cemeteries with the flutter of butterfly wings. While the sky fills with orange, black, and white winged insects, children in the schools nearby welcome the returning monarchs with joy.


Teacher Ann is reading books from our classroom book bin on Mexico to help us learn more about life in Mexico and in particular what it is like for five and six year-olds who live near the butterfly sanctuaries. Our class was inspired by the table of memories called an "ofrenda" in Ghost Wings, scenes from around Mexico in Off We Go to Mexico!, and in Day of the Dead, the author and illustrators' description of a family's preparations for the festivities on Dias De Los Muertos.

We're looking forward to winter!

Today we harvested more tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. We used these ingredients as the base for pizza sauce that we made together during Cooperative Learning time. Some kindergartners cut chunks of peppers and onions to freeze for using during the winter, too.





We are looking forward to making pizza with the sauce on the day of the first snow fall of the season. Our frozen veggies will someday be part of a stir-fry for morning snack.