We have had a short week with 2 days lost to Hurricane Sandy. Consequently, I had to scale back plans to explore the art and culture of the Day of the Dead, condensing it to showing a video and adding color to Sugar Skulls. While I was scaling back, my friend and colleague, Dr. V., was charging full speed ahead with her Spanish Immersion classes. Dr. V. is from Chile and I value her insight into all areas of Latin culture as well as in many other areas including education.
During morning bus duty yesterday, I noticed several students carrying large, colorful, tissue paper decorated projects off of their buses. I stopped by Dr. V.’s room today and sure enough the projects were on display by the window.
They are altars (offerings) to the dead following the Day of the Dead tradition. I was struck by the color and subjects of the altars, some of which include the Mexican and Spanish artists, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso.
As I was leaving the room I stopped to admire this fun poster that was hanging on the blackboard:
As Dr. V. and I chatted about Kahlo and Rivera and curriculum ideas for the Day of the Dead, she said, “We should work together on this next year. I will cover the literature, and you can do the art.” And that, my friends, is the Quote of the Week. Tune in next year for a post showcasing our Visual Art and Spanish Immersion collaboration on el Dia de los Muertos….
And with a lot of help from Dr. V., I offer you this: Adiós! ¡Nos vemos el próximo año!