I wanted to share a little about how I begin each November.
Day of the Dead...it sounds so... scary? macabre?
But the more I learn about it, the more I appreciate how special the holiday is!
I first learned about DOD from a teammate who did projects with her kiddos. She gave me the rundown and we made pretty skulls with lots lots of glitter, skeleton puppets, and dead authors projects. I must say it intrigued me.
But I didn't teach anything about the reason for the holiday.
then I moved down to 2nd grade.
would it be too scary for them?
Why, that's silly! It's a HOLIDAY for Heaven's sake!
Day of the Dead is a 2 day celebration from Nov. 1-2
I spend a day reading, talking, sharing, and creating about DOD.
We read about all the why's and what's first thing in our minibooks.
And this year with The Book of Life movie, I think the kids will really connect!
So here's a peek at what we do
We used trifolds to display info of a favorite author who has died. I did this with my 4th graders! We attached paper marigolds and added altar details like candles. They did all their research in the lab using the note taking booklet I made.
Oh the skulls! Aren't they beautiful!? This is still my favorite activity!
We also buy Pan de los Muertos (bread of the dead) from a local shop and enjoy it while we watch a slideshow our ESL teacher does with us. She is from Columbia and they love hearing her first-hand knowledge.
If you're interested in learning about Day of the Dead, check out my unit! There's tons more to choose from!
and here's a little freebie! We focus on the traditions and important figures when we study holidays, so I just added this little traditions writing page! You can watch a video (or use my unit) and have the kids tell what they learned about each of these traditions!
click to download from Google Drive
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