Hello Magnolia Families, here’s what we’ve been up to since our last blog post! Check out Parentsquare for a recent post with lots of photos from our Halloween Parade 🙂 Feel free to add your own to the album.
A few reminders:
- Check your child’s extra clothes bin and make sure it’s stocked!
- No School or childcare on Friday, November 10th
- No School or childcare the week of November 20th-24th
Ancestors and Our Ofrenda
¡Feliz día de Muertos, Familias de Magnolia!
Día de los Muertos (or Día de Muertos/Day of the Dead) rituals of Mexico and Central America acknowledge death as a part of life, through celebrations and remembrance. This family-centered celebration honors departed friends and relatives with food, music, and community. This year, we began this study with a question: what is an ancestor? A few weeks ago we learned all about living and non-living (and once living) things- and talked about what living things need vs. non-living things. Living things need air, water, food, and a home (plus so much more) while non-living things no longer/never required these things. We talked about how ancestors are friends and relatives of ours that have passed away/died/are no longer living.
This holiday is deeply rooted in indigenous traditions and customs. We learned that the indigenous Nahua people of central Mexico believed that life is cyclical- people are born and die, then live on as ancestors that visit us once a year during the day of the dead. The Nahua people did not think of death as something to be afraid of- instead they embraced it as a part of life. On the day of the dead, our ancestors are believed to visit ofrendas, and families spend time in community remembering their loved ones and celebrating their lives.
The classroom has been full of opportunities to learn about Día de los Muertos. We built a beautiful ofrenda to visit so we can remember and honor our ancestors. Families brought in photographs of their departed loved ones and some shared stores. Our conversations about life/death, living and non-living has guided our understanding of the Day of the Dead traditions. We learned about the beautiful cempasuchil flower and how it represents the earth as well as the sun in the sky. Papel picado was placed above the ofrenda to represent air and sky. A water basin with soap and a mirror was offered to our ancestors who visit the ofrenda on their journey after life. This week we will light incense outside to notice the direction that the smoke travels and smell the sweet smoky scent. Incense represents the element of fire. We will continue learning more about Día de Muertos traditions throughout this week and next through art projects, cooking and music!
Thank you to those who have shared photos for our ofrenda. It’s not too late- we welcome photos for the next week or so. We’re happy to print them for you if you email them to us. Thank you for sharing photos and stories of your loved ones with us!
We invite you to watch this short video made by Emily of the Día de Muertos festival in Oakland a few years ago. You can watch with your child and see if they notice any items on the ofrendas that they might recognize!
Movin’ and Groovin’
Here is a link to our fabulous Magnolia spotify playlist! If we forgot your child’s favorite song, just let us know and we’ll add it 🙂 Here’s the grownup playlist (not kid friendly) but us grownups can enjoy movin’ and groovin’ to some real bangers.
Around Magnolia
While Emily was a visiting teacher in Caterpillar Class, friends dressed up in costumes, explored the new light table, used dot markers to make pumpkins, had a birthday circle for sonny, and more!
♥Emily.Mitra.Darius