Hello families. This month, in addition to our curriculum, we have been working on different activities that highlight Latin culture. On the heels of Hispanic Heritage Month we dove into the multi-day holiday Día de los Muertos and learned about Alebrijes.

For Día de los Muertos, the students painted rocks and clay skulls, cut tissue paper into papel picado, and sculpted calacas any way they wanted; they also colored a skull mask and watched about 10 min of Pixar’s Coco in class. In the Spanish classroom the core arts team put together a beautiful altar that was used for discussion during learning sessions. Some students even provided the element of pictures to honor loved ones. 

We had fun participating in a small procession around the school to showcase our work in celebration of the holiday. We also enjoyed a tasty sweet treat called Pan de Muertos (day of the dead bread).  Although some students preferred fruits like raspberries and strawberries instead, we all shared in the cultural experience. 

The following week we had an amazing visitor, woodcarver Jesus Sosa Calvo. Señor Jesus is from San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico. He has been carving animals from wood (Alebrijes) since the 1980s. Señor Jesus is a familiar face around TBS. Many students know him and his work from previous visits. This year was special because he gifted our school an Alebrije featuring two lovely cats that were painted by the K-8 student body. It was such a great time followed by an Alebrije sale in front of the school. Thank you all for your support.