October 10, 2010

Dia de los Muertos Calacas!

I have never been to Mexico but through books and hearing students' stories I can imagine the colorful, vibrant culture that I'm missing.

I am especially interested in Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos, because of it's view on life. In the U.S. death is often viewed as an end of life.  Day of the Dead gathers families together to remember their loved one's lives and spirit. They remember with food, art, celebrations and   takes place November 2nd every year. This is not a time of mourning like a funeral, but is filled with color and humor. It is a time to "laugh at death" as someone told me. What an amazing and foreign idea for this American! Learning about other cultures helps me consider other views and broaden my own. I can only hope it does the same for my students. 

After talking about Day of the Dead celebrations and viewing  a lot of art work we created these skeletons last year. It also gave us a chance to talk about proportions. As you can see some students understood proportions better than others! No matter what the proportions are, they are all full of life! I am thinking of doing the same project next week but I have also seen some other great ideas on the blogs! I have one more day to decide what to do with my Day of the Dead art lesson. If you have an idea or link let me know!




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