Dear Water Zombie Families,
As a teaching team, we love to share our cultures and backgrounds with the children. One holiday that is especially important to me is Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead. This is a celebration that goes back to pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America and is a time to think about loved ones who have died.
Celebrating Día de Muertos in the Yellow Room is another opportunity to bring family, particularly members no longer with us, into the classroom. We plan to introduce the holiday through picture books, and then I will talk about my personal connection. We will show photos of different ofrenda/altars, including my own, and discuss how we might build an ofrenda in the Yellow Room. We hope that we can open up conversations about what it means to remember people who have died, talk about people who died before we were born, and how we keep memories alive.
This ties well into our ongoing curricular interest in names, considering how many children have names with ties to past family members. Día de Muertos also connects with teaching the children research skills and becoming active learners. As we show the children how to be researchers, “interviews” have become an essential tool. We practice looking within our communities for “experts” and asking them questions. As a class, we also write emails and messages via dictation. Asking families about relatives who have died will build these important literacy skills. We will help the children think of questions to ask you all, the experts about your family histories.
We know that death can feel like a big topic for young children. However, we know death is an idea that two to five-year-old children are typically curious about. Because their complete understanding of such an abstract concept is limited, we are using resources such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/tyc/spring2021/explaining-death) and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (https://health.choc.org/talking-to-children-about-death-an-age-by-age-guide) to guide our planning and potential conversations with the children, using simple, developmentally appropriate language and concepts. If something comes up at home or you have questions about what language to use with the children, please do not hesitate to reach out to us for ideas or clarification.
We are excited to bring Día de Muertos into the Yellow Room, and we will invite all Barrow community members to add their loved ones to our ofrenda. Please make sure to stop in and take a look! Last year’s ofrenda in the Green Room included photos from teachers and administrators from all over the school.
