“La rosa…pan de muerto…tumba decorada…calavera de azucar…cocinar…ofrenda…flor amarilla,” called out Mount Madonna School (MMS) elementary Spanish teacher Luis Hernandez, one by one, as fourth grade students, sitting physically distanced at tables in their outdoor classroom, carefully practiced spelling and writing this new vocabulary on their colorful game cards in a friendly game of seasonal Spanish bingo.
In recent days, fourth grade teacher Nick Cabassa, Hernández and makers’ teacher Lisa Catterall, wove creative STEAM projects, art, social studies, language arts, and cultural traditions into enriching lessons for students, culminating in a Halloween and Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead celebration on October 30 and highlighted with a class ofrenda or altar.
The Day of the Dead sugar skull project is a fourth grade tradition in recent years,” said Cabassa. “Usually we add our creations to the all-school altar at the upper campus, but this year we were happy to make our own class altar, specifically for us. Our altar was also decorated with lighted tissue paper flowers made by the students.”
“Fourth graders study electricity, circuits, and energy transformation through hands-on projects that require them to direct current from power sources through non-adjacent lights and motors,” shared Catterall. “In the second half of the course they begin to study electrical resistance, robotics and applications of chaotic motion. It’s structured in a way that they feel they are playing with the tools and materials, although by the end of their sessions, historically, they do end up acquiring a fairly solid vocabulary in electrical engineering. They also become quite familiar with some of the fun tools used in maker projects.
“The curriculum grew out of ideas from the High-Low Tech group of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab and The Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium, and through my own research on classroom interventions to create equity in engineering through the Imagination Group,” she continued. “This year, the students cannot travel to our makers’ lab so there are new and innovative projects that can be delivered without sharing materials significantly, in their outdoor classrooms and at home. Seasonal projects – such as lighted, tissue paper flowers the students recently created, and other stand-alone projects this year will replace some of the projects we typically do that take multiple class sessions, shared platforms, and electrical drops for each 
student.”
While Hernandez guided them through a round of bingo, with seasonal Spanish words and phrases, students took turns choosing small, molded sugar skulls or calaveras de azucar to decorate with colored icing and sweet embellishments.
“Festivities are a great opportunity for students to approach different cultures and learn new Spanish vocabulary while enjoying fun activities,” said Hernandez. “We created connections between the words, and the pronunciation requires repetition, so we used creative tools for them to engage and practice, like a bingo game for the fourth graders, with a complete explanation about the concepts on the bingo cards.”
Throughout the school year MMS fourth grade students are encouraged to explore traditions that differ from their own.
“Day of the Dead is our first opportunity to explore another culture’s traditions,” said Cabassa. “Not only do students enjoy this venture into others perspectives’, they also get a chance to share about a loved one and add their picture to our class altar. This assignment is the students’ first real opportunity this school year to practice their public speaking and presentation skills in front of a live audience. Most students really enjoy the project and love to participate!”
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Nestled among the redwoods on 375 acres, Mount Madonna School (MMS) is a community of learners dedicated to creative, intellectual, and ethical growth. MMS supports its students in becoming caring, self-aware, discerning and articulate individuals; and believe a fulfilling life includes personal accomplishments, meaningful relationships and service to society. The CAIS and WASC accredited program emphasizes academic excellence, creative self-expression and positive character development. Located on Summit Road between Gilroy and Watsonville. Founded in 1979.
