by Holly McCarty

Mini-unit Overview

"El Dia de los Muertos"

El Dia de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead, is one of the many fascinating celebrations that occur in Mexico. This holiday reflects how Mexican culture accepts death as an essential part of the cycle of life. Death on El Dia de los Muertos is joyfully celebrated as families gather to honor and show respect for their loved ones who have passed away. This holiday originated from the union of indigenous beliefs of death and afterlife with the European rituals of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.

There is the belief that during El Dia de los Muertos, souls of the dead return to the earth for one day of the year. The souls of children are said to arrive on October 31 and leave November 1, or All Saints' Day. The souls of the adults arrive on November 1 and leave on November 2, All Souls' Day.

This celebration requires much preparation. Families construct ofrendas (alters) to honor their loved ones. These alters are decorated with candles, gifts, marigolds, banners, food, and drinks. Tombs and graves in the cemeteries are cleaned and painted. A special bread known as Pan de los Muertos (Bread of the Dead) is prepared along with candies in the shape of skulls. Skeleton figures clothed in modern and often comical attire are popular symbols of the holiday. El Dia de los Muertos is a colorful and joyful celebration that connects the past with the present. It reassures living Mexican people that when they too have passed away, they will be remembered and celebrated.

I have chosen this fascinating celebration of El Dia de los Muertos as a my mini-unit. This mini-unit was taught in Carol Smith's fifth grade classroom at Leal School. Throughout the second quarter, these fifth graders will be doing a study on the country of Mexico. The students will be examining the culture, lifestyle, values, geography, and history of Mexico and its people. El Dia de los Muertos is one of the many interesting characteristics of Mexican culture. My four lessons were used to enhance the students unit on Mexico and increase their curiosity about the culture and customs of the Mexican people.

This class is primarily taught through whole group instruction. The students leave the room for social studies with another fifth grade teacher. These lessons, therefore, were not taught in the context of a social studies period. My cooperating teacher dedicates one hour in the afternoon a few days a week to exploring integrated units such as Mexico. My lessons were taught twice a week in a whole class context. Some of the activities, however, had the students working in cooperative groups. My mini-unit on El Dia de los Muertos was used as an introduction to their unit on Mexico in hopes that it will get the students curious about and interested in the Mexican culture.

Through this mini-unit, the students will develop an appreciation for the values and culture of the Mexican people. They will gain an understanding of the origin, purpose, and characteristics of the holiday El Dia de los Muertos and the preparation involved in putting it together. The students will recognize how this holiday reflects particular values of the Mexican culture. The students will reflect on the similarities and differences between the way the Mexican people view and recognize death as compared to the way death is remembered in their own culture. Students will also compare the El Dia de los Muertos festival to Halloween to understand that although the same images are present, they are not the same holiday in meaning.

The five areas my lessons will mainly revolve around are Social Studies, Language and Literacy, Art, and Math/Home Economics. I will first introduce the concept of El Dia de los Muertos by having the students reflect on the ways people in the American culture remember and honor the dead. I will read a story, Maria Molina and the Days of the Dead to spark the students curiosity of the holiday. Afterwards, I will have the students work in cooperative groups to compare El Dia de los Muertos with Halloween and Memorial Day.

To further their understanding of the holiday in more detail, I will have students during another lesson read an article about El Dia de los Muertos with a partner. While one reads, the other will take notes in a web given to the students that organizes the information on the festival in terms of origin, food, decorations, where it is celebrated, and who celebrates it. Afterwards, the class will discuss each element of the festival in more detail.

Calavera (skull and skeleton) figures wearing modern dress and depicting various aspects and people from everyday life are a popular symbol of El Dia de los Muertos. I will read the students a popular Mexican tale and show them many pictures of the skeleton images in the El Dia de los Muertos festival. From this tale and images, students will begin to get an understanding of how the Mexican culture views death. These images reveal that they react positively with death and accept it as a natural part of life. After hearing the tale, students will construct calavera puppets from tag board and animate them with various materials.

Along with the puppets, the students will construct their own papel picado, or cut paper designs. This art form is a popular site in the El Dia de los Muertos festival. The students will examine some papel picado from Mexico before beginning the activity, along with looking at cut paper art from other countries.

The last lesson will be an activity in cooking Pan de los Muertos (Bread of the Dead) and Mexican Hot Chocolate. Along with the Home Economics skills of cooking, this lesson incorporates Social Studies by examining, creating, and tasting what type of foods are characteristic to this celebration and Math through skills of measurement involved in the actual cooking process. We end our two week discovery of El Dia de los Muertos by eating our Mexican cooking creations.

Some other activities can be incorporated into this mini-unit for students to work on between lessons. For example, there are over 9,000 web sites on the El Dia de los Muertos. Students will be encouraged to look at some of these I will bookmark for them using the internet and search for some new sites on their own. The students can also be given a scavenger hunt using these websites to locate terms, concepts, and characteristics concerning El Dia de los Muertos. Due to lack of time, my students will not do this lesson. The students will be given a word search of Spanish terms concerning the El Dia de los Muertos festival and be encouraged to use book resources available in the room as well as websites to find the answers.

In terms of assessment, I will give the students a writing exercise to assess what they have retained throughout the mini-unit. The writing exercise will take the form of a scenario. The students are to act as if they are visiting as an exchange student to Mexico. They accompany a family to the El Dia de los Muertos festival. They are to write home to tell their family about the celebration giving as many details of food, atmosphere, meaning, and origin as possible to give their family a detailed description of the event.

The celebration of El Dia de los Muertos is an interesting means of introducing the students to the unique culture and customs of the Mexican people. The activities engage the students in learning about the holiday through reading, writing, art, music, food, and technology. The students have the opportunity to experience some of the celebration themselves. This mini-unit will hopefully give the students a closer look at some of the special aspects of Mexican culture and stimulate their curiosity and desire to learn more about Mexico and its people.