What are you learning about with your students?
Fall to Winter in the PreK-3 classroom usually means one thing – holidays. While we know you’re busy picking books, scripting plays, making treats, and coordinating your holiday teacher sweaters, we thought the season was ripe for recommending some fresh ideas for doing holidays inclusively with your young readers and writers.
Día de los Muertos – An Important Latinx Holiday
Image by Anna Sullivan via Unsplash
Día de los Muertos is celebrated in several Latin American countries, but is especially prominent in Mexico. The colorful, festive holiday centers on family, and the skeletal imagery commonly associated with Día de los Muertos is not intended as fearful. Instead, families gather to honor their deceased family members and enjoy one another’s company, while also normalizing the life cycle from birth to death. Importantly, we should not teach children that Día de los Muertos is another type of Halloween! This holiday is not macabre, and is better presented as a way of honoring family history and celebrating loved ones past and present.
Image by Eduardo Dorantes via Unsplash
It is very possible that you have children in your classroom that celebrate Día de los Muertos with their own families! When teaching a new holiday, it is always a great idea to send out an invitation letter to all families requesting adults to come into the classroom to share their cultural practices with the class. Another important move is to include books and media that positively reflect the holiday in question in culturally responsive ways. In particular, seeking authors and creators that are members of the related cultural, ethnic, racial, and/or religious group is a great choice. Some useful books and media are included below!
Funny Bones: Posada and his Day of the Dead Calaveras
Duncan Tonatiuh, a Mexican-American author, writes and illustrates a beautiful book that celebrates both Día de los Muertos and the art of José Guadalupe Posada. This book is both informative and entertaining!
Rosita y Conchita: A Rhyming Storybook in English & Spanish
Eric Gonzalez is a Latinx animator and cartoonist known for his animation studio, Muertoons, which he runs with coauthor Erich Haeger. Gonzalez and Haeger collaborated to create this whimsical book that rhymes in both languages – truly a linguistic feat!
The Festival of Bones: El Festival de las Calaveras
Notable Mexican artist Luis San Vincente explains Día de los Muertos with the help of classically rendered skeletons celebrating the holiday in their finest traditional attire.
Gustavo the Shy Ghost
Flavia Z. Drago, a Mexican artist, brings us the story of Gustavo, a little ghost with big dreams of making friends in time for Día de los Muertos. A lovely take on both the social story and the ghost story, plus illustrations that will make every child smile.
Coco
A gorgeous, lyrical film that children and adults alike will adore! Coco is an excellent exploration of the meanings of Día de los Muertos – love, family, and family history. A wonderful way to help children unfamiliar with the holiday to disassociate it with Halloween and better understand its true symbolism, and also a wonderful way for Latinx children to see themselves represented in popular culture.
Thank you!!