Day of the Dead Celebrations at JMS

Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. "Dia de los Muertos," as it is called in Spanish, is a happy celebration remembering loved ones who have passed away. Family members and friends create alters and they decorate them with the deceased's favorite things and foods. An important part of the holiday is the "pan de muerto" (bread of the dead) and it is usually shaped in the form of a skull. Something else children in Mexico like to do on this holiday is decorate sugar skulls. One way students in Senorita Loughlin's Spanish classes celebrated the holiday was by bringing in authentic Mexican foods to enjoy. Here are some pictures of the delicious breads and some beautifully decorated sugar skulls from Dia de los Muertos at JMS.

Emily Loughlin
Spanish Teacher
Eleanor N. Johnson Middle School

Bird Middle School Students Connect Globally

Students in Ms. Ekholm's and Ms. Carresi's ELA skills class have begun a pen pal project with students in other parts of the world. Sixth grade students in ELA Skills classes are practicing their grammar and writing skills by communicating through a program called epals.com. EPALS allows teachers and students to collaborate with classrooms in countries such as Turkey, Italy, Serbia and Greece.
When introduced to the project, the sixth grade students were very enthusiastic. They were excited to communicate and learn about children their age in other countries. Bird Middle School students have been matched up with students in their age and grade level and have already begun corresponding though EPALS. Epals allows teachers to monitor the emails between students and also gives teachers ideas for collaborative projects. Through this technology, students are able to connect globally in a protected, project-based learning network.

Visiting Artist Inspires 4th Graders

Recently, Bren Bataclan, Boston Artist and author of "Everything Will Be Alright"  visited the Boyden School. The fourth graders were inspired by this young man and his story of art and acts of kindness. He taught them how to create his 'signature' characters. At the end of the presentation the students created 8 characters. My class then went back into our classroom to create a final "Bataclan Creature". When everyone had finished their drawings we set out out 'describe' our creatures using the Elaborative Detail writing techniques as described using the Empowering Writers method. The students created clear descriptions of their creatures. We then created a Voicethread to share their writing sample. Hearing the students describe their Bataclan Creatures adds a personal touch to their writing.



Click on the arrow to start video, then click on arrows to advance the show.
By Mrs. Carroll, Grade 4 Teacher, Boyden Elementary

JMS Spanish Classes Attend "In School" Field Trip

On October 20th and 21st Bird and Johnson Middle Schools were delighted to welcome two visiting Mexican artists: Manuel Abeiro Horta and Modesto Horta.

 

The Horta brothers traveled from Michoacan, Mexico. They were visiting with Margarita's Restaurant Education Outreach Program. The program works with New England schools to showcase Mexican life, culture, and art. Manuel Abeiro and Modesto spent the day carving and painting while talking about their lives and their cultures.

Here is a video of the beginning of the day where Manuel Abeiro started to carve the mask out of wood. Modesto is in the background painting a pre-carved mask. The man speaking is Pat Picciano, the education outreach coordinator and translator.
http://youtu.be/yrhIYRKchJY 

Please visit my teacher website to see additional videos of the mask making presentations made throughout the day at JMS.
http://walpole.k12.ma.us/teachers/tpage.php?view=t&pid=2039

Thank you/Gracias to Margarita's and PAC for making these presentations possible! The children loved this enrichment activity!

Emily Loughlin

Spanish Teacher

Eleanor N. Johnson Middle School