Day of the Dead

This was a project that would not have happened without the help of my PTA.  They donated money for me to purchase supplies I would not have otherwise had the opportunity to buy.  I purchased paper mache skulls to do a Day of the Dead project - I ordered them from Amazon.com in the summer and they were about 2 bucks a piece.  Now, close to Halloween their price was jacked up to almost 8 bucks a piece!  If you do order your own make sure you buy them off season.

We watched a power point I'd gotten from Teachers Pay Teachers on the history and traditions of the Day of the Dead.  I can no longer find the link for it, so I can't put it up for you.  For some reason it's not listed in my purchases archive.  Sorry about that!

After discussing it and looking at other examples (I found a sugar skull calender that I took apart and laminated to use as posters) the sixth grade base coated their skulls white (it took two coats), and then worked on rough draft designs while they waited for their skulls to dry.

We used colored sharpies to decorate our skulls.  The sixth grade was told to use symmetry and asked to use symbols.  Most followed directions.  Some went very, very, very wrong.  And one young lady impressed me incredibly.

She gave up her recess to come and finish this.

Not a single surface was left undecorated.

She was so careful with her lines.

Seriously, I was so impressed.

It's beautiful from any angle.

I sort of wish I could keep it.

She was so proud of herself when she finished.  She dragged her mom down to see it on Parent Teacher Conference night.

The librarian was kind enough to give me display space.