Students enjoyed learning about Day of the Dead and making name skeletons and calaveras.

Preschoolers pretend to be trees dropping their leaves in fall!

Older kids are busy preparing their crafts for the Latin American market on Thursday, November 19th.  The entire school will visit the ‘mercado’ shopping with pesos.  This is a great opportunity for students to practice their Spanish conversational skills.  Fifth and sixth graders will be presenting a skit in Spanish on Wednesday, November 18th.  This event is a highlight at Rivendell.

Middle and Older kids made bird ornaments to celebrate the holiday season.  All students compared and contrasted various winter fiestas.  They discovered a common theme of lights, family and food.  Literature, songs and crafts helped students to explore the many customs and traditions.  

The middle and older kids created bird ornaments to celebrate the season.  They compared and contrasted traditions and customs for various winter fiestas.  They found a common theme in lights, food and families.  Literature, songs and crafts helped students explore the holiday.

Preschooler Maddox pretends to be a tree in fall.

     The Latin American market was a wonderful experience for the entire school.  The older kids prepared beautiful rainbow bracelets, poppers, surprise bags, acorn animals, paper hats, cookies, cupcakes and more.  Their creativity and hard work was impressive.  They did a great job speaking Spanish in the market and demonstrated excellent pronunciations during the 5th grade skit.

We have had a wonderful time exploring the ancient Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations and their connection to the Spanish language and culture.  We will continue to work on our Spanish conversational skills as we prepare for the Latin American Market in November.  Older kids should prepare 25 – 30 crafts to sell at el  mercado on Thursday, November 21 from 9:00 – 11:00.  The 5th graders will also present a skit in Spanish on Tuesday, November 19.  All students will receive ‘pesos’ to spend at the market and enjoy the language and cultural experience.

The younger and middle kids have enjoyed exploring the culture and customs of España.  They learned about Don Quixote, bull fighting, the flamenco and geographical aspects of the country.  They  also practiced dialogue through Spanish conversations.  The middle kids concluded their study by writing an acrostic poem about Spain.  Here are two examples:

S alsa on chips                                                         S kiing is popular                      

P aella is a popular  dish                                           P layas are beautiful

A lot of architecture                                                   A mazing castillos

I nteresting                                                                I nteresting music

N iños take a siesta                                                 N iños

by Jake Coester                                                       by Nicolas Goyen

[nggallery id=1]The older kids really stepped up to produce some fabulous treats and amazing crafts for this year’s market!  The entire school enjoyed shopping with pesos and experiencing the culture.  We had cupcakes, cookies, brownies, duck tape wallets, clay animals, jewelry, poppers, finger knitting, bookmarks, and many more inspired creations.  I am proud of the students’ initiative and effort to make this event a success!  Enjoy the photos.