Cuyahoga County Universal Pre-Kindergarten/Starting Point

Seattle, WA

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Hawthorne Elementary continues to strengthen its partnership program and the participation of its families. Over 20 languages and dialects are spoken by Hawthorne’s students and families. 

In recent years, the school’s partnership team launched a series of cultural and language-based coffee chats, meetings, and activities to understand the specific needs of groups of students and families at the school. Another goal is for students with different backgrounds to understand each other better.

At one of the Spanish-Speaking Coffee Chats, parents suggested celebrating Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead or All Souls Day). The holiday is celebrated in Latin America for families to remember and honor the lives of deceased relatives and family history. At Hawthorne, with parents’ leadership and teachers’ collaboration, Dia de los Muertos includes an organized program, decorations, projects, and refreshments.

Last year, teachers improved the way classroom projects related to Dia de los Muertos. Art projects, poetry, songs, and dances created by students were presented at the celebration. The art teacher prepared students with information on the holiday, including the tradition of sugar skulls. Students in kindergarten through second grade created sugar skull collages. Drawing upon culture and history, students made Penacho—feather and flower headdresses—and decorated paper skull masks, which are positive symbols for Dia de los Muertos. Parents made traditional sugar skulls for students in grades 3-5 to decorate and display. A guest artist conducted art activities with students and parents.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is featured in Promising Partnership Practices 2019.

Family Toolkit Series

At Hawthorne Elementary, language-based focus groups and coffee chats showed that families had questions about parenting and counseling children at different age levels. In response, parents and educators created a 5-session Family Toolkit Series based on parents’ requests. The series of workshops and meetings gave parents a chance to network and learn from each other about similar issues they were facing as their children grew up. 

The first session, Understanding your Child, highlighted how parents’ roles change as their children develop. Second, Dealing with Peer Pressure, discussed ways parents may identify risk factors to prevent serious problems. Third, Cyber Bullying and Internet Safety, featured strategies to protect children by setting and maintaining clear guidelines and keeping family bonds strong. The fourth session, Family Time, discussed six “tools for parents.” These were holding family meetings, choosing effective parenting styles, making family decisions, using good communication skills, managing anger and other feelings, and solving family problems. The last session, Family Time Celebration, built on Hawthorne’s emphasis on the arts. Parents and children were invited to paint together and take the finished project home to display.