NVUSD Students Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are sharing some of the projects NVUSD students are doing to learn, share, participate in and reflect on Hispanic Heritage. We invite you to read about their learning and enjoy the associated media. 

Pueblo Vista

TK through fifth-grade students at Pueblo Vista Magnet School celebrated the Spanish language and culture as they danced and sang along to a live performance with the Grammy-winning Latin music duo 123 Andrés.  

Principal Helen Rocca was thrilled that the Parent Faculty Club (PFC) provided this fun, engaging, and language-rich experience. Yearly, Kathleen Burroughs helps the PFC book 123 Andrés to celebrate bilingualism and sociocultural competence. In NVUSD’s Dual Language Immersion schools, students learn in both Spanish and English daily. Kindergarten through second grade spends the majority of their instructional day engaged in the Spanish language. The students participate in phonics lessons while singing to 123 Andrés on the Promethean Boards. The duo also incorporates counting, spelling, and sign language in their presentations. Principal Rocca said, “The live performance was like having real celebrities show up to school! Teachers and students were lining up to have their pictures taken with the group.” 

For third through fifth grade, 123 Andrés dove deeper into the socio-cultural competencies that are key pillars of the Dual Language Immersion experience. They shared music and dances from Spanish-speaking countries throughout Latin America, showed the students a flute from Bogota, and taught them how to make a map of the Americas with their hands.  

Reflecting on the event, Ms. Rocca said, “I couldn’t tell who was more excited, the students or the teachers!”  You can see for yourself by watching this short video of the concert on Pueblo Vista’s Facebook page.

 

 

 

 

         

Unidos Middle School

During advisory at Unidos Middle School, students learned about Spanish culture by creating art to display at the Napa Día de los Muertos event in downtown Napa on November 5.

In Maestro Hernandez’s class, students painted Calaveras (skulls) in bright colors. Shelby, a seventh-grade student who attended Browns Valley Elementary, shared that she did not know much about Día de los Muertos before starting the project but learned that “the skulls are a celebration of loved ones who have passed away.” Sitting next to Shelby, Aly, who attended Pueblo Vista Elementary, said that she has always celebrated Día de los Muertos with her family and added that “the bright colors carry meaning; red represents blood, orange is the sun, and yellow represents the Mexican flower marigold which means death.” Both girls look forward to attending the event in downtown Napa to see their Calaveras on exhibit.

Maestro Hernandez said that the skulls will be added with colorful flowers to a wooden casket that together will be an Ofrenda on display in downtown Napa. 

In Maestra Knutson’s Advisory, students are assembling a grid drawing using oil pastels of La Catrina, Mexico’s Lady of Death popularized by the work of José Guadalupe Posada. First, students learned about La Catrina, as well as techniques for using oil pastels. Then, students drew their pieces of the grid. Next, they expanded pieces of the original drawing into a larger portion of the work.

Like Maestro Henandez’s Advisory, Maestra Knutson said that her advisory will assemble all of the pieces of La Catrina for display in downtown Napa. 

 

 

 

Vintage High School

The World Language Department at Vintage had students complete projects to learn about different Hispanic countries. 

In Maestra Quiroz’s classes, students were expected to research several countries and share what they learned with their classmates. When asked about the most interesting thing they learned Kai, Ben, Victor, Gracie, Will, and Mahila were well prepared, sharing:

• Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s independence day, it is September 16.

• Puerto Rico has 300 miles of beaches and was governed by the Spanish until 1898.

• Latino and Hispanic are not synonymous.

• Cuba has a rich food culture including the Sandwich Cubano.

• The Dominican Republic shares an island with the country Haiti.

• Panama has an archipelago, San Blas, with 365 islands. 

Isn’t it great to know that there is always something more to learn!