South of the Border
June 28
Hola! I just wanted to post an update on our activities in Project Seek so far this week:
Monday -- We completed a few activities having to do with the Mexican baker in small towns and began to study the Aztecs and their great empire, Tenochtitlan. The students divided into 4 groups and worked on a puzzle reconstruction of the city while learning about many characteristics of their civilization.
Tuesday -- We continued learning about the Aztecs. We worked on two projects: a codex (the type of book that the Aztecs used to record important events) and the Aztec sunstone (often referred to as the Aztec calendar). You may want to view a website that we used to learn more about their customs: https://www.dkfindout.com/us/history/aztecs/
On most days of our class, we have continued to work on two pinatas. I estimate that we have used almost 5 pounds of flour on this project. Students had mixed emotions about all of that gooey flour and water paste, but I'm sure that they will agree that the effort was worth it when they break the pinatas on Thursday!
Tomorrow, we will talk about important holidays and prepare for Open House, which is always an exciting time for the students at Project Seek. I hope to see you then!
Sincerely, Mrs. Siqueiros
Thursday, June 23
Hola! Our "Mexican Bakery" Day was a big success. The students enjoyed making the pan dulce, and I heard lots of positive comments when they were eating it. It was a challenge for many of them to wait for the yeast dough to rise twice before we could bake it. Your child now has the recipes for the tamales we made on Monday of last week and the pan dulce (sweet bread) also. We made real Mexican chocolate to go with our sweet bread and used the traditional wooden molinillo to stir it. We talked about the lyrics to the molinillo song, but we have not sung it yet -- we were running out of time and didn't want to sing with our mouths full of pan dulce! This Monday, we have a few remaining activities to complete about the Mexican baker and then we will begin to learn about the Aztecs. It is hard to believe that this is our last week of class!
***Please don't forget our Open House on Wednesday, the 29th, from 5:00 to 7:00. It is a fun way to share what we have been doing in class. Hope to see you then!
Wednesday, June 22nd
Hola! It is hard to believe that our second week is almost over! The time has just flown. Please don't forget that tomorrow is our extended day activity. Your child will need to bring a bag lunch and snack. Class will run from 8:30-2:30.
Today we continued grinding corn using the traditional metate and mano while other groups continued working on the pinatas. Each student saw what their birthdate would look like according to the Maya calendar using the following website: https://maya.nmai.si.edu/calendar/maya-calendar-converter. You and your child may be interested in using this resource from the Smithsonian to look up the birthdates of other family members. The class also played "Loteria," a Mexican game similar to Bingo. We talked about archaeology and began a "reconstruction" of a Mayla stela, which we will finish on Thursday. Tomorrow should be fun for all as we learn about the traditional role of the Mexican baker and make pan dulce. Buen provecho!
Tuesday, June 21st
Hola! Today was a very busy day as we began talking about the importance of corn to the indigenous people of Mexico in ancient times. As part of this learning experience, we made tamales which we cooked in a real steamer for tamales and ground corn in the traditional way -- using a metate and mano. You may want to ask your child about the following poem:
Tamales, tamales
A dos por dos reales
Quien quiere tamales
A dos por dos reales.
Please don't forget that Thursday is an extended day. Your child will need to bring a snack and bag lunch.
Monday, June 20th
Hola! First of all, I would like to correct a mistake I made in the email I sent out last Friday: Open House will take place on Wednesday, 6/29. I had mistakenly given the date as 6/30.
Our Monday activities were as follows:
1. We wove fabric using our backstrap looms.
2. We began cooking dried Mexican corn with lime to grind on Tuesday using the traditional metate.
3. We learned how to count and compute Mayan math, which is based on 20, unlike our base 10 system. We began to work on a Mayan math website which your child may be interested in showing you: https://maya.nmai.si.edu/maya-sun/maya-math-game.
Tomorrow we will be making tamales!
Please don't forget that this Thursday is our extended day activity. Your child will be at Project Seek until 2:30.
As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Hola! I am so impressed with each and every child in my class! They are kind, considerate, polite, cooperative students with drive, motivation, and determination to work and problem solve. I could go on and on! I hope they are enjoying their time with me as we explore and learn about Mexican culture and customs. I apologize that this is only my second time contacting you, but I have been caught up in a whirl of activity: the celebration of one son's birthday, a visit from my daughter from Boston, and a sick cat.
This past week, we have talked about the following:
Tuesday
The legend and configuration of the Mexican flag
How to use the Mexican games and crafts at our "work table."
Wednesday
Huichol Indian culture: we made God's Eyes (a very popular activity!) and beaded masks
Thursday
We learned how clay is dug from the earth and used in Mexican pot-making and made clay pots from real Mexican air-dry terra-cotta clay.
Friday
We began learning about the Maya Indian culture
We learned the secret ingredient in some red dye:cochineal bugs!
We learned how to mordant fabric with alum so that the dye will stick.
We discussed backstrap looms and began to make our own looms (this was challenging!)
*******IMPORTANT REMINDERS!!******(
1. For the next two weeks, our class will meet Monday-Thursday.
2.Thursday, 6/23 -- Extended Day, ending at 2:30. Children will need to bring a bag lunch and snack.
3. Wednesday, 6/30 -- Open House 5:00-7:00
Thank you so much for sharing your child with me these three weeks.
Hasta luego (until later),
Mrs. Siqueiros
Instructor: Barbara Siqueiros, siqueiros.barbara@gmail.com
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Hola! I am looking forward to meeting the students on Tuesday!
I have many exciting activities planned for your child as they learn about Mexico. Some of them include: constructing pinatas that will be broken the last day of class; creating clay pots using real terra cotta clay; baking pan dulce and sampling real Mexican hot chocolate; making beadwork masks; dyeing fabric with real cochineal; and weaving on back-strap looms. Don't forget the tamales! Bienvenidos a nuestra clase de Mexico (Welcome to our class about Mexico).