Yarn draws students closer to another culture during Hispanic Heritage Month
Teacher Ruth Anderson works with EB Frink eighth grader Hunter Southerland on his Ojo de Dios craft project, part of the fun learning Anderson’s students undertook in observance of Hispanic Heritage Month. Across LCPS, classes and student clubs are raising their awareness and understanding of Hispanic culture through activities that, while not isolated to this time of year, take on added significant during Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs through Oct. 15.
With colorful strands of yarn, Ruth Anderson draws her students at EB Frink Middle School closer to an exotic culture as part of Hispanic Heritage Month.
For the second year, Anderson has engaged her eighth graders with a craft and classroom discussion centered on Ojo de Dios, or God’s Eye, a ritual item made by wrapping yarn in a distinctive circular pattern around two bound sticks. Spaniards moving through Mexico in the 16th century first found the God’s Eye among the Huichol Indians in the Sierra Madre mountain range, where the tribe still lives.
“It’s a craft project but it’s also an introduction to a tribe that’s not very well known,” Anderson said. “I wanted my kids to find out a lot about something they didn’t know.”
In addition to creating their own Ojo de Dios, the students learned about the tribe’s rituals, its symbolism and the written and spoken language of the Huichol – a language “that’s only spoken by 26,000 people, that’s old and has roots in Aztec culture and other indigenous people,” Anderson said. While the students worked on their craft and Anderson roamed the classroom, lending a hand, music with Latin rhythms played in the background.
In elementary schools, in middle schools and in high schools throughout LCPS, classes and student clubs are raising their awareness and understanding of Hispanic culture through activities that, while not isolated to this time of year, take on added significant during Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs through Oct. 15.
Whether mastering an art project or learning a song in Spanish or creating presentations about notable Hispanics, students stretch their abilities while expanding their horizons.
“We learned about different cultures and the art that they make, and we learned how to make a new craft that I’ve never done before,” Abby Martin, one of Anderson’s eighth graders, said. “It’s introduced me to how they do their art. It’s very interesting.”
Once Abby and her classmates completed their crafts, they hung them in the hall outside Anderson’s classroom along with printed pages about the Huichol and the origin of Ojo de Dios. As a ritual tool, the totem is valued as a protective device and a representation of the spiritual eye that has the power to see and understand things about which the physical eye is blind.
Prior to taking on the craft project, the students researched various Mexican, Central American and South American cultures and presented their findings to the class. “We did a lot of learning about different cultures,” Anderson said. “We learned about other tribes, we learned a dance, we learned a song. It’s a fun month.”
Joining in the fun this month are teachers and students around the school district. Here’s a sample of Hispanic Heritage Month activities so far:
Also at EB Frink, Hispanic student read facts about Hispanic Heritage Month each morning during announcements. They read the facts in both English and Spanish.
At Lenoir County Early College High School, students in Jan Humphrey’s English class select a positive quote for Hispanic Heritage Month and share their quotes with the class. Students read a poem in English and Spanish and participated in a discussion of the poem, “Rocking” ( “Meciendo” ) from the textbook.
At Banks Elementary School, students in Alyssa Citero’s class created their own maracas out of spoons, kernels, plastic eggs and tape, followed by a maraca lesson to match with Cuban music. Music teacher Wil Sawyer taught Banks students a song full of words in Spanish.
At Kinston High School, the Spanish Honor Society is using Hispanic Heritage Month to promote club membership, featuring Hispanic history and the inclusiveness of the Hispanic community at KHS. Club members previewed their work when Superintendent Brent Williams and LCPS senior staff visited in September.
At South Lenoir High School, students in Marietta Floyd’s math class researched different Hispanic mathematicians and created a slide show presentation in Apple Keynote about each one.
At Contentnea-Savannah K-8 School, students in Adrienne Evan’s class created a papel picado banner. Papel picado means “punched paper.” The tradition of using papel picado originates from the practices by Aztecs. The Aztecs covered a bark textile called amatl (paper) with melted rubber and paint on it. They used it to decorate religious sculptures, shrines and burials.
At Northwest Elementary School, students in Emily Tribula’s class read the story “Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin.” Students read the story, compared and contrasted culture in Mexico and the United States and also learned some new Spanish words.
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