Friday, October 30, 2015

Celebrating Day of the Dead

I love Halloween! I love making costumes and trick or treaters and candy and skeletons and pumpkins! Living in Texas, I also enjoyed discovering the tradition of the Day of the Dead-- a time to remember those we love who are no longer with us (thinking of you, Dad, Oma, Opa, Julia, Izell, Monte, Lettie). So, I was happy that we featured a poem about the Day of the Dead by our very own Texas author, René Saldaña, Jr., in this year's Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books, 2015). On top of that, my talented collaborator, Janet Wong, tried her hand at making a poem video for this poem which you can view by clicking HERE.

Here is the poem in English AND Spanish along with the Take 5 activities to guide you in sharing this poem. Enjoy!



Now head on over to Check it Out where Jone is hosting our Poetry Friday gathering here.

7 comments:

Janet Wong said...

Thanks for featuring the little Animoto video that I made for Rene's poem! LOVE the way his poem brings this holiday into focus as a time for honoring and remembering loved ones. I hope teachers and librarians will use the poem to help kids understand what the Day of the Dead is really all about!

Sylvia Vardell said...

Thanks, Janet-- for your support and for your clever video too!

Becky Shillington said...

This is such a poignant, heartfelt poem. Thanks for sharing it, Sylvia! It is so much fun to learn about different traditions through poetry!

Linda said...

Love the poem, the video, AND this blog! Thank you for the fabulous resources.

Charles Waters said...

Love this poem, and the Take 5's as well. The video was so well done.

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

It's not easy to find an appropriate child-friendly poem about the Day of the Dead and this one is absolutely perfect. The poem is culturally sensitive, highlights some important traditions, is written in Spanish & English, AND includes Take 5 Activities. So well done.

Lorrie L. Birchall
Poetry for Teaching