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Cinco de Mayo In Room 13S

Jul 02, 2008

The fifth of May is a special day for Mexican-Americans. On May 5, 1862, an army of French soldiers was defeated by a smaller army of Mexican soldiers. The French under Napoleon III were trying to take over Mexico and were not successful. Mexican-Americans enjoy commemorating this day and so our classroom joined the celebration!

The students prepared for the day by coloring paper cactus plants and sombreros which were hung in the room. One of the assistants, Jenny Ginto, has celebrated Cinco de Mayo in California for many years. She cut out beautiful red, green, and white tissue paper squares, the colors of the Mexican flag, and hung them in the room. Jenny also made a piñata that looked like a pig!

On Cinco de Mayo Jenny came to school, dressed in a Mexican shirt and wearing braids. Leticia Peralta, another Mexican-American assistant, brought special food for the occasion.

The students enjoyed sampling salsa and chips as well as quesadillas. The students also had fun hitting the piñata outside in the walkway between the school and the dorm. Even more fun was scrambling for the candy when the piñata broke! It was a great afternoon, learning about one of the holidays that is special to Mexican-Americans and having fun as we learned!

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