El día de los muertos

We're celebrating in school today. I set up a mesa de ofrenda, we're having pan de muertos, the kids made calacas and papel picado to decorate. I think it's going to be a good day.

Irreemplazable

After the whole Kanye/Taylor Swift/Beyoncé mess at the VMA's, I considered becoming a Beyoncé fan, but there's still the whole Anna sponge problem.

Then I found 4 songs recorded in Spanish. Bliss.

Then I found this: a Norteña remix. (The video's not great, just listen)

Definitely a fan.

¡Día de independencia de México!

Independence Day in Mexico is September 16. People gather in the zocalo (town center) on the 15th, and at midnight the president comes out on the balcony, remembering the leaders in the fight for freedom. He gives the "grito" about 4 minutes in, it's neat, you should stick around to see it. Someday I'd love to be there.

The song you hear in the beginning and after the grito is the national anthem. When people say that the anthem for the U.S. is too bloody, I always think of the Mexican himno nacional. Way bloodier. Here it is, with lyrics, if you're interested (English translation).

¡Feliz día de independencia!

Otro comercial

Found this commercial last night, it's pretty fast, but the vocabulary is very basic. The accent is not familiar, I think it might be from Argentina? Someplace further south than Mexico, anyway.

Elementary School Secrets

Every once in a while, when I'm chatting with a fellow Mama, I'm reminded that as parents, we only have access to a few kids in any given age group, and it's hard to know what's normal. No, that's not it, there's no such thing as a normal kid. Maybe, it's hard to know what generally comes with the territory for any given age group.

One of the advantages of teaching Elementary School is that I get to see loads of kids every day, and at all different ages, and watch them grow and develop. I love that part. It's been so fun to see the kindergartners I started with, now 4th graders, through all of their growing up. I love seeing all of the kids every day. But that's not my point.

My point is that there's some stuff I know. Maybe you'd like to know it too.

1. Kids fall out of their chairs until about halfway through 2nd grade. It's not that they're being naughty, though sometimes it does happen because of wiggling. It's often inexplicable, and just as surprising to the kids as to you.

2. Those jeans with the metal snap buttons are really hard for kids to fasten. Teachers are helping with that, often through 1st grade. The first time I saw a kid fiddling with his button I couldn't figure out what was wrong for 15 minutes. I just knew he was really concerned, and it had something to do with his pants. I finally pulled him into the hall to find out what was going on. Coming from the High School, I was awfully surprised at the problem, and half scared to help him. I finally shook myself back to reason and buttoned his pants. He was awfully relieved.

3. The cool eraser IS that important. I keep waiting to find out when they're going to outgrow that, but it doesn't happen before 6th grade is over. If there's one pencil with a cool eraser, or one pencil with an American flag on it, they will fight over it. And if you give them a big pink eraser, it's not possible to avoid folding it in half until it breaks in two. I've never seen anyone resist.

4. Coloring and scribbling and tearing paper are really important things for little ones to do before they come to school. It helps to build up the muscles in their arms. Lots of our little K's get tired and sad and complain about their arms hurting.

5. They tell us everything. My favorite so far is "My Dad wants Mom to have another baby, but she says we're enough."

Know of any others?