Hispanic Culture in the Classroom: Día de los Muertos

 

Dia de los Muertos is one of my favorite culture activities because there are so many misconceptions about it.

Students either think there's something evil about it, or they think it's some sort of Mexican Halloween.

I love clearing up those misconceptions and showing them how fun and interesting other cultures are!

Here are 3 activities I use to introduce Día de los Muertos to my middle and high school students:

Bulletin Board Vocabulary

Okay this isn't really an activity, so much as a decoration that students can refer to.

I intensely hate decorating my classroom.

I know other teachers take pride in how instagram-tastic their classrooms are.

I am not one of those teachers.

But a word wall is the perfect thing for me. 

They cover my bulletin board (so admin can get off my back), and it's actually helpful for students!

This bulletin board set is available in my Tpt store, or you can make your own with clipart and a fun font on Powerpoint!

Scavenger Hunt Activity

I love me a scavenger hunt activity.

Scavenger hunts are a fun activity where you hang half sheets of paper around the room and each sheet has an answer in a large font, and the next question in a small font. The last question leads back to the first, so students can start anywhere in the loop of questions. They pick any paper, read the question, find the answer around the room, then read the next question, and repeat. 

The Día de los Muertos Scavenger Hunt activity requires students to find the vocabulary word for clipart.

There is also a digital game version! #VirtualTeachingWin

This scavenger hunt activity (with the digital version included) is available in my TpT store.

Webquest

The last (and really probably most important) activity I like to do with my students to teach them about Día de los Muertos is a webquest.

They can learn all Día de los Muertos in a fun and engaging way, and learn that it is absolutely not Mexican Halloween. 

That is not a thing.

In the webquest, they learn the basic facts and vocabulary, and then compare it to Halloween.

Grab this resource just below! 👇

It includes both a paper and a digital version where students can easily click the links and type into a Google Doc to answer the questions.

I hope these resources are helpful! Let me know in the comments below if there are other ways you like to teach about Día de los Muertos in your classroom.