The Hispanic Heritage Month celebration continued in all three divisions this past week with students and faculty engaging in a variety of activities.
In the Lower School, students in Sra. Maria Hinestroza’s classes connected to the Music Brackets game, with Grades 1-5 listening to two different rhythms/songs per week and voting for their favorite one. Last week, “El Baile del Gorila” defeated “La Bamba” by a close 37-32 score. This week's songs are "No Hay Cama p'a Tanta Gente" and “La Bachata de las Vocales.” Lower School students are excited to check the class bulletin board for the results.
Third and fourth graders have been preparing an assembly for Friday, Sept. 27. Third graders will introduce the Spanish class affirmations adapted to connect to the focus on Kindness from last year’s end-of-the-year assembly, and perfectly matching the Kindness Tree and the Pledge of Kindness from Ms. Erin Leonard, Lower School Head. Fourth graders will present the Spanish-speaking countries with a song and will be followed by students sharing one item that represents their family's Hispanic Heritage.
Other Lower School activities include featuring members of the SAGE Dining Services team with Hispanic Heritage during Lower School lunch, during which they share and discuss food from their country, a question of the day in Spanish near the entrance to the school, and a presentation from the Upper School’s Hispanic Latinx Alliance at an upcoming Friday assembly.
Middle School students have been active with various activities across the grades. Sixth graders are creating travel brochures for Spanish speaking countries, seventh graders are running a World Cup of Music from Spanish speaking countries, and eighth graders will host a Living Museum on Oct. 11 in the Berry Performing Arts Center lobby.
The HLA continued its series of weekly presentations at the Upper School Monday meeting with Julia Machado ’25 and Giannalise Rodriguez ’26 sharing information about Dances in Hispanic Culture. They explored types of dances, why dance is important and shared a video highlighting bachata, a popular Latin dance that originated in the Dominican Republic.