Pinata-palooza!

I taught Spanish and English for the first 6 years of my teaching career. I loved everything about teaching Spanish, but especially the culture projects that I would assign for each unit. While I never perfected the art of the pinata, I did love painting my ceiling tiles to look like the flags of Spanish speaking countries. 

At Sardis High School, we have a great Spanish teacher, Ashley Lee. She is full of energy and great ideas! One of the biggest projects in her classroom each fall is the pinata project. Two weeks before Homecoming week, she explains to the students the rules and rubrics for the pinata. The students are to create the "shell" for the pinata at home. The week of Homecoming (because it is sooo chaotic), she sets up tables in her classroom for the modge-podge application part of the pinata process. Her students bring their pinatas to school and work on them in class for the entire week. The modge-podge makes a little bit of a mess, but the kids have a great time! After the modge-podge dries, the students take their pinata home for the final preparations. The students are given one week to cover it in paper/glitter/paint. They bring it back to school and it hangs in Mrs. Lee's room proudly! Mrs. Lee uses a rubric to score the pinatas (it is a 200 point project). The pinatas hang proudly in her room for the entire year. At the end of the year, the students decide if they want to smash their pinatas during a Spanish-themed party. They are such beautiful creations-too pretty to break! Here are some of my favorites: