Cinco de Mayo Celebrated In Style (With Video)

Waving handmade flags representing Paraguay, El Salvador, Mexico and Spain, among other Spanish countries, and wearing ponchos crafted from paper shopping bags Island Avenue School students joined together on the school’s open field to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in song and dance.

The  celebration, a collaboration between the Spanish, Physical Education, Music and Art departments, combined the Mexican holiday celebrating  the Mexican army’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 and ACES ~ All Children Exercise Simultaneously.

Brad Tucker, IAS Physical Education teacher, says the point of ACES “is to get children excited about exercise.”  His department was responsible for working with the children to teach them the Mexican Hat Dance and the Macarena Dance. “Really it’s just all about movement and getting kids excited about exercise,” he added.

Since ACES and Cinco de Mayo usually fall in the same week every year the IAS related arts teachers work together to produce this unique celebration.

Spanish Teacher, Senora Minette Junkins explains that this celebration is “not only for Mexico but for all Spanish speaking countries.  Our children take Spanish starting in first grade, so we like to keep them culturally aware of the different Spanish speaking countries.  It’s a celebration of multiculturalism!”

Adorning the outside walls of the school were murals reminiscent of the murals Mexican Artist Diego Rivera was famous for.  The murals represented the work of over 300 students on one canvas, explained Art Teacher Greg Gallo. While Rivera was famous for painting murals on walls throughout Mexico, the IAS mural portrayed Madison, CT. “The first graders did the self-portraits, so they can look around and find themselves, the second graders made the cars, the third graders made the houses and the fourth graders did the backdrop,” Gallo said.

The students also learned the children’s version of Richie Vallens’ Mexican folk song, “La Bamba."  This special rendition of the song was used, explained Music Teacher Catherine Thomson, because “the range would be different if they sang it with the adult version.  They wouldn’t be able to hit the notes for some of the words.”  

A very special musical treat for the entire school was a surprise performance of “De Colores” sung by Evening Custodian Carlos Estrada.  He proudly took the microphone and sang to the delight of the children who danced and waved their flag in perfect time.

The students enjoyed being out in the fresh air, moving around, singing and dancing.  Fourth Grader Brendan Wray said, “It was fun. There were a lot of people and there were a lot of songs and it was very Mexican!”

Download the movie

Download the movie