Jamesburg kindergartners celebrate our neighbors to the south.
By: Stephanie Brown
JAMESBURG Over laughter and the occasional "olé," the song "Do you know the story of brave Juarez?," played to the tune of "Do you know the muffin man?," echoed down the kindergarten corridor of John F. Kennedy school May 5.
Dressed in ponchos made out of paper grocery bags and painted papier-mâché sombreros, kindergarten students at got a taste of Mexico last week when they celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a fiesta grande.
In each of the three kindergarten classrooms, students dined on nachos, salsa, and fresh sangria nonalcoholic, of course.
"It’s easier for them to learn when you get them involved in fun things," kindergarten teacher Katie Shemming said. "Having this celebration has really gotten them interested in another culture."
Most of the students were not familiar with the holiday, which commemorates the victory of the Mexican army over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, according to their teachers.
"Some of them weren’t even familiar with the words Cinco de Mayo," Ms. Shemming said.
Throughout the week, Ms. Shemming and fellow kindergarten teachers, Diana Santowasso and Stephanie Palisay, taught the students about Cinco de Mayo as well as the history of Mexico.
The lesson began with a show-and-tell, of sorts. Students whose families are from Mexico helped the other children learn about their native culture by bringing in items from home, such as sombreros and a Mexican flag.
"Those sort of things really sparked their interest," said Ms. Shemming.
Students also learned about Mexico by watching a video on the country’s history, reading books, and through hands-on activities, like making replicas of the Mexican flag.
In order to help their students understand the meaning behind the Cinco de Mayo celebration, the teachers compared the holiday to America’s Independence Day.
"I compared it to our Fourth of July in terms of things we like to celebrate and things we like to do, like watch fireworks," said Ms. Santowasso. "They’re familiar with the concept of celebration, so we just taught them that this was a special day in Mexico.
To explain why the day was special, Ms. Santowasso, Ms. Shemming, and Ms. Palisay had to discuss the concept of freedom to their students. They compared the plight of the Pilgrims to that of the Mexicans.
"The Pilgrims are something that the students are already familiar with," Ms. Santowasso said. "We talked about the reasons why they came to America, and that the Mexicans basically wanted the same things."
Kindergartner Joshua Figero, one of Ms. Santowasso’s students, explained why he believed the Battle of Puebla was important to the Mexican people.
"The French didn’t have the right to rule, and that’s why the Mexicans chased them away," he said. "They had to do it to live like they wanted, and it was a good thing for them."
The lesson’s culminating event was a Cinco de Mayo fiesta, which was highly anticipated by the students.
"Just the act of getting dressed up today and singing songs, that’s what they’ve been the most excited about," Ms. Santowasso said May 5, raising her voice to compete with the sound of rattling maracas.
Made out of a folded paper plate filled with beans and stapled shut, the maracas were just one of the many Mexican related crafts made by the students. Each student also made an outfit based on authentic Mexican dress, complete with accessories, to wear the day of the fiesta.
Bronwen Yoack especially liked the "silver" bracelet she made out of a toilet paper roll and aluminum foil in Ms. Shemming’s class.
"Look," she said, sticking out her arm with pride. "It’s fun to celebrate like them (Mexicans) and get dressed up and do dances that they like," she said, doing a variation of the cha-cha.
While the students danced, sang, ate and had fun, the teachers were pleased about what the children had learned.
"The most important thing was to teach them to appreciate another culture," said Ms. Shemming. "They get to see that other people celebrate the same things we celebrate, too, just in different ways."

