Fifth Grade Spanish Honors Fay's Founder

Fifth grade Spanish students learned about Día de Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, this month. This holiday originated in Mexico and is celebrated in various ways, but the theme of remembering and honoring loved ones who have passed is common. World languages Chair Kara Mertz taught students essential Spanish vocabulary around the holiday and shared her own pictures from Mexico that show how the holiday is celebrated. One way that people honor their ancestors is to create an altar in their home with photographs and items belonging to the deceased.

To connect with the theme of remembrance, all three sections of fifth grade Spanish collaboratively designed and built an altar to Eliza B. Fay, Fay School’s co-founder. They included pictures of Eliza, researched her life, and selected items to include on the altar that represented her values and would have been important to her. After looking up the words in Spanish, students wrote explanations of why they had selected each item to represent Eliza. 

Once the altar was complete, each student presented their altar contribution to the class. They explained why items like la hermana (her sister with whom she founded the school), el alce (Fay’s moose mascot), and esfuerzo sincero (Fay’s core value of earnest effort) would have been especially meaningful.