Art and Spanish Team Up in 4th Grade

Wanting to showcase a broader view of curriculum that moves away from many Eurocentric plans, two Parker teachers worked together on a unit to help decolonize the curriculum that many schools teach across the nation.

Intermediate School Spanish teacher Karen Liszka and Art teacher Kay Silva wanted to introduce students to parallel ancient civilizations concurrent with the European nations that are more frequently the focus. They studied ancient Mayan culture, its art and the focus on spirituality, myths and legends, as well as the similarities to and differences from other major cultures of the time. Next, teachers exposed students to ancient Mayan artifacts to inspire their own “mythical creature” ceramic sculptures in Art. They then used their designs of mythical creatures to create trading cards in Spanish.

Liszka and Silva celebrated the culmination of this unit by placing their sculptures and cards in a display case outside the cafeteria and enjoying some ancient Mayan-inspired food from Chef Zac and the team at Quest.

This unit was a tremendous success for the teachers and students. In fact, it was so successful that the fun is not over. Liszka and Silva shared, “We used this 4th grade unit, and an interdisciplinary ancient Aztec Art/Spanish unit we piloted with 5th grade in the fall, to guide us in writing an enrichment grant to study ancient Meso-American art and culture in Mexico. We recently learned that we received the grant and will be travelling to Oaxaca, Mexico in July.”

Parker cannot wait to see what is in store for students when these two teachers return from the grant trip this summer!