This is one of the most relaxing activities I have used with my fifth graders. We are close to the break so they really enjoyed learning about Año Viejos. I gave them a little introduction about this tradition and its meaning (see post from previous years). We also watch a video of a girl making an Año Viejo in Colombia, and this leads to a small discussion about the materials needed to make an Año Viejo. Although the girl in the video doesn’t use firecrackers, most people put them in their Años Viejos.
We watched a video of the actual tradition. In the video we saw the excitement on the streets of people counting down. And we could hear the fire crackers and the sounds of a radio station playing the national anthem, a song which is always played on December 31st at midnight:.
After watching the video we read the story “Corre Año Viejo, Corre” which is available as a bundle in my shop or just the book on Amazon, and the CPLI (Command Performance Books) store.
After reading the story each student decorated a paper Año Viejo, which you can also find in my store. I also gave each student a small magnet to stick it on the back of the Año Viejo.They placed their Años Viejos on the magnetic board I have in my classroom while I played a video of a Christmas fireplace I found on YouTube.
I also played the traditional Año Viejo song while the students where coloring their Años Viejos.
Last but not least, I placed the Año Viejos on one of the bulletin boards in my room. I used as a title for the bulletin board the name of the song “Yo no olvido el Año Viejo”. Click HERE to download the letters.
