Piñatas Make Smashing Debut At NMS

By Andrew Rote

For years, the piñata has been a tradition in many Latin American countries. Now students at Newtown Middle School can experience the thrill of creating their own piñatas.

Mrs Sarito Chandler, a Spanish teacher at NMS, has started an after-school program for seventh graders. On every Wednesday, a group of 11 Spanish students participates in the construction of piñatas.

“I only have the kids for three days a week [in class],” explains Mrs Chandler. “We don’t get to do anything fun.”

The activity is optional for students, and they can make the piñatas in any shape they want. The popular shape being created is the traditional five-pointed star, which legend says represents a person’s deadly sins. Many students also came up with other creative shapes.

Mrs Chandler has done the activity in previous schools, but this is her first year in Newtown.

“I’m having a lot of fun doing it,” Dan Morehouse explains his experience so far. He is creating a fish-shaped piñata.

“I can’t wait to smash it,” Nick Hall says.

“Bashing it will be my favorite part,” admits Ben Striano.

Whether the students intend to save the piñata or destroy it when they finish, they are having fun creating it.

“It’s a really good after-school project,” Sarah Zehall explains. She added that it gives her something to do instead of watching TV.

“It’s really [nice that] Mrs Chandler is devoting her time,” Sarah says. She is creating a rainbow-colored sphere.

“You never really think about how it’s made when you’re in the store,” Andrea Szabo remarks. She joined because she thought the program sounded interesting.

Alex Rote wanted to construct an original shape. “I’m making a pig because I didn’t want to do the traditional shape and no one else is doing it.”

It seemed that most of the students enjoyed working with paper maché.

The piñata game that originated in Mexico has become a popular activity all over the world. Many children play it at birthday parties.

In the game, children take turns being blindfolded. Once they can’t see, they swing a stick at the piñata. They have three tries to break it. When someone finally breaks it, all of the children rush in to collect the spilled gifts and candy.

The students can relate to playing this game, or seeing it played. The program is an interactive way to learn about foreign culture without letting the information go in one ear and out the other.

Through the hands-on experience, students seem to be learning and having fun at the same time. Thanks to teachers like Mrs Chandler, children can benefit from this as well as other extra-curricular experiences.

(Andrew Rote is a sophomore journalism student at Newtown High School who writes sports and feature stories for the school’s paper, The Hawkeye)