Latinx Books to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a Focus on Immigration

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

Hispanic Heritage Month started September 15th and ends on Friday. I have four Latinx books to share with you this week in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Each book has its own focus and don't necessarily relate to one another besides having Latinx main characters, so I am going to share two of them today and two later in the week. The two today focus a bit on immigration. One is a more modern picture book and the other is a middle grades novel about a middle schooler immigrating from Cuba in the 1960s. We will start with the picture book. It is I Wish You Knew by Jackie Azúa Kramer and illustrated by Magdalena Mora. It is recommended for ages 4 to 7.

Around the World in 12 Dishes: Exploring Cuba

Have you entered my giveaway for 4 Christmas DVDs yet? It is ending soon!!

This month we are exploring Cuba with Around the World in 12 Dishes. I was rather excited to learn more about Cuba since it is such a mysterious country to me. With all the trade and travel restrictions it seems like an unknown place. We have explored Cuba with books, stories, music, crafts and food from home. To learn more about Cuba and see more resources check out my introduction post at the Around the World in 12 Dishes blog. We had also learned a bit about Cuba during the Hispanic Heritage Month when we read about Celia Cruz, a Cuban-American salsa singer. 

Celia Cruz By Lionel Decoster (Own work) 
[GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Hispanic Heritage Month Celebrating with Music--Celia Cruz and Musical Crafts & Giveaway!!

As Hispanic Heritage Month continues on, we are sharing what we have been doing to learn more about Hispanic Music. A few years ago we made maracas, guiro, and a cajita based on Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou's tutorials. We also made zampoñas and a rainstick previously (thanks to Daria). This year we got a free copy of Daria's latest e-book: 10 Musical Crafts to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage. You can get a free copy this month on her Monthly Song Page (and scroll down to enter a great giveaway). After this month you can purchase a copy on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Fun new novels for your 10+ year-olds

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Are you looking for something new for your middle grades? Today I am sharing three new novels about ordinary kids and their lives. They each have joys and lots of struggles. The first book is Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar. 

If You Were Me and Lived In.... a Look at Cultures Around the World

Disclosure: Carole P. Roman sent me these books for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Do you like to read books about different cultures? Since we don't travel very often, I love to teach Hazel about different cultures and I have found books to be a wonderful way to do this. Today I get to share three books from a wonderful series by Carole P. Roman. The series is If You Were Me and Lived In...A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World. Unlike the books in the Ancient Culture series I shared last week, these books focus on current cultures in the countries. The series of books that include a map of the country as well as a picture of a globe showing where the country is and a pronunciation guide with meanings as well. We will go in alphabetical order with our three countries and start with If You Were Me and Lived in...Australia. 

Multicultural Books for Different Ages

Disclosure: I was sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday. I have been sharing many of my past posts about Dr. King on my Facebook page this weekend. Be sure to check them all out plus the review I wrote over at Multicultural Kid Blogs this month. 

Middle Grades Summer Reading with Environmental Themes

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Is school out where you live? Hazel finished last week. Of course it wasn't a big celebration with the state just starting to re-open. But we have started to think about summer. Although I don't see too many trips to the beach this year even when we are at Cape Cod. But reading about them is always fun. Today I am sharing two books about life near water--a lake and the ocean. Do you go to any body of water every summer? Are you going this year?

A Look into Space with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dr. Mae Jemison -- #blacklivesmatter

 

Last week we had a relaxing and fun stay-cation. Stay tuned for some posts on things we did. Today I return somewhat refreshed to get writing my posts for you. This week for Black Lives Matter Series I thought we would look into space with two famous black scientists: Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dr. Mae Jemison. Both are on the list from my black teacher friends as people we should all know so here is your chance to learn about these amazing people.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel

Have you  missed our Fairy Tales in Different Cultures lately? Sorry. My life got so crazy I had trouble getting the posts done. However in honor of "visiting" Jamaica this month with Around the World in 12 Dishes, I thought I would jump to a Rapunzel story and share Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel by Patricia Storace. Since Jamaica is in the Caribbean, it seemed fitting. We have already looked at Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella by Robert D. San Souci last February. First a bit about the Caribbean. (A Side Note: I will not be featuring a fairy tale next week, but instead will feature some multicultural Christmas books to check out.)

Source: By U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 
[Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Caribbean consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and surrounding coasts. The Caribbean islands are considered a subregion of  North America. The island countries in the Caribbean include Anguilla, Antigua-and-Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Kitts-and-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent-and-the-Grenadines, Trinidad-and-Tobago, Turks-and-Caicos Islands, and United States Virgin Islands. (Source) There are thousands of islands in the Caribbean. The islands have a tropical climate.

St. Croix

Before European contact it was estimated that there was 750,000 inhabitants. Due to disease and social contact, the numbers declined. The population rose as slaves from Africa were brought in. The Caribbean is now a mix of mostly Spanish, French and Dutch-Caribbeans as well as the descendents from the slaves of Africa and Ireland. Since so many different countries are in the Caribbean the population is diverse.

Now onto our story!  This story is begins with a fisherman and his wife on an island in the Caribbean. The wife announces that she is pregnant. Then a few days later she begins craving sugar cane. The husband tries to bring her other sweet things since sugar cane is only available in the center of the island and not near the beach, but she insists on sugar cane. Finally he agrees to get her some. He walks a long way and stops for lunch and a nap in a forest. When he awakes he finds a path to a beautiful coral house with a large garden with every plant that grows on the island in it. He knocks on the door, but no one answers. He decides to take a few sugar cane. His wife is ecstatic to get it, but her cravings continue. He goes back and finds the house again and knocks again. No one answers so he takes a few more canes, but this time he is caught and the sugar cane grow around him like a jail. A masked woman comes and she is a famous sorceress named Madame Fate. She tells him that she will take sugar cane from him since he took sugar cane from her. She already knew the baby would be a girl and named Sugar Cane. She tells him she will come for the baby on her first birthday.

Source: By Cmales (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], 
via Wikimedia Commons

The fisherman tried to hide his family on Sugar Cane's first birthday, but Madame Fate found them and took Sugar Cane. The parents searched for Madame Fate's house, but they never found it again. Madame Fate took Sugar Cane to the rocky coast and put her in a tower overlooking the sea. Sugar Cane was given a pet green monkey named Callaloo for company.Sugar Cane grew more beautiful every day. When Madame Fate came to visit she would Sugar Cane to let down her hair. Madame Fate educated Sugar Cane by bringing people back from the dead to teach her. An angel from the heavenly choir taught her to sing. As much as Sugar Cane appreciated her spirit teachers and her monkey, she longed for human company. At night she would stand at her window and sing.

One night a fisherman called "King" heard Sugar Cane singing. Now "King" got his name because he was the King of Song. When he heard Sugar Cane's voice singing words to a song he was making up in his head, he looked up and saw the girl. Just then Madame Fate came to visit. He saw her climb up Sugar Cane's hair. He stayed on his boat and watched Madame Fate leave. He went to investigate the tower and found there was no other way in besides the girl's hair. He chanted the song he heard Madame Fate sing to get the hair and climbed up. Sugar Cane was startled when she saw King. King was very polite and she was excited to meet someone new and someone so handsome. Sugar Cane and King began to play and sing music together. Soon the morning came and Sugar Cane told King he had to leave. He promised to come again. He kept coming and started to bring her jewels. Sugar Cane began to weave a ladder from her hair strands. She would work on it on the nights King did not visit her. She knew she wanted to leave the tower and marry King. 

Jamaican Sunrise Source: By Adam L. Clevenger (Own work)
[CC-BY-SA-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

Madame Fate noticed Sugar Cane's joy and became suspicious. She started to make surprise visits to Sugar Cane. One night she brought Sugar Cane a dress and found one of the jewels from King. She became so angry hearing about King, Madame Fate cut Sugar Cane's hair and threw it out the window. Then Madame Fate locked Sugar Cane in her room. Sugar Cane rushed to get out her ladder and escape from Madame Fate and her fury. When she and Callaloo got the bottom she did not know where to go. She did not see King's boat. Callaloo had grabbed some of the jewels before leaving and he hoped these would save them. One of the things he grabbed was the coral necklace her mother had made her for her first birthday. It no longer fit her neck, but she put it on her wrist. Then they heard Madame Fate chant and the ocean opened like a tiger's mouth. Sure they were going to be pulled to the bottom of the sea, they tried to run, but the next thing they knew they were carried on a large wave to the capital city. Sugar Cane was lost and did not know where to go. She searched for King and King searched for her. Months later King found her. They were married shortly after. During their first dance, a woman in the crowd recognized the bracelet on Sugar Cane's wrist as the necklace she made for her lost daughter's first birthday. Sugar Cane was reunited with her parents and the dancing continued and continued. 

One of the things I liked about reading this version is it does talk about some of the life in the Caribbean. The story describes the nets they sleep under and black cake. It definitely gives you a feel for life in the Caribbean.

Sharing Saturday 14-48

Congratulations to Lori H. for winning 
the 4 Christmas DVDs!

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I had such a hard time choosing the features this week since there were so many amazing ideas!! I hope you will take the time to check them all out! We had a tie for most clicked.

1) From Krafts and Kiddos: CD Turkey Craft

2) From Stimulating Learning with Rachel (",): Aliens, Robots and Monsters (lots of great learning ideas here!)

Since we set our Christmas tree up today I am getting into the Christmas spirit. I have been thinking about Christmas cookies, how to bring Jesus into Christmas more and we received an Elf on the Shelf yesterday as a gift (I was avoiding them for as long as I could an much rather our Mouse and the Miracle), so knowing that you will understand some of the features I picked this week. We have our Christmas Features and our non-Christmas Features!

Cendrillon: A Carribean Cinderella: Fairy Tales in Different Cultures

This week we will get back to celebrating Black History Month and travel to a place I wish I could be right now--the Caribbean. (Oh, how I wish to have some warm weather right now and not all this snow!) A bit about the Caribbean first.

Source

The Caribbean is the area that consists of the Caribbean Sea and all the islands in it. It comprises of more than 7000 islands including Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Saint Croix, The Bahamas, Antigua, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Dominica, Montserrat, Saba, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Saint Thomas, Saint John, Tortola, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Trinidad & Tobago. The climate is tropical, but rainfall varies greatly. The Caribbean Islands are remarkable diversity in animals, plants and fungi, because of the diverse terrestrial and marine ecosystems. (Source) I know when Steve and I went to St. Croix for our honeymoon, one half of the island is desert-like and the other side is rainforest.

St. Croix

The ecosystems of the Caribbean have been devastated by deforestation, pollution and human encroachment. Many animals, plants and fungi have gone extinct or are in danger of becoming extinct. Since there are several different countries in the Caribbean, I will leave it with the European settlers first started growing tobacco and later sugarcane to be imported to Europe. (Source)

Now onto our Cinderella story for this week. This week we are looking at Cendrillon by Robert D. San Souzi. In the author's note it is stated that this story is loosely based on the French Creole tale "Cendrillo" in Turiault's Creole Grammar from the nineteenth century. San Souzi chose to incorporate elements from the West Indian culture and costume as well as drawing on details of life on the island of Martinique.

Cendrillon is told by the point of view of the godmother. The godmother is a poor woman who on her mother's deathbed, her mother gave her a mahogany wand and told her to tap it three times to change one thing to another for a short time and it would only work to help someone she loved. As an orphan she has no use for this wand since she had no one to love or to love her. 

She survived to become an adult and became a washer woman. One of her clients was a kind woman who was often sick. She nursed this client when she was sick and in return the client made her godmother to her baby girl, Cendrillon, when she was born. The client died shortly afterwards. Cendrillon's father married a cold woman who treated Cendrillon like a house servant. Soon the stepmother had a daughter of her own whom she spoiled. 

Even with the mistreatment, Cendrillon stayed happy and was always smiling, joking and singing. When she was old enough she would see her godmother and the other washer women by the river every day so she could wash the family's laundry. There she joked, sang and smiled. One day however she came and was sad and the women could not cheer her up. Finally she told her godmother about the party that she wanted to go to that night, but her stepmother would not allow her to join them. The party was for the birthday of the son of a wealthy man. The son was good looking, intelligent and kind. The godmother promised Cendrillon she would find a way for her to go. After praying she remembered the wand.

Manicou

The godmother rushed over to Cendrillon's house. The family was running late so the godmother helped out since both the stepmother and stepsister were yelling at her for help. As soon as they were gone the godmother told Cendrillon to find a piece of fruit from the garden. She came back with a round breadfruit, which the godmother tapped three times with the wand and they had a beautiful coach. Changing six agoutis to horses, five brown field lizards to footmen and a plump manicou to a coachman, completed the way they would get to the party. Then the godmother tapped Cendrillon and her rags became a beautiful sky-blue velvet gown with a matching turban with a pin of gold and a pale rose silk shoulder scarf and elegant pink slippers. She also had gold rings in her ears, bracelets, and necklaces with gold beads bigger than peas. Afterwards the godmother tapped herself since any proper young woman would need a chaperone and off they went. The godmother warned Cendrillon that the magic would not last long so they would need to leave by midnight. Cendrillon agreed.

Breadfruit

Agouti

Cendrillon made quite an entrance turning all the heads. Paul, for whom the party was for, asked her to dance and would only dance with her. The godmother was off enjoying the food especially the chocolate sherbert. They lost track of time and the bells started to toll midnight so the godmother told Cendrillon that they had to leave and she followed. Paul tried to stop her, but the people at the party got in his way. Cendrillon tripped on the stairs and lost a slipper. They barely made it out and found themselves a short bit away in the middle of the street with a smashed breadfruit and animals running for hiding.The only part of the magic that stayed was the one pink slipper on Cendrillon's foot. Cendrillon said she would keep it forever to remember the wonderful night she had.

The next day Cendrillon did not come to the river to do the laundry. The godmother stopped by to check on her and found she was sick in bed with a broken heart. Her stepmother and stepsister just thought she was lazy. While talking with Cendrillon the godmother heard a commotion and investigated. She found Paul had come and was asking all the single young women on the island to try on the pink slipper. The stepsister tried it on but could not get her large foot into it. The godmother rushed back into Cednrillon's room and begged her to come out. She did. The godmother tapped her three times with the wand, but Cendrillon said no more magic. Paul immediately fell to his knees and put the slipper on her and then he asked her to marry him. The godmother claimed there was no bigger celebration even for a king and queen. It lasted three days and she had only left to tell the story.

Here is my Cinderella Sheet to compare stories for Cendrillon.

For crafts we made two types of wands. The first are with milkshake straws and blue painters' tape for bumps. Then we taped them.

The second one I followed this wonderful tutorial shared on Sharing Saturday awhile ago by Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! I used a wooden dowel and my glue gun to make the bumps. What do you think?

Also some coloring pages:

• Caribbean map
• Breadfruit
• Agouti
• Manicou (opossum)

Women in the Civil War

 

When we think about the Civil War there are a few women's names that pop in our minds like Harriet Tubman and perhaps nurses like Clara Barton and Louisa May Alcott. Today I am going to delve into the lives and accomplishments of other women in the Civil War that you may not have heard of. There were many women who worked on the homefront, fundraising, making uniforms, etc., but the women I am sharing about today did even more. The Civil War was a war that made it easier for women to disguise themselves as men and fight. In fact it is estimated that there were more than 400 women who did so. Some were discovered when injured or died and others never were. They were of different races and worked for the North or the South. Each had her own courageous adventure in the war. As with the other Women in Wars posts I will share books for kids to learn more about the women when I can. To begin this post I am going to share books that have multiple women in them. I have personally found Women in the Civil War by Kari A. Cornell and Heroism Begins with Her by Winifred Conkling extremely useful and used both as sources for this post. All of the women featured in this post are featured in these books or in the Famous Women of the Civil War by Peter F. Copeland which is a coloring book.

Ultimate Food Atlas -- Explore the World through Food with This Book

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

When Hazel was younger, we loved exploring the world and participated in a blog group celebrating food from around the world. We did the series Around the World in 12 Dishes. I miss it sometimes because it got us exploring different dishes. Some we loved and others not so much. Today I get to share a book that lets you explore the world through food so basically our series in one book sort of. The book is Ultimate Food Atlas: Maps, Games, and Recipes for Hours of Delicious Fun by Nancy Castaldo and Christy Mihaly. It is from National Geographic Kids and is recommended for ages 8 to 12 but could work with younger kids with adult help.

Christmas Church Services Around the World -- Christmas in Different Lands

In many parts of the world church services or masses are an important part of Christmas. Many countries have traditional times for the service. Does yours? Growing up we always went to what was called the midnight candlelight service. It started at 11:00 p.m. and ended around midnight. The service always ended with singing Silent Night and having each person light a candle from the flame of the Christ candle in the Advent wreath. Now we usually go to the earlier Christmas Eve service so Hazel can stay awake. 

Novena

 For many the celebration of Christmas takes place in the church. In some countries the church services begins on December 16th. In Venezuela there is an early morning church service called Misa de Aguinaldo held every day from December 16 to December 24. Often there are bells and firecrackers to wake the parishioners for the early services. In the capital city, Caracas, it is tradition to roller skate to these services. As a result the streets are often closed to cars until 8 a.m. On December 24 the mass is at midnight and is called Misa de Gallo. (Source) Chile also celebrates with a Novena. There are church services throughout December in Chile, but on the 16th special prayers begin the day as well as visits to local churches. (Source) The Philippines also have early morning or pre-dawn masses for the nine days prior to Christmas. (Source) In Puerto Rico it is called Misa de Aguinaldos and is held from December 15 to December 24th. The mass is held at dawn (around 6 a.m.) and the services are usually sung with traditional Puerto Rican instruments accompaniment. On the 24th the mass is at midnight and is called the Misa de Gallo. (Source)

Columbus Day--What does it mean to you?

This Monday is a holiday in much of the United States. The second Monday of October is the day which we celebrate Columbus Day. It is to mark the day in which Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas on October 12, 1492. Now this holiday is celebrated in many of the "New World" countries, however it also has much controversy around it. And I will admit I believe in the controversy more than the holiday. However it will be nice to have my husband home on Monday with us.

I thought talking about this day, its history and the controversy would be a great way to celebrate Multicultural Monday as well as Columbus Day. So this day is to mark when Italian Christopher Columbus guided three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria to the "New World" backed by the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He of course was looking for China and did not know the Pacific Ocean existed. It is said he was the first European since the Vikings (who came in the 10th century) to come to the New World. And thus "discovered" the Americas in 1492. 

Columbus first landed in the Bahamas. Later that month he spotted Cuba and thought it was China and later he claimed Hispaniola which he believed might be Japan. He established the first Spanish colony there with 39 of his men. He returned to Spain  in 1493 triumphant bringing gold, spices and "Indians". He traveled across the Atlantic several more times in his life. By his third journey he realized he had not found a new route to Asia, but that he "discovered" a new land that was unknown to Europeans. (Source)

Columbus Day became a national holiday in 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This was due to much lobbying by Knights of Columbus. The holiday was celebrated on October 12 until 1971 when it was moved to the second Monday in October to give people a three-day weekend. However Columbus Day had been celebrated in different parts of the United States. One source says it was first celebrated in New York City in 1792. (Source) I found another source that says it was first celebrated in San Francisco in 1869. The first state to celebrate it was Colorado in 1907. (Source)

Hazel's telescope we made from a cardboard roll from parchment paper, toilet paper roll, duct tape and yarn.

The controversy is that the settlement of Europeans lead to the death of many of the indigenous people in the Americas. There are some stories that say that Columbus and his men handed the native people blankets known to be carrying many deadly diseases like smallpox. As a result there are states, California, Nevada and Hawaii, that do not celebrate Columbus Day. Native American Day is celebrated in South Dakota and Indigenous People's Day is celebrated in Berkley, California. (Source) Opposition to Columbus Day began in the 19th century. Native Americans spoke the loudest about celebrating a day that lead to colonizing the Americas and thus killing so many of their people. Plus to celebrate a man who captured the native people and forced them into slavery is rather upsetting. There are also stories of his punishments being rather torturous when he was governor. (Source)

 

Hazel and Daddy's Ships including one drawn completely by Hazel.

 

However we look at the holiday, it is a day off. And Christopher Columbus landing in the Americas is part of my country's history. So if you are looking for some crafts to do with your children to teach them about the day, here are a few resources for you. All of the places we got the above projects are listed here.

• From Enchanted Learning: crafts, coloring pages, lessons, puzzles (including Native American crafts)
• Also from Enchanted Learning: Lessons on Christopher Columbus, the Explorer
• From Apple4the Teacher: Round up of many sources
• From Kaboose: Many activities, crafts and food
• From DLTK's Kids: Many activities, crafts, and everything you need to play the part of explorer
• From DLTK's Kids: Native American crafts
• From 123 Holiday: crafts
• From Kid Craft Zone: Games and Crafts
• From First School: Boat crafts
• From About.com: Crafts, games, activities including ocean crafts
• From Artist Helping Children: Many different crafts including Native American crafts.
• From A to Z Teacher Stuff: Activities, lessons, crafts (all with appropriate grade level)
• From All Kids Network: Boat craft for preschoolers with template
• From Bright Hub Education: Three Fun Activities to do with Preschoolers
• From Holly's Preschool Place: Lessons and Activities for Columbus Day for Preschoolers

Ok, that is enough to keep you busy! Happy Columbus Day or whatever you want to call it holiday!