Read Around the World: Rooster-Gallo

For the last several years, I've enjoyed participating in the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Read Around the World Summer Reading Series. It's an opportunity for your family to travel the globe from the comfort of your own home... or library! Over the summer, MKB blog members share their favorite book recommendations to help our children travel around the world through literature.

Today, it's my turn to share a book with you. My book's age range is 0 - 5 years old, so I chose this lovely book by the Argentine-Mexican poet, Jorge Luján.

You can purchase Rooster Gallo via The Latin Baby Book Club (aff link).

40 Ways to Create a Multicultural Homeschool

My dear friend Leanna, founder of Multicultural Kid Blogs, is celebrating her 40th birthday this month. And to celebrate, many of us are sharing special posts dedicated to the topic of "40 Favorite Things." I decided to highlight 40 ways to create a multicultural homeschool.

"How is this different from any other homeschool?" you might ask. Well, I'm a parent who is trying very hard to raise global citizens who understand our interconnectedness with others and are able to communicate with anyone. To do so, I go to great lengths to ensure that our homeschool lessons are preparing my kids through exposure to multicultural resources.

The most important thing I do is make "World Cultures" an actual subject that we study weekly, sometimes daily, in our homeschool lessons. It goes hand in hand with our geography studies. By making it an actual subject, I'm reminded to actively search out resources to help my children travel the world from our home classroom.

Below are my favorite tools, materials, and other resources for creating our own multicultural classroom at home.

Study World Cultures

First and foremost, in order to understand other cultures, it's important to study them. It appalls me that traditional schools across the country are banning heritage study courses because doing so causes three things to happen:

• It perpetuates stereotypes rather than destroying them. This leads to ignorance, fear, and racism.
• It surpresses minority students from different backgrounds, denying them the opportunity to learn about their own heritage and the important contributions that their culture has had on U.S. history.
• It leads to ethnocentrism, or the belief that one's own culture is superior to others; and along the same lines, that other cultures are inferior or less than our own.
• It dooms us to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Luckily, it is easy to explore culture as part of your homeschool/afterschool curriculum. I wrote a post a few years ago with the steps you should take to do so. Here are some of the online resources I highly recommend you use. (You can also download my printable for free from Multicultural Kid Blogs, which has all the resources listed and hyperlinked.)

1. MulticulturalKidBlogs.com
2. National Geographic Kids: Explore the World!
3. Time for Kids: Around the World
4. Kid World Citizen

Read

Reading aloud diverse books is one of the top ways to explore world cultures. I'm talking authentic literature written by multicultural authors, NOT books written about other cultures (sorry!!). It's just that one simply cannot replace authentic experiences or replicate another person's perspective with complete accuracy. If I want to learn about Peru, then who better to explain the country than a native author or one of Peruvian descent? Here are some examples of remarkable books for exploring world cultures.

5. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (China)
6. Under the Royal Palms by Alma Flor Ada (Cuba)
7. My Place by Nadia Wheatley, Donna Rawlins (Australia)
8. El Zipitio by Jorge Argueta (El Salvador)

Watch

Sometimes we take a couch vacation and travel the world virtually through excellent programming. I love documentaries that are well done, introducing viewers to some of the most remarkable sites, people, and traditions. These are some of our favorite resources:

9.   Nature
10. Kidflix Global
11. Families of the World
12. David Yetman
13. Globe Trekker 

Travel

Of course, nothing beats traveling the world. We love to study maps, and geography is an important part of our lesson plans. And maps are even more fun when studied while we are actually en route to our destination!

And don't forget to collect souvenirs on your trip to bring back and decorate your home/classroom. Those mementos help to bring back great memories and make excellent conversation starters or writing prompts.

14. The Lonely Planet Kids Travel Book: Mind-Blowing Stuff on Every Country in the World
15. Catherine Aragon's Scavenger Hunt Adventures
16. FlyingKids' Travel Guides
17. Barefoot Books World Atlas

Speak

It's almost impossible to become truly fluent in another language without learning about the culture it comes from. Learning a foreign language leads to many opportunities that most monolingual families can't begin to imagine.

18. Rosetta Stone
19. PetraLingua
20. Duolingo
21. Cooking with Languages

Crafts

Children seem to retain information best when they are actively learning and creating. I love tying in crafts to help my kids study new cultures and to reinforce ideas/concepts we learn in class.

22. Multicultural Kid Blogs has the most diverse and best quality collection of tutorials for creating arts and crafts from around the world.

23. Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from Around the World by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Jean Potter

Music

Get those kids moving! There are SO many wonderful albums on world music available it would be impossible for me to list them all here, but here are a few favorites:

24. Daria World Music for Children: website

25. Daria World Music for Children: app

26. 10 Musical Crafts to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage

27. Music on Kid World Citizen

28. Kids World Party CD

Myths & Legends

One excellent way to explore a culture is to read about its myths and folklore; they help us to understand the perspective of the people who create them.

29. Usborne's Stories from Around the World 

30. African Tales

31. Golden Tales: Myths, Legends, and Folktales from Latin America

32. Treasury of Chinese Folk Tales: Beloved Myths and Legends from the Middle Kingdom

33. Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World

Food

Yum! I can't think of a better way to explore a culture than with my stomach! Actually, this is a really fun, hands-on activity for students. It not only explores a culture, but it reinforces skills in math and science, too.

34. Pint Size Gourmets

35. Global Table Adventure

36. The International Cookbook for Kids

37. MKB's cooking section

38. Kids Around the World Cook!: The Best Foods and Recipes from Many Lands

Apps

Of course, there are also some excellent apps to help your child explore the world. Here are a few exceptional ones:

39. Whole Wide World by Fingerprint
40. Kids World Cultures by Planet Factory Interactive

 

 To celebrate her 40th birthday, Leanna from All Done Monkey has organized a virtual party, where each blogger shares her list of 40 favorite things! (Thanks to the Piri-Piri Lexicon for designing this beautiful series button!)

All Done Monkey: 40 Ways to Celebrate Turning 40 

The Piri-Piri Lexicon: 40 Tips for Parents of Bilingual Children

Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes: 40 Things to Do with Kids in Puerto Rico

Play Dough & Popsicles: 40 Paper Plate Crafts for Kids

Hispanic Mama: Top 40 Children's Picture Books to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Pura Vida Moms: 40 Best Cupcake Recipes

Globe Trottin' Kids: 40 Ways to Go Global in the Elementary Classroom

Spanglish Monkey: 40 Dishes from Around the World You Should Try

Peakle Pie: 40 Free Family Fun Things to Make and Do

Witty Hoots: 40 Fabulous Books for Kids of All Ages

MommyMaestra: 40 Ways to Create a Multicultural Homeschool

MarocMama: 40 Things to Do in Morocco You Haven't Thought Of!

Multilingual Parenting: 40 Ways to Motivate Bilingual Children to Speak the Minority Language

Creative World of Varya: 40 Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving to China

Pack-n-Go Girls: 40 Fabulous Travel Tips

Children's Books about Mexico

I'm delighted to have the opportunity to kick off August with a post related to the Summer Games. You know they'll be starting this Friday, right? Well, Multicultural Kid Blogs has been running a series since the beginning of July that is dedicated to exploring world cultures in honor of the Olympics. Bloggers from around the world get a different country and theme to highlight. I had Mexico. You might remember my free download that I shared earlier this summer. It's a sample of the country section you'll find in our Summer Games Unit.

Today, the theme is books. And since I've got Mexico, I'll be sharing a list of Latino kids' literature that features Mexico. If you're doing a unit study of this country during the upcoming school year or simply as a learning opportunity during the Olympics, I think you'll enjoy these books.

This post may contain affiliate links.

My Mexico / México Mío

by Tony Johnston

Sway to the sounds, reach for the colors, dance to the rhythms, and you will find your own Mexico in these lovely poems in both English and Spanish.

P is for Piñata: A Mexico Alphabet

by Tony Johnston

The country of Mexico has long been a popular travel destination. But there's much more to enjoy and appreciate than just sunshine and warm temperatures when exploring this region with its ancient history and proud traditions. Enjoy an A-Z tour of our neighbor to the south in P is for Piñata: A Mexico Alphabet. Young readers can visit the tomb of a Mayan king, experience the life of the vaquero (Mexican cowboy), attend the world-famous Ballet Folklórico de Mèxico, and sample the everyday treat that was once known as the "food of the gods." From folk art to famous people to the original "hot dog," the treasures of Mexico are revealed in P is for Piñata. 

Off We Go to Mexico

by Laurie Krebs

Swim in turquoise seas, admire grey whales and monarch butterflies, trek to native villages and sing and dance to the music of Mariachi bands. Along the way, you can learn Spanish words and phrases and discover Mexican culture. Enjoy your journey!

Mexico ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of Mexico 

by Sarah Heiman

An alphabetical exploration of the people, geography, animals, plants, history, and culture of Mexico.

Adelita

by Tomie dePaola

Hace mucho tiempo—a long time ago—there lived a beautiful young woman named Adelita. So begins the age-old tale of a kindhearted young woman, her jealous stepmother, two hateful stepsisters, and a young man in search of a wife. The young man, Javier, falls madly in love with beautiful Adelita, but she disappears from his fiesta at midnight, leaving him with only one clue to her hidden identity: a beautiful rebozo—shawl. With the rebozo in place of a glass slipper, this favorite fairy tale takes a delightful twist. Tomie dePaola's exquisite paintings, filled with the folk art of Mexico, make this a Cinderella story like no other. Read my review.

Mexico & Central America: A Fiesta of Cultures, Crafts, and Activities for Ages 8–12

by Mary C. Turck 

This multicultural activity book celebrates the myriad cultures of Mexico and Central America and their shared ancient Aztec and Mayan roots. For each country, a brief introduction is provided that includes illustrated maps and facts about population and geography. More than 40 projects and three dramatic play scripts explore the interconnectedness of these countries and help children experience aspects of daily life throughout the region including school, work, home, art and poetry, food and agriculture, and special holidays. Activities include embroidering Mayan designs, painting in the Salvadoran style, creating an ofrenda for the Day of the Dead, crafting political puppets, cooking chocobananas, and making piñatas. Engaging sidebars throughout the book provide children with an introduction to the Spanish language. Also included are tips for teachers who want to use the activities in the classroom, complete with more specific age ranges and suggested modifications.

Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin

by  Duncan Tonatiuh

From first-time Mexican author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh comes the story of two cousins, one in America and one in Mexico, and how their daily lives are different yet similar. Charlie takes the subway to school; Carlitos rides his bike. Charlie plays in fallen leaves; Carlitos plays among the local cacti. Dear Primo covers the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of two very different childhoods, while also emphasizing how alike Charlie and Carlitos are at heart. Spanish words are scattered among the English text, providing a wonderful way to introduce the language and culture of Mexico to young children.

Mexico!: 40 Activities to Experience Mexico Past & Present 

by Susan Milord 

Discusses the history, language, religion, customs, and daily life of Mexico, using a variety of activities to reinforce the information.

Mystery of the Thief in the Night (Pack-n-Go Girls - Mexico Book 1)

by Janelle Diller

Welcome to Mexico! 

Izzy’s family sails into a quiet lagoon in Mexico and drops their anchor. Izzy can’t wait to explore the pretty little village, eat yummy tacos, and practice her Spanish. When she meets nine-year-old Patti, Izzy’s thrilled. Now she can do all that and have a new friend to play with too. Life is perfect. At least it’s perfect until they realize there’s a midnight thief on the loose! 

-------------

Welcome to our Olympics for Kids series! The Olympics are a wonderful opportunity to teach kids about the world and explore cultures together. Today, you can find more about other travel posts about various countries thanks to our participating bloggers:

Book review: Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboahw - Multicultural Kid Blogs  Latino Kids Lit Featuring Mexico - Mommy Maestra  Traveling to Chile - La Clase de Sra. DuFault  5 Popular Dutch Children's Books - Expat Life with a Double Buggy  Children's Books Set in South Africa - Colours of Us  All About Ecuador - Hispanic Mama  Portuguese Favourite Books for Under 6's - the piri-piri lexicon  Explore Brazil with Your Child: Read, Cook, and Craft - Pack-n-Go Girls
Don't forget that you can also download our Summer Games Unit activity pack to learn more about the world and have fun during the Olympics.

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Spanish Books about the Olympics
  
  
• Children's Books About the Olympics
  
  
• Monarch Butterflies & Day of the Dead
  
  
• Mexico Exploration Kit from Pack-n-Go Girls

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Read Around the World: Golden Tales

Once again, I'm happy to be participating in Multicultural Kid Blogs' annual Read Around the World series. If you haven't been following it, then you are missing out on a wonderful opportunity to discover children's books that reflect the beautiful cultures found around the world. It's easy to travel to foreign lands without ever leaving your house when you have a book in your hand. These stories make excellent read alouds and are fascinating for the entire family. My book recommendation is Golden Tales: Myths, Legends, and Folktales from Latin America.

This post may contain affiliate links.

A Picture Book of Latin American Folklore

As usual, I always have a hard time narrowing it down to just one book. Technically, I think I'm supposed to focus on a book from one particular country, but I'm cheating a little this time and sharing a marvelous title that I use in my own homeschool world studies lessons.

Golden Tales: Myths, Legends, and Folktales from Latin America is not a new title, but it has lasting value. I love the variety of stories inside this book and how it reflects the beliefs of so many cultures. You'll read about how the Tainos thought the sea was born, and about the Colombian legend of El Dorado. Beautiful illustrations are interspersed throughout the book, as well as brief commentaries by the author at the end of each story.

So if you are raising a young global citizen or are simply looking for materials to help you with your world studies class, consider this remarkable book by Latina author and illustrator, Lulu Delacre.

Use this Book When Studying These Topics

Educators and parents: this is a great book to pair with studies on the following topics:

• Latin America
• Puerto Rico
• Dominican Republic
• Cuba
• Mexico
• Colombia
• Bolivia
• Inca
• Zapotecs
• Tainos
• Legends, myths, folktales
• World studies

Take a peek at the Table of Contents: 

How to Use This Book

Of course you can always just read the book as you do any other children's book. But if you are looking to use it in your classroom or home studies, here are a few other ideas:

• Make this part of your morning basket routine and begin your day by reading one of the stories each morning. 
• Discuss the legend or myth with your children, with questions such as, "Does this story remind you of another one you may have heard?" or "What did you think about the story?" or "What part did you like best and why?"
• Give your children a storyboard and have them fill it out based on the story of the day
• Visit Reading Is Fundamental which has this wonderful Educator's Guide with resources related to the book, including an interview with Lulu Delacre, the author and illustrator.

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Read Around the World: Kutu, The Tiny Inca Princess
  
  
• 5 Picture Books Featuring Legends and Folktales from Latin America
  
  
• The Best Latino Children's Literature to Read with Your Child
  
  
• New Books to Celebrate Día
  
  
• 8 Picture Books for Jolabokaflod That Feature Latinos

Comprehensive Summer Games Unit & Free Printable

I am SO excited to share with you this new project that we've just completed! Multicultural Kid Blogs is an amazing community that supports parents around the world who are trying to raising global citizens. I've collaborated with them in the past on different printable packs, but this is by far, my most favorite! Bring on the Summer Olympic Games Unit!

I had the great pleasure of working with two other talented content creators - Julie from Open Wide the World and Annabelle from The Piri-Piri Lexicon. Together we've created this Summer Games Unit with 100 + pages of Olympic goodness for your kids. Inside this no-prep packet, you'll find:

• a history of the Ancient and Modern Olympics

• a brief description of all the sports played in the 2016 Summer Games

• world mapping activity

• a medal tracker so your family can keep score at home during the Olympic Games

• an introduction to this year's host city and country

• introductions to the Olympics top ten nations with the most medals; includes country facts, geography, brief histories, landmarks, wildlife, music, famous people, Olympics facts, a kid-friendly recipe, and recommended reading

• book suggestions for exploring these countries more in-depth

• reading passages about seven famous Olympians from around the world

• additional worksheets that allow students to show what they've learned, such as flag matching, word search, matching, fill in the blank, multiple choice, and trivia.

An answer key is included, as is a list of sources referenced for each section. These fun activities are designed for children ages 8 - 12, or 3rd through 6th grade.

Visit Multicultural Kid Blogs or their TpT store to purchase this great packet. (Psst! It's on sale through Friday, 6/3!)

I can't wait to begin this study with my own kids! 

To get YOU excited about it, too, I've created this free download. It's an example of the type of work you'll find in this packet.

I hope you enjoy.

Download the Sample Pack Here

Online Summit: Raising Global Citizens at Home

One of the things that matters most to me in my journey as a mother, is raising a child that can empathize, relate to, and communicate with any person in the world. I'm trying to raise not just a responsible U.S. citizen, but also a respectful, contributing global citizen. I want them to be able to travel anywhere and be able to interact with the community and it's people. I want them to be able to visit a culture and find the beauty that exists. I don't want them to view differences as something to be feared, but something to be recognized and appreciated. I don't expect my kids to agree with everyone or to adopt every tradition or belief, but I do expect them to respect the rights of others to live and believe as they wish.

I don't think that I'm the only parent who feels this way.

So I'm delighted that my dear friends at Multicultural Kid Blogs have come up with the brilliant idea to create a FREE online summit for parents (and educators)! In it you'll find tools and resources to help you raise your young global citizen.

The free "Raising Global Citizens at Home" summit starts today! 

I will have the honor of sharing the virtual stage with a line-up of fantastic speakers in the “Raising Global Citizens at Home” online summit. Join us to find inspiration and ideas on how to use arts and crafts, music, food, play, movement, travel, language, books, apps and other media to raise the next generation of globally-minded world citizens.

All you have to do is REGISTER HERE and you will gain free access to all the videos and resources (which you can enjoy at any time that is convenient for you) and a workbook that you can use at home with your kids.

I have to say THANK YOU to our hosts (Leanna Guillen Mora of Multicultural Kid Blogs, Olga Mecking of The European Mama, Lana Jelenjev of Smart Tinker) and to our organizers (Annabelle Humanes of The Piri-Piri Lexicon, Rita Rosenback of Multilingual Parenting, and Varya Sanina-Garmroud of Creative World of Varya) for putting together this amazing resource for parents!

The schedule for this week:

Monday, April 11: Why is it important to raise global citizens?

• Homa Sabet Tavangar of Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World
• Ana Flores Flores of SpanglishBaby & Latina Bloggers Connect
• MaryAnne Ko of Mama Smiles - Joyful Parenting

Tuesday, April 12: How TRAVEL supports global citizenship.

• Rachel 'Pieh' Jones
• Ashley Steel of Family on the Loose: The Art of Traveling with Kids
• Amanda Ponzio Mouttaki of MarocMama

Wednesday, April 13: How FOOD connects us in a global society.

• Wendy Dakroub of Pint Size Gourmets
• Lisa Sadleir of Cooking with Languages
• Sasha Martin of Global Table Adventure

Thursday, April 14: How ARTS and CRAFTS promote global citizens.

• Cindy Ingram of The Art Curator for Kids
• Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou of DARIA MUSIC
• Becky Mladic Morales of Kid World Citizen

Friday, April 15: How PLAY encourages global citizenship.

• Varya Sanina-Garmroud of Creative World of Varya
• Giselle Shardlow of Kids Yoga Stories
• Amanda Boyarshinov of Amanda Boyarshinov

Saturday, April 16: The importance of MEDIA, APPS, and BOOKS in raising global citizens.

• Carla Curiel Castro of Mundo Lanugo
• Monica Olivera Hazelton of MommyMaestra
• Mia Wenjen of PragmaticMom

Sunday, April 17: The role of LANGUAGE in raising global citizens.

• Olena Centeno of Bilingual Kids ROCK
• Marianna Du Bosq of Bilingual Avenue
• Rita Rosenback of Multilingual Parenting

What are you waiting for? Go register and start watching! 

Enjoy!!

Free Download: Women in World History Trading Cards Template

How I love Women's History Month! It provides me an opportunity to teach my daughter the inspirational stories of powerful, amazing women who weren't afraid to make their mark on history. I use books, the internet, and materials that I create myself, such as these Women in World History Trading Cards.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, MommyMaestra receives a small commission.

This month we're studying 18 important women in history:

1. Cleopatra
2. Amelia Earhart
3. Joan of Arc
4. Ellen Ochoa
5. Coretta Scott King
6. Eleanor Roosevelt
7. Celia Cruz
8. Marie Curie
9. Malala Yousafzai
10. Frida Kahlo
11. Pocahontas
12. Queen Isabella I
13. Anne Frank
14. Florence Nightingale
15. Isabel Allende
16. Indira Gandhi
17. Sirimavo Bandaranaike
18. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

I chose these women for their diverse backgrounds and impact on history. I hope my kids might learn from both their triumphs and their mistakes. To help me teach them, I'm using some materials I created. First, I'm using my Women in World History Fandex. It's a complete study in itself with each leaf featuring a different woman including the years she lived, where she was born, and for what she is best known. I use worksheets to help them learn key facts, as well as hese trading card templates.

And because I'm really thrilled to be participating in Multicultural Kid Blogs' second annual Women's History Month series, I'd like to share these Trading Card Templates with you! They're blank, so your kids can research each woman and write in the information they learn on the cards. And they can be used in ANY LANGUAGE. The templates are available in both black-and-white and full color. You can use the Fandex I created, or your kids can use the internet (I would recommend Kiddle or GoGooligans) or BOOKS!

Click Here to Download the File 

Join us for MKB's Women's History Month series, which celebrates the contributions and accomplishments of women around the world. Follow along all month plus link up your own posts below!

Don't miss our series from last year, and find even more posts on our Women's History board on Pinterest:

Follow Multicultural Kid Blogs's board Women's History on Pinterest.

March 1 A Crafty Arab on Multicultural Kid Blogs

March 2 A Crafty Arab

March 3 The Art Curator for Kids

March 4 Kid World Citizen

March 7 Mama Smiles

March 8 Hispanic Mama

March 9 Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes

March 10 Peakle Pie

March 11 MommyMaestra

March 14 Crafty Moms Share

March 16 Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes

March 17 Living Ideas

March 18 La Cité des Vents

March 24 All Done Monkey

March 25 The Art Curator for Kids on Multicultural Kid Blogs

March 28 Creative World of Varya

March 29 Family in Finland

App Review: World Music for Kids with Daria Music

As I strive to raise global citizens, we study world cultures as much as we can in our homeschool lessons. One of the ways that I do so is through music. So when I had the opportunity to review this free new app on World Music for Kids from Daria Music, I was pretty thrilled and I think you will be, too!

Name: World Music for Kids with Daria Music
Subject(s): music, world cultures
Brief Description: An interactive app for kids that teaches children about world music, instruments from all cultures, and songs that bring you to Africa and back.
Price: FREE
Language: English
Ages: 3 - 8 years
Device: iOS, Android

Nothing gets my kids learning faster than when they are excited about the subject and want to learn it. And it is hard for my kids to be bored with a subject that gets them up and moving or wiggling in their seats. Daria is a talented children's performer who has traveled the world in search of rhythms and instruments to engage her young audience.

Daria's World Music App makes learning about world cultures fun through music. It includes:

• Puzzles, 
• Match-3 Games,
• Videos, 
• Songs, 
• Books, 
• Drag & Drop Puzzles, 
• Matching games, 
• Maker games, and more.

We enjoy the stories that describe each instrument and where it comes from. We also love that she's used children as the main characters so that my kids can see how kids make music around the world. It's more fun to learn about things from other kids who are having fun. (And it makes my kids a little more enthusiastic about playing the piano!)

This is such a creative app that is good for parents and children to explore together, or for children to enjoy on their own. My kids loved learning about instruments they'd never heard of or seen, as did I. And I have to admit, I spent a good deal of time playing the game shown at the bottom of this post!

I highly recommend this vibrant, music app for all children.

A few notes: 

You do need an internet connection to run this app. 

Also, this app does offer in-app purchases, but they are simply of Daria's CD albums, which are fabulous. You can disable this option in your tablet settings as I have so that my kids can't buy anything without my permission.

Thanks to Multicultural Kid Blog for allowing me to review this app!

Calavera Poetry Writing Activity

One of my favorite things to do is to create printable activities that I can use with my children and share them with MommyMaestra readers. I focus on culture and my heritage because there are plenty of resources available for the other subjects we cover in our homeschool, but few that deal with our heritage. It's my way of introducing my kids to the culture from which we oftentimes feel so far away.
Day of the Dead is certainly a fun holiday for all of us. I have so many popular activities related to it available via my TpT store, and new ideas pop into my head all the time. I'm especially excited about my latest one that focuses on Calavera Poetry. In it, I include a short history of calavera poems.

This activity is available in my TpT store or here on my site.

For a huge list of all my printable Day of the Dead activities, click here!

This post is part of Multicultural Kid Blogs' first annual Day of the Dead series. Visit our main page for the full schedule of articles and to link up your own!

Read Around the World: Drum Dream Girl

I'm pretty delighted to participate this year in the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Read Around the World Summer Reading Series. Throughout the summer, MKB blog members have been sharing their favorite book recommendations to help our children travel across the globe through literature. And today, it's my turn!

There are so many wonderful books on Latino culture that I had a hard time choosing only one. In the end, I decided on a book that highlights the little-known story of a young girl who changed the world of music in Cuba with her determination and courage. 

Drum Dream Girl is written by the talented poet Margarita Engle who frequently focuses on stories about those men and women who don't show up in our history books despite the tremendous impact that they had on their communities. 

Drum Dream Girl tells the story of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban who had an amazing talent and love of drums. However at the time, girls were not allowed to play the drums in Cuba - especially not in public! But Millo summoned her courage and dared to play, paving the way for future generations of female drummers. Margarita's freestyle verse is so well written and has so much imagery that the illustrations are almost unnecessary. 

However, this book is a visual feast thanks to the magnificent illustrations by the talented Rafael Lopez. The vibrant and joyous images seem to leap from the pages, responding to the rhythm of the music Millo plays on her small bongo drums. The bold colors reflect the warmth of the Caribbean island and its inhabitants.

If you are looking for an inspirational book to share with and motivate your own child, dive into the beautiful message between the covers of Drum Dream Girl. 

World Soccer Championship Activity Pack for Kids

It has been a busy week of traveling for me, but I wanted to slip in one more great resource for Soccer Mania Week here on MommyMaestra. I had the wonderful pleasure to contributing to the creation of this activity pack for kids centered around - yes - soccer!

Created for kids in Pre-K through 4th grade, this amazing printable pack comes with 54 activity pages ready to download and print off for your child or student. From building vocabulary skills to learning the flags of the various countries participating in this year's soccer championship in Brazil to keeping track of the goals made by each team, this kit has a little something for everyone in early elementary.  There's even a huge set of cut out and fold hexagon book team pages for all of the teams participating in the June championship.

I'm so honored to work with this set of multicultural bloggers on this project. Their work is phenomenal, and you will love it!

So keep your kids busy learning this summer with this fun activity pack. They can participate in the Soccer Mania, too! You can see more sample pages and purchase your own copy over on the Multicultural Kid Blogs' website.

A big, giant GRACIAS to MKB for letting me contribute to this fun project!

Abrazo...

MK Blogging Carnival: Celebrating Day of the Child with Children's Lit from Around the World

I am so excited to be hosting this month's Blog Carnival for the awesome bloggers at Multicultural Kid Blogs group. Each month, a different multicultural blogger shares posts that the group has written on a specific topic.

With Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros, or Children's Day/Book Day, approaching on the 30th, this month's topic is on Celebrating Day of the Child with Children's Lit from Around the World. Día is not just about Latino children's literature. It's about celebrating children, books, and cultures. There are so many fantastic books out there about different cultures, I want to share some of them with you today. Since the bloggers can be found across the globe, this is a great opportunity to find books you might not otherwise have heard about.

You can find out more about these fabulous bloggers by visiting our Facebook page, subscribing to our Facebook feed, following us on Twitter(#multiculturalkids), or following our group Pinterest board.

I hope you enjoy this journey around the world through children's literature as much as I did! I've tried to group the following posts by regions or continents with more specific countries in the descriptions.

Indonesia

• KidWorldCitizen has a great collection of Animals in Indonesian Folktales + Activities. The books look beautifully illustrated and written - I can't wait to search for them in my local library!

Asia

• Travel to Beijing with these 5 children's books over on In Culture Parent.
• Marie's Pastiche recommends two books on Chines culture and another on 18 Chinese folktales. 

Middle East

• Chasing the Donkey has a lovely review of My Grandfather's Masbaha, which features Lebanese culture.

Africa

• Learn about the Ghanaian culture in Sugarfootn’ in Ghana, Why People Have to Work? on Sugarfoots.com
• Here's a clever idea: pairing yoga poses with African animals based on the book, We All Went on Safari by Laurie Krebs.

North & Central America

• Check out these 4 Multicultural Children’s Books that Feature Native American History and these 5 Native American Books for Kids over on KidWorldCitizen.
• Travel to Mexico with 5 children's books on In Culture Parent.
• Explore Mexico with the book, Nos vamos a Mexico and these activities from Spanish Playground.
• Toddling in the Fast Lane has a nice review of People of Corn, a story abou the ancient Maya in Guatemala. 

Caribbean

• Discovering the World Through my Son's Eyes reviews Caribbean Dreams by Rachel Isadora.
• Crafty Moms Share has a lovely review of the book Justice pon di Road by Aliona Gibson. The book features Jamaican culture.

Europe

• Eva Varga has a lovely set of Activities & Projects to Honor Hans Christian Andersen.
• Travel to Spain and learn about ¡Olé! flamenco on the Latin Baby Book Club.

Around the World!

• In Culture Parent has a really great collection of children's books appropriately named "A Year of Multicultural Picture Books" with 12 titles - one for each month.
• Chicago Now has also put together a nice set of book that Open Children's Eyes to the World - Its People and Places.