Under the Mambo Moon

You can't celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Hispanic culture without talking about music. The Spanish and Latin beats are embedded in the foundations of Spain and Latin America. One of my favorite books to recommend when it comes to introducing children to the music of Latin America is Under the Mambo Moon. We got a copy of it years ago and it still has a special place in my heart. It is such an original way to talk about music that it engages young readers. Here's a review I wrote a few years ago for the Latin Baby Book Club.

This post contains affiliate links.

A chapter book highlighting Latin American music

Under the Mambo Moon
by Julia Durango
illustrated by Fabricio VandenBroeck

My familia loves music - especially anything with a Latin rhythm. So I was overjoyed to find the new book, Under the Mambo Moon. Inside the pages of this unique story, readers can explore various types of Latin American music - from Colombia’s cumbia to the Dominican merengue to the candombé of Uruguay.

The story line itself is a little unusual. The first thought that came to my mind was that this book would be perfect for a play. Young Marisol is the narrator. She helps out her Papi at his music store where people come in to buy their favorite songs. Papi says, “You can read people’s souls by the music they listen to.” (Looking at my CD and record collection, I wonder what my soul is saying? I’ve got everything from Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 to SpyroGyra to Yiddish-American Klezmer music. Oy.)

Interspersed throughout the book, are brief poems told by each customer who enters the store to buy the music of their homeland. João is a fan of bossa nova, while Professor Soto prefers Andean tunes that he has heard played on a zampoña player. Mr. and Mrs. Mayer are tango dancers, but young Gabriel loves the vallenatos of Colombia.

VandenBroeck cleverly uses color to help the reader distinguish between the main story line and the individual poems for each character. I appreciate the careful attention that he gave to depict each dance accurately with special attention to costumes and musical instruments.

The only thing that would make this book better would be an actual CD to accompany it and provide examples of each musical style. However, Putumayo has some great albums that would complement this book nicely. Or you can visit All Around This World's website and listen to music from different countries.

I also like how at the back of the book, the author includes a brief history of the amazingly diverse Latin American music and dance. Durango talks about the influence of indigenous, European, and African cultures on the rhythms and even the musical instruments used to create the various styles of music. She also includes a short description of each music style mentioned in the story.

Under the Mambo Moon is written in English with some embedded Spanish text. This book is best suited for children ages 4 and up.

Parents and teachers: This book is an awesome resource if you are studying music, Latin America, culture, traditions, multiculturalism, the colonization of the Americas, etc.

Buy your own copy of Under the Mambo Moon!

Here's my affiliate link for Amazon. Using this link to purchase Under the Mambo Moon helps keep MommyMaestra going!

Albums that complement this book

Rumba, Mambo, Cha Cha Cha

Samba Bossa Nova

Latin Playground

Happy reading!

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Picture Books that Celebrate Dance
  
  
• Resources for Studying Music
  
  
• Using Music to Teach Language
  
  
• Gifting Music to Children

Makanaka's World: Adventure in Morocco

This is a sponsored book post with Global Kidz House. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post uses affiliate links.

If you are like me, you are always on the lookout for diverse books to read and share with your children. Raising a global citizen, a person who is able to communicate and appreciate people from all across the world, is an empowering action. Doing so helps us enact change in our world. And part of that journey to global citizenship is deeply rooted in diverse literature. Which is why today, I'm so very pleased to share Global Kidz House with you!

This new publishing company highlights the stories of Africa and the African diaspora through their publication of children's books. Their first book has recently been released and I have had the opportunity to get my hands on a copy of it. 

Makanaka's World is a series following a young girl named Makanaka and her pet parrot, Fari. Makanaka has friends ALL over the world, of course, and loves to visit them with the help of Fari. He isn't just your average pet parrot. Her little feathered friend has the special ability to transform into an airplane that can fly anywhere in the world. 

In this first book, Adventure in Morocco (aff), the two fly to the North African country to visit Makanaka's friend, Nadia. Upon their arrival, there is trouble to be found, and Makanaka and her friends set out to help. Along the way, they explore the city of Casablanca and its rich culture.

The illustrations are lovely; they are colorful and engaging without being too busy for little readers. 

There is also a glossary and a world map in the back of the book, as well as a couple of pages with photographs that give a mini tour of Morocco. 

This book is recommended for children in K - 3rd or 5 - 8 years old, but my 3yo loves it. 

The really fun thing is that there is also a 7-page curriculum guide for the book. It comes with discussion questions, recipes, and activity ideas to go along with the story. 

This story is a good addition for lesson plans on world cultures, travel, geography, global citizens, family, friends, Africa, Morocco, Casablanca, soccer, languages, Arabic, and more.

You can click the links above to purchase this book, or find it here on Amazon:

Chile's New Observatory

image source: Rubin Obs/NSF/AURA

While studying articles this week about various space topics, I quite happily learned about the Vera C. Rubin Observatory that has been built on Cerro Pachón in Chile. It is expected to become fully functional by 2022.

 
This revolutionary observatory is more than just a powerful telescope. The innovative technology includes a "camera (3200 megapixels, the world’s largest digital camera), telescope (simultaneous casting of the primary and tertiary mirrors; two aspherical optical surfaces on one substrate), and data management (20 terabytes of data nightly, nearly instant alerts issued for objects that change in position or brightness)."

This image was taken in Spain, just before the disassembly began in preparation for shipping it to Chile.
Image credit: Asturfeito

Rubin will be able to image the entire visible sky every few nights and the powerful telescope will be able to see farther than most currently on Earth. It is predicted that in its first year, it will see more of the universe than ALL previous telescopes COMBINED.

Cerro Pachón was chosen from 19 other sites (10 in each hemisphere) because of the conditions surrounding the site. The location had to be in a sparsely populated area (to avoid light pollution), at high altitude and in a dry climate (to avoid cloud cover).

Now the best part and the main reason I'm sharing news about Rubin Observatory is that there will be great opportunities for educators and students! They are in the process of developing education materials such as online, data-driven classroom investigations with complete teacher guides for middle schoolers through higher education. The investigations will focus on critical thinking and science literacy techniques. The investigations will be in English AND Spanish.

Educators will also have access to the site so students can explore and analyze data.

I also find it wonderful that this observatory is being named after a woman. Vera Florence Cooper Rubin was an American astronomer. Rubin was a pioneer who studied the galaxy rotation problem and her work became evidence of the existence of dark matter. Dark matter will be one of the focuses of the Rubin Observatory.

Women's History Month starts on Monday. What a fantastic way to kick it off! Help your students learn about a remarkable woman who changed modern science with her hard work and discoveries.

Lunar New Year: Year of the Ox

© Can Stock Photo / Bluehousestudio

 
Happy New Year - Lunar New Year, that is! Today, many Asian countries are celebrating the new year which they base on the lunar calendar, so the exact date changes from year to year. It may be celebrated anytime between January 21 to February 20. This year, the holiday falls on February 12th.

For most of those who celebrate, the Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the year. In China, for example, families spend a lot of time preparing for its arrival. Families gather together to cook, decorate, and buying small gifts to give each other.

Traditionally, the holiday celebration is spread out over the course of up to 16 days! So food prep is a must. Many people do not even go out until the 5th day of the celebration. 

In addition to spending time with family, there is a strong focus on leaving bad fortune behind and welcoming a new year of good health, prosperity, and happiness. A lot of symbolism surrounds this holiday, such as eating noodles to represent longevity and wearing new clothes because torn or stained clothing is considered unlucky. To attract prosperity, vegetables are cut into coin-like shapes before being eaten.

This year, we are entering the Year of the Ox. What does that mean? The Ox is one of the figures in the Chinese zodiac. There are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, and each year is assigned one of them. Last year was the Year of the Rat and 2019 was the Year of the Pig. People are thought to have certain qualities depending on the animal year in which they are born. And each year brings certain challenges and blessings with it depending on the animal and how it affects your life.

Here is a great video for older students and educators from TED-Ed about the Chinese zodiac:

And here's a fun video for younger children about the story of Nian and the origin of the zodiac:

For great printables that are free to download, check out this post I wrote for Woo! Jr. a few years ago!

Book Review: Me & the World

The following is a sponsored book post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

There's a new book on the market that as a homeschooler and parent raising global citizens I absolutely love! Have you seen Me and the World: An Infographic Exploration?

This post contains affiliate links.

For kids who love technology - especially its data style of presentation - this title is a must have. Me and the World by Mireia Trius is a colorful book that is rich in information about global communities all packed into carefully organized infographics. Seriously, there is SO MUCH information here, you can pick up this book again and again and learn something new. You can spend a long time on one or two pages, so you might even be able to break it up and read a little bit one day and a little bit the next. Take a look at some of the pages...

The topics of the infographics focus on things that children are curious about: the popular pets in different countries, the most popular names around the world, breakfast foods, bestselling books, different houses found across the globe, what kids wear to school, and so much more. 

It's a small story within a much bigger one as it follows the story of Lucia from Spain. She's our guide in this book that takes readers around the world, then around again to see new things, and then around again! Lucia tells us with each infographic what her life is like as it relates to the topic. Then the reader can look around the page to see what it is like in other countries.

Mireia Trius (the author) is actually the founder of Zahorí Books in Spain. Before she started her publishing company, she was a gallery owner and art representative. So she has a great eye for creating innovative books for children. Don't you think?

You can find Me and the World here on Bookshop.org. 

And on Amazon here:

This book is also available in Spanish - the language in which it was originally written.

Multicultural Family Pack Giveaway

Oh, this is one of my favorite giveaways on MommyMaestra this year. It's for all of us who are raising world citizens (everyone, I hope!), including teachers who are nurturing a classroom full of knowledge, understanding, and inclusion.

Whoever wins this giant Multicultural Family Pack is going to be so happy!

Thank you to all the fabulous ladies who have contributed to this giveaway. Take time to visit their blogs - you probably already known them. If not, here are some links:

• For the Love of Spanish
• Kid World Citizen
• Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes
• Spanish Playground
• Multicultural Kid Blogs

Here's what it includes:

Barefoot Books Children of the World

Discover the must-have book for all children! Barefoot Books Children of the World depicts kids of a wide range of shapes, sizes, races, abilities and lifestyles from countries and cultures all over the world. From enjoying special days to trying on silly hats, this ground-breaking picture book celebrates the big ideas and everyday moments that all children share.

Alphabet Art Flash Cards for Toddlers, Children of the World

by eeBoo

Printed on thick, high-quality cardstock, eeBoo’s Art Cards feature the artwork of acclaimed children’s book illustrators. Incredibly versatile, eeBoo’s Art Cards can hang on your wall or serve in a call and response flash-card activity, making them perfect for both play and display. Each set includes 26 7” x 9” cards to spark conversation and inspire alphabet memorization.

Cities of the World Memory Game

Sharpen your memory skills, discover some of the world's greatest buildings and boost global literacy! Match the pairs of landmarks and learn the city and country where the landmark can be found. Features gorgeous hand-painted illustrations by World Atlas artist David Dean.

Passport Booklet & Stamps Growing Bundle: Around the World Unit, Geography Fair

These passport stamps and passport booklet are absolutely amazing!!! Perfect for an around the world unit, introduction to country studies, a Geography Fair, International Night, Social Studies Units, "Read Around the World" Passports, or Christmas Around the World (or Holidays Around the World).

The passport booklet is authentic, appropriate for students in any country ("Citizen of the World") with a realistic, trilingual identification page to allow students to personalize their passport. On the "visa" pages, we have inspirational quotes from around the world about diversity, kindness, friendship, and making the world a better place.

My Multicultural Heritage Journal

by Monica Olivera

My Multicultural Heritage Journal is an opportunity for children to explore and record their own multicultural family heritage and history. Inside this journal are pages that allow kids to draw their own family tree, record and describe where in the world their family is from, paste photographs or draw images of family members, and record their favorite memories or stories. Cultural images from around the globe are scattered throughout the book. And there is even a section for writing down family recipes. This journal is meant to be a keepsake that kids can share with other family members and treasure for a long time.

Poets Around the World Activity Pack

Designed for children ages 8 – 12. This 95-page, no-prep packet includes one-page reading passages featuring 18 international poets. In addition, there is a reading comprehension quiz for each reading passage, as well as comprehension worksheets, poetry activities, and a recommended reading list for further research.

Spanish Classroom Packet

Perfect for teachers and homeschoolers alike, this packet includes a Spanish alphabet "foam puzzle", a Spanish word search book, and Spanish "center/station" signs.

The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations: 

Holiday Poems for the Whole Year in English and Spanish

by Sylvia Vardell & Janet Wong

NEW and BILINGUAL! 

(This giveaway is for the STUDENT Edition of this book. A separate Teacher/Librarian Edition of this book is also available.)

Celebrate all year long with 156 poems in English and SPANISH... ideal for preK - grade 6. 

This latest book in The Poetry Friday Anthology series offers 12 poems per month plus 12 poems with the theme of “Birthdays and Baby Days.” Choose your favorite celebrations for each month!

Listening Activities and Speech Bubble Photos

Buena Gente is a video series for Spanish language learners. It is available free on YouTube. These activities accompany it.

Hispanic Culture Lesson: The Story of Mexican Artist Frida Kahlo & Activity

This amazing Frida Kahlo lesson includes an authentic biography in English plus comprehension questions, a unique guided self-portrait lesson, and a beautiful coloring sheet of one of her most famous paintings.

The self-portrait activity leads the students through all of the symbolism in Frida's paintings, discussing emotions, settings, and why she has chosen certain objects. Students dive deep into her artwork and attempt to create a self-portrait that tells their own story. When they are finished, the class set of self-portraits are absolutely stunning on a bulletin board!

The Giveaway

Didn't I tell you it was an amazing giveaway?

To enter, simply use the Rafflecopter below.

Good luck, Everybody!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Shipping available only within the continental U.S.

Guatemalan Alfombras During Semana Santa

Today, I'm delighted to share this post written by Shannon Alvarez, who is living in Guatemala with her family and agreed to write up what she observed about Guatemalan alfombras during Semana Santa. Thank you, Shannon!

Hola A Todos!

Our family has now been living in Guatemala for the past eight months! We live about 15 minutes outside the city of Antigua. What a beautiful country Guatemala is!

After many years of watching from afar, we were finally able to be here during the Easter/Holy Week season. Every weekend in Antigua, there are processions and alfombras (carpets) made during the month preceding Easter.

Here's a link to the churches and convents of Antigua, Guatemala.

And here's a link to see the live route and more information.

There are local families, art schools, and other organizations who create their alfombras in Antigua.  The tourist season is very high and the traffic is crazy! We were happy to stay home and watch the local procession from our rooftop. Many of the little towns have set days when their church does the processions through their town.

The alfombras cover the streets - a beautiful display of art! The alfombras are all unique and designed by the families displaying them. There is no set area assigned, but many people make theirs outside their house.  Some are made of grass, flowers, vegetables, and/or fruit. Some are made of sawdust (serrín). The serrín is bought in its natural color and then each family dyes it to the colors they want for their design. Many use natural methods for dyeing, using fruits, herbs, etc.

Stencils are made for the designs you want to create with your sawdust.  Depending on the complexity of the design made, some families begin their alfombras around 3 to 4 am. The procession in our area began at 10am outside the Catholic Church, where there gathered a large group of the town who attend that church. There are two platforms/floats in this particular church’s procession.

Each year, the decorations and forms change. Urban areas may have more extravagant decorations, while the smaller towns tend to be more simple. The larger floats may be so large they require over 100 people to carry them. The ones in our town require around 60 people to carry them, with people taking turns as they pass through the streets. Men carried the float with Jesus and the cross, while the women carried a float with the Virgin Mary. The men wear purple and white gowns to symbolize the royalty and purity of Jesus.

The procession begins at the church when the people carry the floats through the main streets of the town, and hours later, return back to the church,  The people walk surrounding the floats, singing, praying, some carrying incense. There are musicians who follow behind as well. Everyone walks over the alfombras!

Once the procession has passed by, the alfombras are swept up and thrown away. It was very sad to see all that hard work gone within such a short amount of time. The procession returned to the church around 3:00 and by 3:30, there was little sign of the alfombras on any of the streets! A fleeting work of art!

I learned other interesting bits of information from talking with a local friend. Cascarones are made here, but only used on the Tuesday of Carnival. During this time of year, families will eat a cabbage salad called curtido, which is made purple from the ingredients in it. This is also the only time of year when people will eat empanadas. They can be found other times of the year, but the majority of people will only eat them during the Semana Santa season.

This is a very special time for families here as they spend time together and reflect on their faith and lives going forward in the year. We are so blessed to be able to witness the beauty of the culture around us!


If you'd like to see video of the procession, check out the one Shannon took. The video is rough between :10 and 1:15 (probably due to internet connection during upload), but the video portions before and after that are clear.

Make Your Own Alfombra

Are your kids inspired to make their own alfombra? Start small! And here are a few items you might need:

Other posts you may enjoy...

• Resources for Holy Week & Easter
• A Brief History of Cascarones
• How to Make Confetti Eggs (Cascarones) Videos
• Ways To Celebrate Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros/Children's Day, Book Day

Winter Games Unit

The Winter Olympics will be starting in about 2 and a half weeks! Will your family be watching? We will.

And, of course, this is the perfect event to turn into a learning opportunity. Practice worldschooling! Introduce your children to 11 countries, the history of the Olympics, famous athletes and more with the new Winter Games Unit from Multicultural Kid Blogs. You may enjoy it just as much as they do.

Things have been quiet here on MommyMaestra the last few weeks because I was working on this packet. Yes, I am a contributor. And I was delighted to do so. It was so much fun to work on this unit and create pages that are engaging and educational. Lots of research and creativity going on here.


You may remember me contributing to a similar packet for the Summer Olympics a couple of years ago. In fact, you can still download the free sample pages that feature the country of Mexico and it's participation in the Olympics.

For parents and educators raising global citizens, this downloadable no-prep packet introduces children to 11 countries around the world through the Olympics theme. The Winter Games Unit Activity Pack contains 100 pages of learning materials, including:

• a history of the Ancient and Modern Olympics
• a brief history of the Olympic flame
• a brief description of all the sports played in the 2018 Winter Games
• world mapping activity
• 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
• reading passages about six famous winter Olympians
• 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. These fun activities are designed for children ages 8 – 12, or 3rd through 6th grade.


You can purchase and download this packet from MKB's TpT store or on their website.

Enjoy the PyeongChang Olympics!

What is Worldschooling?

The following is a guest post by the wonderful worldschooler, Wendy Awai-Dakroub from Pint Size Gourmets. 


We get a lot of questions from family, friends, and even strangers when they hear that we worldschool our children. Taking your kids out of school, traveling around the world with them, and educating them along the way seems like a daunting task, but if we can do it, so can you!

WHAT IS WORLDSCHOOLING?

Everyone seems to have their own definition for worldschooling - it really is what you want to make of it for you and your family. For our two kids, Lou Lou and Jaf, it means they travel the world with us and learn about the world and its cultures and traditions through food.

They have a curriculum they follow on their iPads (we call it iPad schooling) that ensures they’re on the same level as kids their age who are in a traditional school. In addition, I’ve developed a culinary worldschooling curriculum for them to follow.

OUR WORLDSCHOOLING ADVENTURE

Back in 2014, my husband and I decided to leave the rat race, rent our home, take our two young children out of private school, and travel Europe in an RV so we could spend quality time together. A week into our trip we were all settled into our comfortable RV in Amsterdam and I decided to let the culinary worldschooling begin!

But with no books or workbooks and me having absolutely NO experience in teaching, this was going to be quite a challenge.

However, what we did have were iPad mini’s that we bought for the kids to keep them busy if and when needed (long train rides, airplanes, etc.). So, I decided to spend a day looking for and researching the best “apps” on iTunes that would help me create a personalized iPad curriculum for my children (see what they are here). For the first two weeks, it was tough getting them to focus on any studying, period. But after the kids got used to the routine, they just started iPad schooling themselves after breakfast.

I would check online reports on how they were progressing (available on certain apps) which gave me a sense of relief. Some days, homework was done in a park, or in a cafe, in the lobby of a hotel, or in the RV, so just knowing we only had to carry a journal, book, and iPad was easier. The kids really enjoy doing their lessons on the iPad and would do it on their own with little or no help from me, their teacher. They learned how important the iPad was to them, and funny enough you will not see them playing games or anything else on it in the evenings since they now associate their iPad with school.

Six months into our iPad schooling, we decided to visit a Sylvan Learning Center in Dubai, UAE to do an assessment test to see if my children were keeping up with the rest of the US public school testing scores. At the time, Lou Lou had started the 1st Grade and was apparently reading at a beginning 2nd-grade level. She was also at the beginning level math for 2nd Grade (a whole year ahead!). Jaf was still in Pre-K, but we tested him to see if he was anywhere near the beginning stages of math and reading. He also was progressing at a mid-Kindergarten level, in both subjects!

Because we lived in an RV part-time, we had to shop for groceries almost every other day. We’d make a meal plan for the week and “try” to stick to it. The kids, at first, would help with the shopping and cooking because they had to. Over time, as they got more involved in the shopping process, they eventually wanted to know more about cooking. That’s when I realized that by teaching my kids to cook, I could leverage their eagerness to learn and turn it into something wonderful and educational!

So, in addition to our personalized iPad curriculum, we take it a bit further by cooking foods from around the world. Culinary Worldschooling has now become the basis for everything we do when it comes to teaching our children. Culinary literally means “cooking” or “to cook,” and worldschooling can be defined as schooling through world-travel.  Here’s a video the kids did recently to explain what Culinary Worldschooling means.

Though our way of teaching is different from most, we know that both children are learning important life skills - ones they need to learn to survive in the world.

WORLDSCHOOLING RESOURCES

If you’re thinking about worldschooling your kids, or are interested in learning more about finding what worldschooling method works for your family, here is a list of resources we highly recommend:

- Multicultural Kid Blogs: Resources for Raising Global Citizens
- World Travel Family
- Raising Miro

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Wendy Awai-Dakroub is a Hawaii-based writer, photographer, traveler, and mom to kid-foodies LouLou and Jaf. The Dakroub family culinary worldschooling adventures are chronicled at www.pintsizegourmets.com, a kid-friendly food and travel blog.