Math from the Middle East: Middle Eastern & Northern Africa Blog Series and Giveaway

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Middle Eastern and Northern African Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway. To enter the giveaway scroll to the bottom. I thought I would continue my look at multicultural mathematics by looking at some of the Middle Eastern mathematicians and mathematics from the Middle East. Unfortunately I was not able to find books that shared this information that Hazel could understand. I am sharing a bit about a few mathematicians and lessons to go with their discoveries as well as a bit on Islamic art and lessons as well.

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #30

Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop! The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can't wait to see what you share this time! Created by Frances of Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes, the blog hop has now found a new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs. 

This month our co-hosts are:

Life with My Koreans on Multicultural Kid Blogs 

 Los Gringos Locos 

Crafty Moms Share 

 Castle View Academy 

Life with My Koreans 

 All Done Monkey 

 Crazy Little Family Adventure

 Mama Expatriada

 Spanish Playground

Sharing Saturday 15-32

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! We had some fun ideas shared last week. My features this week include Back-to-School, Science, and Educational Crafts and Books. Please remember this is just a sampling of last week's ideas, so make sure you check all of them out!

I am Lucille Ball Book Review

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of these books & promotional items free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I get to share with you a book that brings back many childhood memories for me and Steve. We grew up watching the I Love Lucy Show. Did you? Penguin Kids sent us the book, I am Lucille Ball, by Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos. It is the newest addition of the Ordinary People Change the World series. It was released July 14, 2015.

The Day the Crayons Came Home Book Review

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of these books & promotional items free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.
 

Poster

Have you read The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers? If you have you will be excited to know that the companion book, The Day the Crayons Came Home, is coming out next week!! If you have not been introduced to these amazingly funny books, let me tell you a bit about them.

Exploring Australian Animals with Books

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of these books free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

We have been exploring the Australian Outback with two great books from Candlewick Press. The first book is Bilby: Secrets of an Australian Marsupial by Edel Wignell and illustrated by Mark Jackson. 

Sharing Saturday 15-31

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Last week had some great ideas. The features are just a sampling of what was shared last week, so if you haven't checked it out yet, you should!! This weeks features are fun art and activities and learning and more. Enjoy!!!

Super Why: Cinderella and Other Fairytale Adventures

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copy of this DVDs free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today we are excited to share this new Super Why DVD with you. It is being released next week and you can pre-order it now.

Super Why: Cinderella and other fairytale adventures has five fun fairytale adventures on  it. The first and last are both from Cinderella. In the first the Super Readers use their special powers to help Prince Charming find Cinderella and in the last they help Cinderella stay after midnight and dance more comfortably. They also help Snow White, the Prince and the Pauper, and the Boy who Cried Wolf. For those that have not watched Super Why, their special powers are Alphabet Power, Spelling Power and Word Power. In each story one of the Super Readers has a problem and they are brought into a story where a character has a similar problem. They help the characters by finding letters, spelling words and changing words in their stories.

Quilting with a Modern Slant Book Review

Disclosure: Storey Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Now if you have been reading Crafty Moms Share for a bit of time you know I am a quilter. I tend to be a traditional quilter--using more traditional patterns. My mother has been experimenting with more modern patterns lately and it has intrigued me.  When I saw Quilting with a Modern Slant by Rachel May I decided I wanted to check it out and really see what modern quilting is really about. 

 

Five-Minute Bible Devotions for Children

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Ideals Books. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

With it being summer Hazel is not learning about the Bible at school or going to chapel at school and we have been traveling many weekends and thus she has not been attending Sunday School regularly. I want her to know that reading the Bible and praying is still very important and that we are not taking a vacation from God. We found the perfect way to include Bible lessons in our nightly story times with the books Ideals Books sent us. 

Both books are very similar in how they are written. The first is Five-Minute Bible Devotions for Children: Stories from the Old Testament by Pamela Kennedy and Anne Kennedy Brady and illustrated by Amy Wummer. This book has twenty-one of the Old Testament stories. It simplifies and summarizes the stories so a young child can truly understand it and then it gives a paragraph of relating the story to everyday kids' lives. Next comes a prayer. Then there are four questions relating to the story, the illustration and the child's life. Finally there is a scripture.  To show you an example of the story I found this sample page at Rainbow Resource Center.

Exploring Iran with Books & Music

Disclosure: Wisdom Tales Press gave me a copy of this product free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Take a moment to check out my post on the Middle East and enter the Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month Giveaway over at Multicultural Kid Blogs! Global Learning for Kids has left Lebanon and headed to Iran. Now recently I turned on the radio in the car to check the traffic report and we caught a small snip of the news and they were quoting someone from Iran about how Americans will always be their enemy. Hazel only heard a few words, but it was enough for her to question me what was said and why. Unfortunately, this was her first introduction to Iran. Now we are going to spend time to explore Iran and focus on some of the positives this month, but I know we will not be able to overcome that statement in her mind. However she has been enjoying stories from Iran, well actually Persia which is now Iran.  


We were lucky enough to get two fun Persian stories from Wisdom Tales Press and both are prizes in the giveaway. These are books you will want to add to your multicultural library, so make sure to enter or go buy them!!

Summer Fun: Activities & Crafts for Beginning Campers

For a very long time Hazel has really wanted to go camping. She has seen various television characters go camping and has heard about it from her friends. Now I grew up camping with my family, but Steve did not. I own a very small tent, but have always camped with people who know how to camp better than I do, so I do not have much confidence. We have promised to take her at some point, but in the mean time I made her a tent and campfire for her doll and then we tried some beginner activities. 

Sharing Saturday 15-30

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Last week had some great ideas. The features are just a sampling of what was shared last week, so if you haven't checked it out yet, you should!! This weeks features are summer and August related, crafts and a couple of favorites. Enjoy!!!

Lebanese Music and Food

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this cookbook free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Since July is ending, it seems only fitting to finish our exploration of Lebanon with you. Besides the books and DVD we found at the library we also found some CDs with a few songs from Lebanon. Putumaya Presents Sahara Lounge has four Lebanese songs and the other two CDs each have one. 

Honey Bees, House Fly and Itzy Spider -- Book Reviews & Crafts

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of these books free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today we are going to share three fun books about bugs from Candlewick Press. Hazel and I enjoyed all three of these books. Some were educational and others were funny and fun or a combination of them. We also found some fun crafts to go along with each of them! I hope you check them all out. We love all of them!!

The first book is Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber and illustrated by Brian Lovelock. This story is in the written in the same way as many of the Candlewick Press books about animals. There is a story about one honey bee, a scout, and then little pieces of information on the sides. We love these books and have reviewed several (Emus, Hippos, Elephants, Big Red Kangaroo). This book shares the job of a scout bee as well as information about honey bees. It is informative and fun. It also shares the jobs of all the bees in the hive and the order the bees get each job. Then at the end it discusses the threat to honey bees and ways to help. We loved it!!

Wind Catcher -- Multicultural Young Adult Book Review

Disclosure: Evolved Publishing & Novel Publicity sent me a copy of this book free of charge in return for an honest review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

I have a confession. I enjoy reading young adult books. Perhaps it is from teaching high school for so long and checking out the books my students were reading, or maybe now it is due to the fact that I have so little time to read for me and young adult books tend to be easy reads, but either way I tend to enjoy them. One of my friends got me hooked on the Twilight Saga and now I have the honor of sharing the first book in a series that I quite honestly say I enjoyed more than Twilight. The book is Wind Catcher by Jeff Altabef and Erynn Altabef. It is the first book in the Chosen Novel Series. The second book, Brink of Dawn, is coming out this fall, and I have to say I cannot wait to read it. 

Exploring Lebanon -- Global Learning for Kids

This month we have joined the Global Learning for Kids in exploring Lebanon. I have to admit that I do not know much about Lebanon so this really was an exploration for me as well as for Hazel. Unfortunately I did not find many resources that are age appropriate for Hazel. Although the Middle East is part of Asia, we are separating it with North Africa into its own cultural month. Multicultural Kid Blogs has decided August will be Middle East and North Africa Heritage Month. I hope you will join us for it. Our exploration of Lebanon is a preview.

Sharing Saturday 15-29

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Last week had some great ideas. The features this week fall in a crafty activities and music and more. This is just a sampling of what was shared last week, so if you haven't checked it out yet, you should!!

Where You Go....I Go Book Buddies Review & Craft

Disclosure: Parragon Books sent me a copy of this book free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

For July's Book Buddies, Parragon Books sent us Where You Go ... I Go by Beth Shoshan and illustrated by Petra Brown. This is a sweet book told in the point of view of a young elephant talking to his mother. The book goes through a day in the life of the elephant. 

Happy Birthday, Cupcake! Book Review and Play Date

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of these books free of charge for this review and are providing the book for the giveaway. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I am sharing the next book after Peanut Butter and Cupcake by Terry Border. The new book released earlier this month is Happy Birthday, Cupcake! It has many of the same characters as Peanut Butter and Cupcake as well as the same type of pictures. Hazel and I were introduced to Peanut Butter and Cupcake at a story time at Barnes and Noble. In Happy Birthday, Cupcake! Cupcake tries to plan her birthday party. She wants to invite all of her friends. She asks her friend, Muffin, to help. 

Avoiding the Summer Slide with Free Programs

Before I get into today's post, I have to share with you what made me so proud of Hazel yesterday. She had decided she wanted to get her hair cut. She was not sure what she wanted to do, but mentioned the possibility of donating it again. With it long it gets tangled very easily and she hates brushing them out. Well at the hairdresser she decided she did want to donate it and got a cut similar to mine. She was very excited this morning to brush her own hair and put her own barrettes into it.

Mia and Me: Friends to the Rescue DVD Review

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copy of this DVD free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

We are so excited in my house!! Today the newest Mia and Me: Friends to the Rescue is being released. We discovered Mia and Me just a couple of weeks ago thanks to PBS Kids. They sent us the first DVD, Mia and Me: Discover Centopia. Hazel watched it three times in two days. Needless to say she loves Mia and Me! Well this new DVD did not disappoint us either. 

The Thunder Egg Book Review - Multicultural Monday

Disclosure: Wisdom Tales Press gave me a copy of this product free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

 For Multicultural Monday, I am reviewing a new book called The Thunder Egg by Tim J. Myers and illustrated by Winfield Coleman. This fictional story is about a Cheyenne girl, Stands-by-Herself, who is a bit of a loner and a dreamer. The other youth often tease her since she is so different. However one day she finds a rock that looks like an egg. Her grandmother tells her it looks like a thunderbird egg. Stands-by-Herself takes care of the thunderbird egg like it is her child. Then one summer when the rains will not come and the people are starving, she sacrifices the egg to the thunderbird. That night there is thunder and great lightning and the tree she left the egg under is split. She goes to the peak where she left it and finds the rock is split open with crystals inside. 

Creative Kids Culture Hop #29

Please Note: This is NOT Sharing Saturday. Sharing Saturday is still available, but this link party is for cultural posts only!

Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop! The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can't wait to see what you share this time! Created by Frances of Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes, the blog hop has now found a new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs.

Sharing Saturday 15-28

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! There were many fun ideas shared last week. If you have not checked them out, you should. For the sampling of ideas from the last party I went with Activity & Games Features, Teaching Features, Arts & Crafts Features and Food Features. Enjoy!!

SOUFEEL Bracelet Review - Mommy Time

Disclosure: I was sent this bracelet and charms to review free of charge from SOUFEEL. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Every once in awhile I get asked to review an adult item. Some I decide not to do and others I think you might like and do. This is one of those items. I was asked by SOUFEEL to pick a starter bracelet and some charms to review costing around $100. I let Hazel help pick the charms. She is hoping to get the bracelet when she is older. 

Hazel trying it on

The Fairy Tale Handbook Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

My review today is of Hazel's newest favorite book. She has read this book over the phone about three or four times to my parents for her nightly story to them in the week or so that we have had it. She absolutely loves it! The book is The Fairy-Tale Handbook by Libby Hamilton and illustrated by Tomislav Tomic. 

 Now it could be all the fun things to do in this book. Every page has something to open and lots to read and do. The book tells readers about various fairy tales some Hazel has never heard as well as the characters. It goes through forests, the wild wood with the villains, animals, magical villains, thumb-size characters, towns, princesses, palaces and homes and end with Cinderella's wedding and all the characters are guests. It has a little quiz at the end as well. It even has a few of the fairy tales in little books that you open on the pages.

Mini Knitted Woodland and Safari Book Reviews

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Search Press. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Today I am reviewing two fun knitting books. Both books make miniature animals and accessories, one is safari animals and the other is woodland animals. Both are written by Sachiyo Ishii. 

We will start with Mini Knitted Safari. I mentioned my knitted hippo back in April when I began it, but then the end of the school year stuff got in the way. I finally finished it, and it really should not have taken more than a day if I knitted consistently and was not so tired and distracted. Once I picked it up again I finished it right up.

DVD Reviews: Caillou Helps Out, Peg + Cat Rocks, and Mia and Me Discover Centopia

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today we are going to share three more PBS Kids DVDs with you. The first is the latest Caillou DVD: Caillou Helps Out. The DVD was released last month. If you have read Crafty Moms Share from the beginning, you may remember that Caillou was Hazel's favorite show when she was young. Although we do not watch him much anymore she still enjoys seeing him.

Multicultural Monday-- Kevin So

The weekend after Hazel's last day of school this year, Kevin So was playing in Cambridge at a venue I felt would be safe for Hazel called Club Passim. Hazel was really excited to go to her first "rock" concert and even more excited that I know Kevin So. I met Kevin back in my teaching days when I ran a diversity club. After having him come perform at the school for our diversity celebration I started going to his shows. He lived in Boston then and was playing around the area often. We got to know each other. I had all of his CDs up to the time he left for New York and then Nashville. Over the years his music style has changed, but it is still great. It is original and he sings often about his own experiences as a Chinese American.

Sharing Saturday 15-27

Thank you to everyone who shared the last two weeks!! With the USA celebrating its Independence Day last week, we did a two week long party. There were many fun ideas shared! If you have not checked them out, you should. For the sampling of ideas from the last party I went with Summer Features, Outside Summer Features and Some Favorites. Enjoy!!

White Water Book Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I get the pleasure of reviewing White Water by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein and illustrated by Shadra Strickland. This story was inspired by a true story and although it is about Segregation it is a story to which  most people can relate.